这是在Facebook上面看到的，欢迎讨论。(英文好的同学可以帮忙翻译成华语造福大家。)
Dear CPF,
For years you’ve taken a cut from my paycheck under the promise of social “protection.” In a way, you’re like a very well-intentioned gangster, protecting my money from well… me right?
I’m grateful though that you at least “allow” me to use some of my money towards buying a home, or to subsidise (partially) my hospital bills.
I’m not going to ask what you do with my money while it’s in your hands (I’m sure it’s just sitting there untouched right?). But I do ask that you let me use it for pressing emergencies that directly affect me and my family’s well-being.
What do I mean?
Let me enlighten you.
1. For Retrenchment
My financial obligations won’t stop if I get retrenched. Finding a job takes 2-3 months at best. I’m lucky I have enough savings to last me 3 months, but what if it takes longer? What if I had no savings to begin with?
Any unsecured debt I have (credit cards, car loan, personal loans, etc.) still needs to be paid – otherwise I risk damaging my credit with late payments or even default. The banks don’t care that I lost my job. They’re about as sympathetic as a cat watching a rodent struggle in a mousetrap.
But if I could use my “account” to service my unsecured debt if I get retrenched, even if it’s just to make my minimum payments, that would give me the financial flexibility to weather the situation. Plus, it would discourage those without savings from worsening their financial situation by going to Ah Longs for money.
2. For Education
Ultimately, the government wants me to be successful. The more successful I am, the more taxes I can contribute to our nation’s economy. So why can’t I use some of the money from my account towards education, whether I want to pursue an MDA-approved training course or a degree?
You don’t need me to tell you that education improves my earning potential, which is a win-win for everyone. I improve my standard of living while the government takes a greater amount of tax revenue. Plus, if I’m working in a sunset industry that has a bleak outlook, I can get the training I need to transition to a more promising profession.
But not everyone has the money on hand to pay for education… oh yeah, they do – you’re holding it CPF! So ease up a little on the funds distribution and let us chant Jerry Maguire’s “help me, help you” line together yeah?
3. For Growing Transportation Costs
Paying for transportation in Singapore is like choosing how you want to be tortured. The choices differ, but the result is the same – you’re still paying hundreds or thousands of dollars a month just to commute daily!
It doesn’t matter whether you own a car or use public transportation, the cost to travel to and from work, pick up the wife and kids, or take the family out to Sentosa is always increasing. All you have to do is see how much COE, ERP, taxi, and public transportation rates have increased over the last few years.
Of course, I don’t own 3 cars, nor do I live in Sentosa Cove – and neither do a majority of citizens who suffer every time transportation costs rise. But it would help if I could use some of my funds as a monthly “transportation allowance” to offset the financial pain felt by price hikes.
In Conclusion…
Now, before you crumple up this letter (if you haven’t already), I have one more thing to say…
Tax payers won’t need to support me with these situations. That’s because this money is already mine to begin with (or so you tell me). All I’m asking is that you make it easier for me to access my funds so I can patch up my social safety net.
If you need to validate my situation before dispersing my funds to prevent “fraud,” I’m fine with that. I’d rather deal with the inconvenience of a sloth-like bureaucracy than have to worry about how I’m going to come up with cash in an emergency.
Again, I’m grateful for the monthly shakedown that’s necessary for my retirement. But you’ve got to be a little more flexible when it comes to financial emergencies that cannot wait.
Yours sincerely,
A Messenger of Singaporean Frustrations
P.S. Umm…. yeah, if you could let me use my funds to cover the hospital bill for childbirth (c’mon, we’re doing you a favor by creating more taxpayers) and for elderly friendly renovations to take care of my ageing grandparents without sending them to a home, that would be great.
我也是要强烈抗议！！ medisave里几万都用来干什么，，大病有保险，小病门诊不能用。。里面眼睁睁看着户头里的钱，门诊费几百几百现金再出。。不给用完，每个月至少划个200来可以用门诊费吧。。真是XXX
哈哈,好样的!真是表达我们所有人的心声!!!
同意，起码允许在紧急的时候可以取钱出来
完全说不到点子上。政府用你自己的公积金来为你搭设一个安全网, 你不要这个安全网, 那你就很危险。问题的关键在于, 政府应该用税收, 用国家的钱来给大家搭设安全网, 而不是用个人的钱。 这才是新加坡人应该争取的, 可惜明白人不多
問題是，如此一來，政府就必需加稅，新加坡的經濟就會缺乏競爭力了。
只要不加税，不搞统筹，那么这个建议就很好。
把CPF看做中国的社保，看做福利国家的税，就不那么纠结了
年纪轻的应该可以拿来还房贷比较好。。。。
不能跟社保比，CPF是自己的钱。
要被查水表了
么意思？
被人肉团敲门。。。。
你是说写这封信的人吗？不晓得是谁呢，吴韦才贴在Facebook上的但是不写吴韦才写的，他也是转的。
公积金还是很具创意的政策。如果没有公积金制度做缓冲,政府就无法维持低税率。 高税率和公积金,你原意选哪个?
蛋是,公积金使用确实应该更具灵活性,特别是 美蒂涩夫。 2楼说的狠对, 除了看病用不到。这不是保障穷人吗? 有钱你加保险公司的rider,穷人才更没保障。 政府为神马不从美蒂涩夫里面拨点钱做政府保险用来cover全部医疗呢? 一定要让私人保险公司賺人民一笔。
这要看是富人还是穷人了。你作为富人，当然是不要高税率了，而我作为穷人，高税率不高税率，于我没什么影响呀。
感谢CPF 让我总算有点存款了。哈哈
我愿意选择公积金。
说的根本就不在点子上。社会安全网和公积金根本就不是一回事前者是社会的，后者是个人的
前者是那你没有公积金的情况下，社会安全网才会起作用
老李说了，自己可能错了，自认为把新加坡安排的很好，现在，新加坡人依赖政府，因为原来都安排好了啊。过分依赖的结果是要求福利社会，这个，是和他的原意相反的。
所以，其实这个是要搞福利社会与否的问题
其实有钱人倒还好说，还有外来投资的问题
毕竟世界是流通的，流出+负流入，长期的话，没人敢冒这个风险。可能有路，但风险在那儿
大姨英文这么牛~
不是我写的，也不是我翻译的。叫你加分给翻译者呢。在30楼。