Baby Bonus For those not in Singapore, a revised baby bonus policy was announced during the national day rally on 17th August 2008. Because baby bonus policy was backdated to 01 August when it was first announced in 2004, most of us expected this policy to be implemented soon, if not immediately, upon announcement of the policy. Of course, when the policy was formally announced in a press conference on 20th Aug, many mothers-to-be delivering between August and December (me being one of them) were sore that the policy will only take place 01 Jan 2009. After discussion, we decided to come together and submit a petition to the PM office to ask for a backdate on the policy. Our argument was based on two points:
1. Don't announce the policy now if you are not implementing it soon. The effect is about 10,000 MTBs who will be disappointed for the rest of the year.
2. The revised policy is applicable to adopted or PR babies who convert to citizens as of 01 Jan 2009, up to 6 months of age. In other words, non-Singaporean babies bornt in 01 Jun 2008 are entitled to the revised policy as long as they convert to citizenship on 01 Jan 2009. All Singaporean babies bornt before 01 Jan 2009, on the other hand, are not entitled to the revised policy. Needless for me to say, anybody can see how that can enrage the average Singaporean mother who is delivering between Jun-Dec 2008.
Here lies the problem. The August - December 2008 mothers had a case to fight because of the date of announcement. Logically, a policy can only be effective as early as the date of announcement. You know, the "with immediate effect" that sort of thing. Rarely do you hear, "with effect of last week" or "with effect of half a year ago"...you get the drift. The Jan - July 2008 mothers also did not see a need to join us in that fight during the time of our petition. Unfortunately, when the petition went through successfully, the Jan - July 2008 mothers suddenly found themselves being treated unfairly. Their logic: the 2008 children will all be attending school in the same year. Why should those borned on and after 17 Aug 2008 be given more perks than those borned before that? I guess I can somewhat understand their frustration, but it's difficult to emphatise with them when one of their agenda is "if we don't get, the Aug-Dec 2008 children shouldn't get too".
Now. That's not a nice thing to be petitioning for, is it?
In the first place, it would have been effective if you had petitioned along with us, not wait until we succeed before crying foul play, yes? I don't recall those within our petition in SMH to include excluding anybody from the revised benefits (although I did read a couple such angry messages in the Reach forum). Threatening to send your sons overseas so they don't serve NS and to boycott against having children do not help as well. I understand their frustration, but have they considered their actions? All their actions have achieved is to discourage the government from reacting to such petitions ever again. What if it comes back to haunt them one day?
Current Mood:
sleepy