Older voters want needs addressed too

SINGAPORE - Don't forget the older generation. This was the parting message from former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong as they stepped down from the Cabinet, and the reminder again from President S R Nathan on Saturday night as the new Cabinet was sworn in.

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his new team embark on engaging a younger and different generation of Singaporeans, analysts and Members of Parliament that MediaCorp spoke to emphasised the importance of not leaving this senior electorate out in the cold.

With a fast-ageing population, older voters, with time on their hands and institutional memory, could become a major pressure group, said some like Mr Charles Chong, MP for Joo Chiat.

Political scientist Reuben Wong, from the National University of Singapore, said: "Older voters who have been through tumultuous times vote for the PAP ... A lot of these voters are not on social media, so if you concentrate on younger voters, you risk losing their support."

Indeed some observers had concerns that there had been an "over-emphasis" on younger voters over the last few years. One major sore point among retirees who live in landed property is that they have not benefited from the Grow and Share package.

Mr Chong, who encountered many such voters during his campaign, said: "The cost of living, inflation, healthcare costs impact retirees more - many of them told me that they are living off their savings, and I agree with them that the definition of the needy is too simplistic."

Mr Chong was among those who suggested re-looking income tax assessment as a better way of apportioning national growth packages. But former Nominated MP Zulkifli Baharuddin disagreed with this approach.

While he acknowledged that many Singapore seniors want to age in place, the Government should find a way to "manage their expectations, make them understand that they have to make use of their assets to see through their later years". Many seniors in developed societies have understood the need to liquidate their assets, he added.

Still, these are issues the Government must handle "carefully", he said.

There are some concerns over whether older voters would feel as connected to a younger Cabinet team minus any veteran ministers.

But political risk consultant Azhar Ghani argues what matters more is that the needs of older Singaporeans continue to be looked after. "It's not your age that counts, but what you can do for them," he said.

MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Inderjit Singh agreed that Mr Lee Kuan Yew's departure did not mean that the People's Action Party would lose the support of older voters. But if the Government could exercise some "flexibility" on some issues, it could assuage some of the frustrations out there, he felt.

Mr Singh suggested "interim help" in the form of unemployment insurance or allowing older workers who have lost their jobs to "borrow" from their savings in their Central Provident Fund and pay it back with interest when they are employed.

He also questioned the use of property type as a basis for deciding who gets payouts. "The Grow and Share package is a one-off award - I think the Government can relax on this and give the package to these few retirees."

He also told MediaCorp that he had encountered a mature worker who had applied for a low-income job but was disqualified from receiving Workfare Income Supplement because he lived in a landed property.