If you need help, seek help!~
Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
The Lunar New Year festive mood is still in the air, but for many Singaporeans, it is a sobering start to an anticipated “difficult year of the Ox.”
The current economic crisis is a global one, which affects, well everyone; you and me.
Singapore Budget 2009 was announced on Thursday 22 January 2009. It was indeed a bold and decisive budget, as for the very first time since independance, after careful considerations, the Government had decided to dip into the past country reserves, taking S$4.9 billion, particularly for funding two schemes – Jobs Credit Scheme and the Special Risk-Sharing Initiative.
This is on top of the S$600 million Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR).
It is understood that the priority measures taken are to help our Singaporean workers keep their jobs, as well as to subsidise part of the employers’ wage bills, making Singaporeans more cost-competitive than foreign workers.
Meanwhile, many low-income households are greatly affected by the current economic crisis. However, of those who are in need of government aid are either unaware that they can get help, or do not know where to turn for help.
The Government hopes to reach out to these groups of Singaporeans, and will announce its plans to do so during the 9-day Budget 2009 debate in Parliament which kicks off today.
For now, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon urges those facing tough times to step forward to ask for help if they really need it.
“The resources are there. The money is there. If you really face difficulty or tremendous pressure, please ask for help. There is enough money to go around because some of the funds set up to help those need it have gone untapped,” she said yesterday.
One example will be the S$6.25 million set aside for CCMC-ComCare Fund. As of December 2008 in the current MCYS financial year, only S$1.6 million had been disbursed.
This fund can be used by grassroots leaders to help residents who need urgent financial help.
But why the bulk of the funds had not been given out? Well, Singaporeans have dignity, hence perhaps they don’t casually ask for help?
“It is not a shame asking for help,” said Mrs Yu-Foo. She also urges grassroots leaders to be more flexible, more sympathetic and more pro-active in extending help to their residents during this recession.
MCYS expects to spend about $160 million in the current financial year to help the poor via its help schemes, and to fund social services run by charities.
In 2008, 40,681 people applied for various ComCare help schemes, an increase of 33% over the year before.
ComCare was set up in 2005, and was billed as the “final safety net” for the poor. It has some S$800 million in its piggy bank. It helps the poor with a variety of aid, from child-care subsidies to helping people who are temporarily unable to work (perhaps due to illness but do not qualify for the Public Assistance Scheme).
Only Singaporeans/PRs who permanently cannot work and have little or no family support can qualify for the Public Assistance Scheme.
So far as at the end of last year, about 24,000 families have benefitted from various ComCare schemes.
If you know any fellow Singaporeans who genuinely need such help, please urge them to call ComCare Helpline -1800 222 0000.
Tags: ComCare, economic recession, financial help
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