May 15, 2018

Singapore’s government has denied providing social welfare for a long time, but is this ideological resistance taking a toll on society?

NUS Provost’s Chair Professor of Sociology Chua Beng Huat tells The Straits Times that poverty in Singapore is not only a financial issue, but an ideological one. Singapore’s capitalist economy causes an unavoidable income inequality. Yet, poverty cannot be thought of as synonymous with inequality. Given Singapore’s status as one of the wealthiest capitalist nations in the world, Professor Chua suggests that it has the financial means to eliminate poverty. What remains is executing a feasible solution to the problem.

Universal minimum income might be the answer for Singapore, he argues, though this is still being debated and experimented on. About 20 percent of workers from a family of four have a minimum income of $2,500 per month. Therefore the total cost is only a small fraction of the annual national budget in Singapore. The only barrier of resistance remains to be the Government’s stance on social welfarism.

Read the full article here.