Daily Lessons from Life 29 May 2018 - Social stratification?

Dr M n his government hv made its move on HSR project - to kill it!

Their reasoning: no economic basis n not beneficial to Msia over costs involved!

Let's see how it develops!!

"The Big Read: Social stratification — a poison seeping into Singapore’s housing estates and schools

SINGAPORE: For years, policymakers in Singapore have been focusing on ways to narrow the income gap, as countries around the world seek to mitigate the side effects of globalisation.

Social inequality has become a buzz phrase among national discussions, and the issue remains a work in progress.

Of late, however, a new phrase has entered the government's lexicon: Social stratification.

It refers to an institutionalised system of social inequality — a dire situation that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned about in February, but one which is starting to take root and risks becoming entrenched, as several Cabinet Ministers and other Members of Parliament (MPs) highlighted during the five-day debate on the President's Address earlier this month.

"The issues of mitigating income inequality, ensuring social mobility and enhancing social integration are critical," PM Lee had said in a written parliamentary reply. "If we fail – if widening income inequalities result in a rigid and stratified social system, with each class ignoring the others or pursuing its interests at the expense of others – our politics will turn vicious, our society will fracture and our nation will wither."

And among the various aspects of social stratification, it is the "perceptible reduction" — in Education Minister Ong Ye Kung's words — in social mixing in recent years that has gotten some worried."

Dr M's Msia will b the immediate challenge Sgp government has to deal with. While domestically this social stratification thingy is the immediate challenge, or one of the many like: credibility of PM Lee n his government!!

All that had been said about this issue n its predecessors like income inequality n social immobility all ties to one basic issue: what is the definition of being successful in Sgp by n large?

If it is measured by how much one earns n what lind of houses n cars n other material assets, then the current have will avoid providing the have-not help to "compete with them". This "we know what is good for u n u just follow our instructions n u will good" system will perpetuate until the have-not really could not make ends meet n decide to revolt!

So, the most important thing to achieve is to make sure that the have knows the only way to keep their status qup is to get more have-not to be at their level or they hv to lower their level so that the rising have-not can catch up. Of course, when i said "lower the have" level still means the have r way way better than when they themselves were have-not. e.g. a 1,00,000 may become 800,000. Is this acceptable?

If not, it will come to a head the clash between tje have-not n the have.

Will the have give a bit more without insisting that this is unfair to them? Or it will pull down everyone if the have r not given full freedom to achieve their fullest potentials?