We had enough of senseless personal attacks political leaders have made on their competitors. Sadly, talking bad about others seemed to have been the theme for this general election. The number of senseless comments by candidates has been numerous. No wonder SGAG is having a field day over the past 1.5 weeks.
A recent comment by a politician about how lucky he feels to not be a Malaysian has caused uproar on social media. Is being a Malaysian really that all that bad?
Very Affordable Healthcare
It does not take much to know that Malaysia’s healthcare system is one of the more popular among tourists. In fact, a quick search on Google on the top 5 countries with best healthcare in the world would usually lead you to Malaysia. Malaysia’s medical expertises are comparable or sometimes, even better than some western countries. On top of that, it is very affordable.
If you are a Malaysian citizen, outpatient treatment for primary heath care merely cost you RM1 and outpatient specialist care treatment for RM5. That is about SGD 0.32 and SGD 1.60 respectively.
Senior citizens in Malaysia enjoy health care for free.
Free Education
To be fair, Primary and secondary school education is rather affordable in Singapore. However, for families living in poverty, the fees may still be a significant cost.
In Malaysia, the first 11 years of primary and secondary education is provided for free by the government, if you enroll into a public school. Free education for the first 11 years. Why not?
Retirement
Similar to Singapore, Malaysian has their own version of our CPF, which is called the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). The EPF is a compulsory savings plan to contribute to for retirement.
One of the differences between the CPF and the EPF is the mechanism at which withdrawal can be made. Basically, at age 50, the member can withdraw 30% of their EPF. Members aged 55 or more can withdraw all of their EPF.
Our Point
Given the difference in demographics and leadership methods for every country, speed of economic progression of countries tends to vary.
In our opinion, there are definitely positive points to take away from the way each country is run. The above stated benefits may appeal to many Singaporeans, but the feasibility of it may differ in our country. That is okay. We are NOT saying that Singapore should follow what Malaysia should is doing. We recognize that we are a different country with different decision criteria to consider.
Our point here is not to compare between Singapore and Malaysia and determine which country is better. However, we think it is important for politicians to also recognize that personal attacks are not helpful. And when you run out of cheap shots to take, neither should attacks on other countries as part of your election strategy be condoned.
We can learn from others when we think it is applicable, but there is no point in putting down others as a way to make ourselves feel better.
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