REACH finds S'poreans most concerned about planning for future
10 Feb 2018NEO SHI WEI nshiwei@sph.com.sg
Participants tell government's feedback agency they would like help in skills upgrading, and with rising costs
Singapore
SINGAPOREANS are most concerned about how the government can support them in planning ahead for the future, a six-week pre-Budget feedback exercise undertaken by the government has found.
The results of the exercise were published on Friday by REACH, the feedback department under the Ministry of Communications and Information which aims to connect with and engage citizens.
Most of the participants expressed support for more to be done to help them deepen and broaden their skills. This can be done through greater employer support for skills upgrading and for employers to to recognise the value of training their employees.
Many Singaporeans also called for career planning and financial literacy programmes to be incorporated into the school curriculum.
They also called for more assistance for the elderly and more incentives to encourage family support and to cope with escalating healthcare costs.
A number of Singaporeans urged the government to consider other methods of generating revenue before considering a tax increase. If the tax increase is unavoidable, they would like more assistance to be given to low and middle-income families.
REACH chairman Sam Tan, who is also Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Manpower and the Prime Minister's Office, said he was heartened to see a strong turnout and would share the feedback with his colleagues in the Ministry of Finance.
"This is a good sign as it shows that Singaporeans care for our country and want to play a part in shaping government policies," he added.
In the exercise which ran from Dec 4, 2017 to Jan 12, 2018, participants offered their views on ways in which they think the government can support them.