SINGAPORE - A local Singapore newspaper,
Today, just suspended one of its regular
columnists after the government gave him a
tongue-lashing for his writings about the
deteriorating state of the local economy.
Lee Kin Mun, who writes under the
pseudonym "Mr Brown", wrote a harsh, though
humorous, commentary on June 30 concerning
Singapore’s rising cost of living, mentioning that
latest official statistics showed that one in
every three Singaporean households had suffered a
reduction in income over the last five years. The
irony, which was not lost on the island state’s
government, was that Lee cited official statistics
to bolster his argument.
On June 28, the
Department of Statistics (DOS) issued a press
release with a slew of new
data from its general household survey. The most
striking result was that only 50% of Singaporean
households enjoyed any significant improvement in
their income over the five-year period spanning
2000 to 2005.
Moreover, the bottom 10.1%
of households reported no or negative income, a
marked deterioration from the 2000 level when 8.7%
of the population reported they were in the red.
The DOS explained that a possible factor for the
notable increase was the aging of Singapore's
population and that an increasing percentage of
the population was retiring.
More
striking, perhaps, the 11 to 20 percentile group
saw their household incomes fall a whopping 19.7%
over the same five year period. On average, these
households had S$1,180 (US$744) monthly incomes
last year, compared to S$1,470 (US$927) five years
previously. On an annualized basis, their average
household income fell 4.3% each year. A smaller
income fall was recorded for the next up
percentile group.
The DOS suggested that
the decline in household income in these two
groups "was partly caused by the larger number of
households with retired persons and no incomes".
"It could also be partly due to the higher
unemployment in 2005 than 2000 ... and lower
income from employment," the statement said, which
acknowledges both structural unemployment and
depressed wages in less-skilled jobs.
The
data on household income notably excludes
government hand-outs, which the ruling People’s
Action Party doled out just before the general
elections they resoundingly won earlier this year.
The most recent round of hand-outs, which targeted
the lower-income households, was called the
"Progress Package". In contrast to the one-third
of households which witnessed falling household
incomes, the top10% of households saw a 14.8%
improvement in theirs. In Singapore dollar terms,
their monthly household incomes leapt by an
average of S$2,120 (US$1,337) over the period.
The figures show clearly that income
inequality in Singapore is increasing rapidly. The
DOS reported that the Gini coefficient increased
from 0.490 to 0.522 from year 2000 to 2005. The
Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of
income inequality, whereby the higher the number,
the more unequal the distribution.
The
Straits Times, Singapore’s government-influenced
major English language newspaper, reported that
members of parliament were, "not surprised by the
survey findings, noting that these reflected the
effects of globalization." This response was
consistent with the Ministry of Information,
Communication and the Arts' letter to Today
explaining that the government "had told
Singaporeans all along, that globalization would
stretch out incomes".
However, most
Singaporeans would probably have taken "stretch
out" to mean that incomes would universally rise
but at differential rates, not that a large
percentage of the population would get poorer. The
increasing cost of living was one of the major
issues in the May 2006 general election, but the
data from this survey was conspicuously not
released in time for the May polls.
Shooting the messenger In his
commentary, Mr Brown alluded to how convenient it
was that the survey results, together with recent
announcements about increases in electricity rates
and taxi fares, have come out after rather than
before the elections. "We are very thankful for
the timing of all this good news, of course. Just
after the elections, for instance," he wrote,
tongue in cheek. "It would have been too taxing on
the brain if those price increases were announced
during the election period, thereby affecting our
ability to choose wisely," he wrote.
On
July 3, a stern rebuke from the government
appeared in the form of a letter published in
Today. Signed by Miss Krishnasamy Bhavani, the
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information,
Communication and the Arts, she denied that the
release of the survey data was in any way delayed
for political purposes. She took Mr Brown to task
for writing a piece that "poured sarcasm on many
issues", and claimed that his views "distort the
truth".
Characterizing his commentary as
"polemics dressed up as analysis", Bhavani accused
him of calculating to "encourage cynicism and
despondency". "Instead of a diatribe," she
continued, Mr Brown "should offer constructive
criticism and alternatives. And he should come out
from behind his pseudonym to defend his views
openly."
This statement echoed the
government's growing concerns that anonymous
bloggers on the Internet have found a venue to
criticize the PAP-led administration in ways which
otherwise would be impossible in Singapore’s
tightly-controlled society. The government's
response has been to try to frame all anonymous
posts and blogs as “irresponsible and
discreditable”, and is now exploring new laws and
regulations to rein them in. Mr Brown also runs
one of Singapore's best-known blogs, even though
he also writes a regular column for the print
newspaper.
But immediately after the
government's outburst, which included a reminder
to the newspaper that, "It is not the role of
journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion
issues, or campaign for or against the
government," the editors of Today told Lee his
column would be suspended indefinitely. Left with
only government-influenced mainstream media,
Singaporeans will likely be left to guess if their
economic lot is improving or deteriorating until
the DOS’s next 5-year survey is released - unless
their wallets tell them first.
Alex
Au is an independent social and political
commentator and freelance writer based in
Singapore. He often speaks at public forums on
politics, culture and gay issues.
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