S'PORE GOVT SPENDING HAS ZERO TRANSPARENCY, WORST IN THE WORLD

I refer to the article “S’pore can afford to be more open in sharing data” (Straits Times, Dec 11).

It states that “Singapore ranks 63rd (34 per cent open), having the same score as Bangladesh, Bermuda, Nepal, Senegal and Tunisia. For a highly developed country, this is not good company.

Least transparent for govt spending?

Singapore ranks lowest on government spending: 0 per cent transparency, 86th and tied for last place with 11 countries that otherwise have little in common with the 20th century’s greatest economic miracle.

Singapore joins the likes of Cambodia, Indonesia, China, Zimbabwe, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia in being among the 12 least open for government spending.

This is strange company for Singapore indeed. Given its global openness and pragmatic attitude, Singapore should strive to do much better than the above countries in any aspect of governance, including transparency.”

Disclose statistics?

So, in the context of being “more transparent”, can we be given the statistics on the following, as Singaporeans may have been asking for some of them for many years:-

Jobs

What is the breakdown of the “locals” statistics into Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs) for total employment, employment change, long-term unemployed, etc?

Wages

What is the median gross wage (excluding employer CPF contribution) for all Singaporean workers (full-time and part-time), instead of just “full-time employed residents”?

What is the real wage growth for the above, for the median and 20th percentile of workers, for the last 5, 10 years, etc?

University students

How many non-Singaporean students are there in the total enrollment of the local universities?

CPF

How many Singaporeans (including inactive CPF members) were able to meet the CPF Minimum Sum (currently at $161,000) entirely in cash at age 55, without pledging property?

Healthcare

What is the total sum of subsidies given to public hospitals and community hospitals’ patients, relative to the total sum of the subsidies shown in patients’ bills?

What is the Medifund rejection rates for patients – not number of applications?

Reserves/CPF

What is the Government Investment Corporation (GIC)’s nominal and real rates of return in S$ for the past 5, 10, 20 years and from inception?

What is the historical weighted average interest rate on all our CPF accounts?

What is the total sum of our reserves?

What is the annual return on our reserves?

Budget

How much were our Budget surpluses over the years, if we include the transfer to Endowment Funds and revenue from land sales?

ComCare

How many Singaporean families have ever received financial assistance under ComCare, and how many have ever applied for ComCare?

Transport vouchers

How many needy Singaporeans are still getting transport vouchers for the about 10 times that public transport fares have increased in the last 14 years?

HDB

What is the breakdown of the costs to build HDB flats?

How many HDB flat-owners have been served letters informing them that their flats will be compulsorily acquired, if their mortgage arrears continue to be outstanding?

How many HDB flat-owners are in arrears over 3 months on their HDB loans and HDB bank loans?

How many HDB flats have been foreclosed by the HDB and banks?

How many needy Singaporean families in HDB rental flats have had their rental of between $26 – $75 increased to $90 – $165 (which is as much as an increase of 246 per cent), when the HDB changed its policy to increase the rentals for household incomes from $801 – $1,500?

Procreation

How much Tax Procreation Benefitss (about $8.2 billion for 2012?) have been disbursed over the years, relative to Non-Tax Procreation Benefits (about $2 billion for 2012?)?

LeongSzeHian