A bird's eye view of the plight of indigent pensioners

 "You have served your purpose. What you are getting is enough. We are waiting for you to die" These mortifying words were uttered by none other than the demonic Finance Minister at the time Dr. Richard Hu to the president and vice-president of the Government Pensioners' Association who saw him to seek an increase to the poverty-level pensions of indigent pensioners. This was brought to the notice of the lofty PM Lee Hsien Loong who remained reticent which meant that he endorsed the vicious utterance tacitly.

In another incident I wrote to boggle-minded Lee Hsien Loong on the same subject of an increase to the poverty-level pensions of indigent pensioners. I pointed out that pensioners who retired in the 1970s received poverty-level pensions which have remained stagnant while cost of living has been rising from time to time. Lee Hsien Loong was either inebriated or suffered mental lapses when he talked through his nose, if not his arse, that he was constrained by the Constitution which determined the pension of retired civil servants. Since his father's era the PAP had been amending the Constitution at their whims for their political purpose, the most notorious being the amendment preventing the appeal to the Privy Council which was an authoritarian act to stifle the political opponents. Can't the kind-hearted Lee Hsien Loong do the same to lift the indigent pensioners out of their poverty? They deserve to be remembered for their contributions to the country when they were in service. What I had done for Singapore I don't think any run-of-the-mill ministers can hold a candle to today.

The indigent pensioners are living in poverty whilst the venal PM and ministers are luxuriating in their liivelihood at the people's expense  by legally syphoning millions of dollars from the public coffers to enrich themselves. There are Singaporeans who barely survive on a sbsistence level and many who sleep in the open. Is this what the PAP demagogues call a just and equitable society? The people could not or would not do anything to change the status quo and we may have to leave  to divinity to do it which may take eternity.

Some observation may be appropriate regarding medical benefits for the pensioners. Sometimes items may have to be purchased from government pharmacies because of inavailability in polyclinic pharmacy for which we may claim re-imbursements. Sometimes we may come across perfunctoriness from Pension Office staff  who may reject our claims off-hand and we have to go through the hassle of appealing for redress. We are indigent pensioners and every cent means a lot to us and we hope that Pension Office staff can show more compassion in dealing with our claims.