I officially launched my book, Singapore version 2.0: Alternative proposals for a better Singapore, on Sunday 30 January at the Oxford Hotel. This was a joint book launch with my Workers’ Party colleague Yaw Shin Leong, who has written a Chinese book, 迈向政治发展与繁荣’ (Towards Political Development and Vibrancy).

A big thank you to all our friends, readers and media representatives who attended the event on a rainy Sunday afternoon!

This is the speech which I delivered at the launch.

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Dear Readers,

I will be officially launching my book, Singapore version 2.0: Alternative proposals for a better Singapore, together with my Workers’ Party friend and colleague, Yaw Shin Leong, who has written a Chinese book, 迈向政治发展与繁荣. The book launch will take place on Sunday 30 January 2011 from 3-5pm at the Oxford Hotel. Attendance is free but seating is limited. Please email me at gerald.giam{at}gmail.com to reserve your place. Note that only registered guests will be admitted. I hope to meet some of you there!

The publicity poster and programme is below.

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Political activists Yaw Shin Leong (饶欣龙) and Gerald Giam (严燕松) will be jointly launching their books, 迈向政治发展与繁荣 (Towards political development and progress) and Singapore version 2.0: Alternative proposals for a better Singapore respectively.

Shin Leong and Gerald both sit on the Central Executive Council (CEC) of the Workers’ Party of Singapore. This event is organised in their personal capacities.

You are cordially invited to attend this book launch:

Date: Sunday, 30 January 2010

Time: 3.00 – 5.00 pm (admission of registered guests starts at 2.30 pm)

Venue: Oxford Hotel, 218 Queen Street, Singapore 188549

Programme:

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Just like a broken record player, that tired refrain is heard yet again: We must welcome more new immigrants otherwise our economy will tank.

In recent days, with the release of the Census findings that Singapore’s total fertility rate (TFR) has dropped to an all time low of 1.16, this rhetoric has turned to blame-shifting: It is your fault, Singaporeans, for not producing more offspring. You have left us with no choice but to open the floodgates to foreigners.

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The Workers’ Party will be holding its weekly Open House tomorrow, Monday 17 January 2011. I will be one of the party members on duty. Do come down for a chat if you’re free.

Date: Monday 17 January 2011

Time: 8 – 9.30 pm

Venue: Workers’  Party HQ, 216-G Syed Alwi Road #02-03

Look forward to seeing you there!

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The General Election and Presidential Election are around the corner. The Elections Department has just revised the Register of Electors (i.e., the voter roll) and it is now open for inspection. You can check online at the Elections Department website using your SingPass or NRIC.

If you failed to vote in the last election when your constituency was contested, your name may have been struck off the roll. To restore your name, click here to fill out the form and send it in to the Elections Department.

Note: You cannot vote or stand for election if your name is not on the register.

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The writing has been on the wall since 2007, when the government announced plans to introduce re-employment legislation, in tandem with raising the age at which Singaporeans can withdraw the bulk of their CPF savings to 65.

On Tuesday (11 January 2011), the Retirement Age (Amendment) Bill was passed. This Bill (now euphemistically named the Retirement and Re-employment Act) contains some provisions to steer employers in the direction of providing re-employment for their retiring workers, without actually raising the statutory retirement age.

While the law requires employers to offer re-employment to their workers when they reach the retirement age of 62, they are obliged to do so only if the workers fulfil a potentially subjective set of criteria: One, the employee must have at least satisfactory work performance, and two, the employee is medically fit to continue working.

The first criteria is very subjective, particularly if the employer has no proper performance appraisal system. The second criteria does not spell out that employers need to obtain the opinion of a doctor to prove that the employee is medically unfit to continue working.

But what is particularly disturbing is that this legislation gives the government the excuse to raise the CPF Minimum Sum Draw Down age from 62 to 65 or even older. They will reason that older workers can more easily find employment beyond 62 and so they don’t need to draw from their CPF savings. (The Minimum Sum, which now stands at $123,000, is the minimum amount of money that a person must keep in their CPF accounts. This large amount means that a large number of low-income workers have their retirement savings locked up long beyond their retirement age.) The reason, as explained the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2007, is so that their CPF savings can last longer.

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It may come as a surprise to some, but I disagree with former Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong’s view that “school and grassroots work don’t mix” (Today newspaper, 4 January 2011). Mr Siew felt that “partisan activities that favour a specific political party or politician should not be officially sanctioned and endorsed by the Ministry of Education (MOE) or schools” and that “campaigning for political parties and politicians is clearly improper in schools and workplaces”.

I disagree with the thinking that if you are still in school, then you should avoid partisan politics; that politics is somehow an “adults-only” activity which will corrupt young minds. Consequently, this leads to local schools and even universities banning any partisan political organisations. For example, in the National University of Singapore, students who are interested in politics can only join a club like the Democratic Socialist Club, which disavows any political affiliation. In contrast, when I was studying in the University of Southern California, there was a College Republicans club and and College Democrats club. Members openly supported and campaigned for Republican or Democratic candidates during the local, state or national elections. A search on the Internet will find numerous Republican or Democrat clubs in high schools across the US.

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There is a children’s book that I often read with my 2-year old daughter, Hannah, in the morning before leaving for work. It is titled I’m Thankful Each Day by P. K. Hallinan. I love that book (and so does Hannah) because I feel it aptly sums up my sentiments about the year 2010.

I can say without a doubt that 2010 was the most eventful and exciting–not to mention the busiest–year of my life so far. On the personal front, my wife Elena and I welcomed the arrival of our second child, Asher, in this world. (Yes he was one of just 17,238 babies born to Singaporean parents between January and October 2010.) Elena and I also celebrated seven years of blissful marriage last week.

In July last year, I published my first book, Singapore version 2.0: Alternative proposals for a better Singapore. I will be organising a book launch for in late-January. (Better late than never!)

On the political front, I was one of the four newbies elected to the Workers’ Party CEC (Central Executive Council). I got “arrowed” soon after that to be involved in the Party’s manifesto review, a task which involved many nights and weekends of research, consultations, writing, and long discussions with fellow party members to arrive at an agreement on the final text. Nevertheless, the policy wonk in me relished every moment of it.

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