Former Reform Party candidate Alex Tan Zhixiang has decided to quit Singapore for good
I came across this article yesterday and was positively stirred. Not in the way Alex would wish, “for my (sic) very last struggle with the PAP is to deny them the very young people they need to sustain their political dominance.”
No Alex, I have decided to deny YOU the very delight of seeing us join you overseas. What an audacious declaration of your struggle!
The fight you claim to have fought wasn’t for the people but for yourself. That’s why you will be going because the people who remain don’t matter to you.
The country, called Singapore, has provided you with the very environment to be educated in peace, to eat in peace and more importantly grow into who you are in peace. No war, no strife, no struggle for food and for the very breath of life. The country in which, you are now getting an engineering degree and then moving on to what you see as greener pastures.
Coming from a former candidate, this speaks volumes of your tenacity and your love for the country. If a candidate can find a place too stifling and decides to leave the country, there is no predicting that you would not leave if you are in office. Character is not developed over night and will continue to be revealed in every circumstance.
Life in Singapore would probably be wonderful for someone who sees strife every single day and someone who needs to fight to live instead of living it.
Countries with strong social safety nets usually have high tax rates. Let’s roughly take an example off the New Zealand’s inland revenue website.
Example 1 (extracted from here)
John’s total taxable income for the year was $65,238. Here is how to work out the amount of tax due on the income:
| $0 to $14,000 | at | 10.5% | = | $1,470.00 |
| $14,001 to $48,000 | at | 17.5% | = | $5,950.00 |
| $48,001 to $65,238 | at | 30% | = | $5,171.40 |
| $12,591.40 | ||||
Therefore the tax due on John’s income of $65,238 was $12,591.40 NZD. (Extracted from here)
As a percentage count, this works out to approximately 19.3%.
The same income in Singapore will mean that you will pay 2316.66 SGD in taxes. (You can use the calculator here if needed)
Social safety nets come at a cost and the cost will be borne by the citizens in one way or another. Simply put, you earn more because you need to pay more.
San Francisco is a beautiful place no doubt. It is also part of US and we all know from the news that US has its own fair share of economic, social and political problems.
The point is – seriously – there is NO perfect country. There isn’t!
Alex Tan’s impending departure from the nation makes him and his fiance (non-Singaporean) happy. By all means, go. I’m just glad he will remain a former RP candidate and won’t be a candidate of any form in Singapore anymore.
He said, “I fought, I lost and now I’m gone because my family come first.”
The fight you claim to have fought wasn’t for the people but for yourself. That’s why you will be going because the people who remain don’t matter to you.
I’m staying because this is my country. ’nuff said.
sproutingteapot 