So I'll just have to pray that things really improve tomorrow. I just need to pay that debt and get that person off my back. Maybe then, I won't be stressing out every fucking day on how to repay a debt.
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That aside, I suppose I shall blog.
You know. I always found Singapore's democracy to be nothing but a joke. Is democracy not meant to be equality? If it is, then why do I find so many of Singapore's happenings to be terribly unequal and unfair? It's like only the government gets the say, Singaporeans' themselves? Nah. We don't have a voice.
Whatever we say, the government counters. One of the best examples yet is how the Polytechnic bus fares are still more expensive than that of JC and ITE students. I do not understand how that works. And if you say that it's not the government that makes the decision (but the company), then let me tell you... That's bullshit! Come on. This is Singapore, where the government controls basically every single little fucking thing. (like eating chewing gum. -_-)
I don't understand our difference from that of JC and ITE students because we are all basically given the same workload. Has nobody from SBS or the government entered a Polytechnic before? Has no one noticed exactly how hard a Polytechnic student has to work? How is that different from being a student in the JC or the ITE? We are all students, we all have to work hard and we all study. That's all. There's no difference.
But yet, I see things like this on a published budget speech and feel immediately disappointed by Singapore.
Mdm Cynthia Phua and some Members have asked that polytechnic students’ concession
fares be lowered. The operators decide on concessions. However, I would encourage them to see how best they can help in these difficult times. As for the Government, our approach has always
been to provide targeted help to those most in need. Polytechnic students are a large and diverse group – there are students from wealthy families, and students from less well-off families. We should not ask taxpayers to subsidise the fares of polytechnic students who can well afford it...."
I mean are they serious about how polytechnic students are a large and diverse group and henceforth, are not allowed to pay a lower fare? That is flawed logic on many many levels.
If I remember correctly, there were so many students back when in secondary school that was either rich or extremely poor. Is that not diverse? If that was diverse, then why is it that Secondary students deserve to pay student fare? And if I am not mistaken, JC students (as well) are pretty diverse. There are rich ones and there are poor ones. There are students who work and there are students who don't work. AND THEY DESERVE STUDENT FARE! How is that fair? How is that anywhere near democratic or equality... As Singapore proudly proclaims of itself to be.
I, on average, spend about $20-$30 on travel fare each WEEK. And you can see that I am not extremely well-off. So why is it that the tax that I pay do not subsidize the travel fare that I have to pay for? It's not like we don't have to pay taxes as students. We pay tax too (in the form of GST) but it's tax nevertheless. If we are taxpayers as well, I am pretty sure we should be given a right to talk about where we want those money to go to. And who we actually want to subsidize...
And Singapore, as a democratic society, should respect that. No?
I rest my case.
Toodles.
2 comments:
$20-$30 a week might sound conservative to some people but as a working student, that's a lot of money! Recently the company I work for hasn't been doing well and they only schedule me once a month sometimes so I'll only bring in $25--if I lived there then my money would already be gone from only one week!
Our bus service here does free routes in town (the city I live in and the one next to it) and it's a dollar (or two?) for any other neighboring city. I wonder if SG could do something like that...after all, we're both islands right? (Even though my island is substantially more boring lol)
Hahaha. I know right. The lack of money drives me crazy. ):
And hah, it'll kill our local bus company to provide free routes like these. They only provide such services to places where it requires us to spend even more money, if it makes any sense at all. Singapore is a country that cares too much about money. I think the Government earns millions to billions from taxes and fines from us every year. It's that bad.
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