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COMMUNITY FUN: PM Lee and fellow Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Lee Bee Wah (far right) putting on balloon hats before witnessing the longest chain world record bid. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
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AMID a backdrop of booming salaries and record property prices creating instant millionaires, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed the value of community spirit and the need for all Singaporeans to progress together.
And he promised this: The needy will be taken care of, ensuring that 'even the poorest members of the Singaporean household have a place, and have friends'.
Speaking at a community event in Ang Mo Kio GRC yesterday, he sketched a picture of the 'good mood' in Singapore.
'We're doing very well this year. The economy is going strongly, jobs are up, salaries are up, wages have been going up, people are enjoying their offset package, maybe spent a little of the money already!' he said with a laugh.
'But it's not just the growth and the GDP which is important to us, but also the spirit of the community and togetherness, of being one nation.'
The morning's activities were in that spirit, he noted.
Kebun Baru Community Club, for instance, had teamed up with Mayflower Secondary School to organise a family day at Bishan Park to raise funds to air-condition the school hall.
The NTUC FairPrice supermarket chain also launched its scheme to provide $1million worth of vouchers to help needy Singaporeans offset the recent goods and services tax hike from 5 per cent to 7 per cent.
The vouchers will be given to advisers to the grassroots organisations in the 84 wards for distribution. Each ward will receive $8,000 worth of vouchers.
Vouchers will also be handed to the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and to voluntary welfare organisations for distribution to the needy.
FairPrice chairman Ng Ser Miang said the vouchers were being distributed through grassroots advisers as they 'are closest to the ground, and they know... who are the ones in need of support'.
He hopes the initiative will galvanise other retailers to follow suit.
Mr Inderjit Singh, adviser to and MP for Kebun Baru ward, was the first to receive the vouchers. He said yesterday that these will be useful in supplementing the longer-term public assistance scheme.
'This will be for those who have lost their jobs or are suffering from illness, but are not on public assistance,' he said, adding that the $8,000 worth of vouchers should last a couple of years.
'I will give out $30 to $80 in vouchers to each family, depending on the number of family members.'
About 15 per cent of residents in Kebun Baru live in rental flats.
Yesterday, Mr Lee and his fellow Ang Mo Kio GRC MPs also gamely put on balloon hats to kick off an event to create a world record for the longest chain of balloon hat-wearers.
xueying@sph.com.sg
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