Lim Boon Heng “arrows” VWOs to do more for Singapore elderly October 25, 2009 by admin Filed under Top News Leave a comment From our Correspondent The Minister in charge of aging, Mr Lim Boon Heng, has urged voluntary welfare organizations in Singapore to “do more” to take care of the aging population. “In the coming years, the number of people living alone will only rise….There will be a lot more singles in future, so the work you have to do can only increase,” said Mr Lim, who was speaking to about 700 volunteers at the Lions Befrienders Appreciation and Awards Presentation 2009 last night. Mr Lim, however did not outline the government’s plans to help the elderly and appears to shift the responsibility to financially strapped VWOs. Unlike other developed countries, Singapore has no social safety net for the elderly who are expected to work for as long as possible to support themselves. The VWOs, which are heavily dependent on public donations have limited resources to do the work on behalf of the government especially since the NKF and Ren Ci fiasco. The scenes of Singapore elderly picking used cardboards in the streets, cleaning the toilets or sleeping in the streets have become ubiquitous throughout Singapore. An AFP video about the life of a 76 year old street scavenger Madam Zheng stirred a furore in cyberspace lately. Madam Zheng depleted her savings to foot the medical bills of her late husband and is now reducing to scavenge for used cardboards, cans and papers in the streets to earn a living. (watch video here) In a rebuttal to the use of Madam Zheng by bloggers to criticize the government for not doing enough to help the elderly, Minister for Information and Communications Lui Tuck Yew claimed that Madam Zheng lives in a 3-room flat and has 3 children. However, Lui failed to explain why Madam Zheng still needs to work despite owning a flat. There lies an irony in Singapore’s high home ownership rates: many Singaporeans are asset-rich, but cash poor. Though the elderly may have a roof over their heads, they have little or no savings left in their CPFs to support themselves through their golden years, thereby mandating them to continue working. At the same time, their children may not be earning enough to support both their own families and their parents. The cause of the problem lies with government policies and not in the VWOs not doing enough to help the aging population. The government has the means and resources to implement a comprehensive multi-tier social support system for Singapore’s elderly. After all, Singapore’s two sovereign wealth funds, Temasek and GIC, have just lost billions of dollars in overseas investments in less than 2 years. The government can afford to do much more for our nation-builders.
