Make exceptions for deserving cases? Not in Singapore

A social worker in Singapore once suggested to me that the government deliberately limited the extent of financial assistance to the less well-off because it believes that if benefits were more widely available, some would try to exploit the system while others would become dependent on hand-outs.

This approach has been made starkly apparent thanks to an unfortunate civil servant, who sent out a document containing written answers to Parliamentary questions this morning with the track changes function still on, thereby revealing how the answers were edited.

Yesterday in Parliament Mah Bow Tan, the minister for national development, was asked about the public response to the new Lease Buyback Scheme, which allows hard-up elderly citizens to cash-in part of the lease on their government flats in return for an upfront sum of $5,000 and regular monthly payments.

As the scheme is subsidised, the scope is limited to the less well-off but Tan finished his answer by saying that the Housing Development Board  would "consider appeals on a case-by-case basis". However, an additional clause which said that the government would "make exceptions for deserving cases" has been struck out.

A previous sentence which initially noted that the government would "review whether the eligibility criteria can be relaxed, taking into consideration the public response" has also been struck out and replaced with a watered-down version which suggests merely that the government will "review whether the LBS target group should be expanded".