Come on, guys...

Dear MPs, why must it take a poor GE result for you to want to serve and understand the public? Weren't you supposed to do this regardless of the GE? Weren't you supposed to be doing this all along? Isn't that what an MP does?

Weren't you supposed to be thinking about the rising costs of living and DOING something CONSTRUCTIVE about it? Did it only just occur to you that the massive whirlpool you call your immigration policy has cost Singapore and Singaporeans their livelihoods, environment as well as their prospects for a better future?

Sure, you all can sit behind your millions and 'consider' the reprecussions. What is a $300,000 3-room HDB flat (I am being conservative, here) to someone who earns a million dollars a year? Don't give me this nonsense about the annual median income being $50,000. If 51 people out of 100 earn $50,000 and the other 49 earn $18,000, what is the relevance of THAT sort of statistic?

All you guys seem to be able to do, for all your self-righteous 'we-are-incorruptable', 'we-are-the-best-there-is' back patting, is tell us each and every time there is an issue, that 'SORRY, WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT'. If a million dollar a year salary buys that kind of an answer, I think my nephews could run for government. They're cuter than you, too.

Flooding, housing, Mas Selamat, the rising cost of living, education, retirement (don't get me started on CPF. No, wait, in fact I will), national service, wages, transport, liberty...the list is rather long isn't it?

Flooding the likes of which we have seen in recent months (nope, the interval for this kind of thing is not 50 years) has not occurred at any point in my 30 year lifetime. Don't you think someone other than Mother Earth may possibly have contributed to this?

Isn't land and the prices of public housing controlled by you guys? Don't you own the land? Don't you own HDB? Don't you think a $300,000 3-room apartment for someone earning $18,000 a year is rather STEEP? You might think a 30-year loan creates a twisted sense of 'ownership' for us, but it doesn't. All it does is make us hate you. You try paying for your home over a 30 year period and see how you feel. Not a mansion. A flat, a normal, ordinary HDB flat.

How about retirement? For us, I mean. On what you earn on average in a year, you could retire immediately after that and not have to work for the rest of your life. You don't have to worry that 20% of your money is taken away every month and is strangely, 'earning' DEPRECIATING value. 20% of $1 million leaves you $800,000. $800,000 a year. What do you do with that kind of money?

Inflation is 5% and the CPF gives 2.5%. Come on, guys, what were you thinking when you came up with this? Would YOU invest in something so absurd and then make it mandatory? Here's a little suggestion: give the people more than 5% interest back on their CPF. It's a start. And no, having my life savings for my old age spent on a house which I will need later on IN MY OLD AGE, is not the answer. Seriously, guys.

Here's the heart of the matter: National leaders, yes, that's all of you, right down from Dear Mr. Lee Kuan Yew to every single backbencher MP there is, do not understand what it is like to be a Singaporean. A normal, average Singaporean. Someone who ISN'T a scholar, related to someone powerful or have millions of dollars to spare - does that give you some idea?

That is why your policies don't work, that is why no one buys your excuses and no one wants to listen to you anymore. At best, the current effort looks half-hearted. If you were truly for the people, if you were truly interested in making this country better, you need to look no further for guidance than that average, normal, ordinary Singaporean. Not someone like you. Someone like us.