In comparison, the Gini coefficient in the US, widely acknowledged as one of the more unequal societies in the world, was 0.469 in 2005 (most recent year reported).

Has the Singapore Government been complicit in exacerbating the rich-poor divide? To give an extreme example, the salaries of ministers and top civil servants have been repeatedly and unilaterally raised while the question of raising the quantum of public assistance to mitigate cost of living increases has been debated, ad nauseam, with scarcely any improvement.

I am puzzled that the Government can afford to be generous in giving financial aid to countries hit by natural disasters but are relatively miserly when it comes to lending a helping hand to those Singaporeans hit by financial disasters through no fault of their own. Consider the recent US$500,000 donation to China when the country was hit by snow-storms. I am not begrudging any help to other countries, but as the saying goes: 'Charity begins at home'.

Means-testing in hospitals has been much debated and many Singaporeans, especially the middle-class, will be adversely affected by it due to escalating medical costs. The concern is that with a rigid computerised system, with no consideration of many other circumstances impacting financial status, there will be those who will fall through the cracks. As a result, Singaporeans' anxieties over health-care costs have not been assuaged.

The recently-unveiled CPF Life annuity scheme, billed at ensuring that Singaporeans will not outlive their retirement funds, has also caused much unhappiness in taking money out of people's pockets.

It appears that the increases in ministers' pay are directly proportional to the schemes designed to take responsibility from the Government and transferring the burden on to the public, many of whom can scarcely get by.

I hope that the Government can be more sensitive to the financial burdens of the man-in-the-street and extend greater generosity in this and future years' Budgets.

Maria Loh Mun Foong (Ms)