The Decline of the Singapore Dream

"We Feel Well Served": The Decline of the Singapore Dream Under PAP’s Rent-First Model

A white expatriate recently told me he admired the PAP government.

“They generally solve problems quickly. The infrastructure is excellent. My family lives well here — we get good pay, enjoy the lifestyle, and it’s a safe environment for our kids to grow up before we eventually return home. Honestly, I don’t get why Singaporeans complain.”

To him, Singapore works perfectly.

But the unspoken truth is this: Singapore works well for people like him because it runs on the backs of ordinary citizens like us.

Singapore’s Unequal Design: Built to Serve, Not to Share

Singapore’s economic model has quietly evolved into a two-tier system:

One tier for expatriates, landowners, and state-linked developers, who benefit from soaring asset prices and a highly efficient system.

The other tier for ordinary Singaporeans, who increasingly find themselves working harder for less, burdened by rising costs and stagnant wages.

This isn't a flaw in the system. It is the system — carefully engineered to preserve land value, sustain rental income, and plug fiscal gaps, even if it comes at the long-term expense of citizens.

The Core Formula: High Rents, Low Wages, and Imported Demand

At the center of the PAP’s economic framework is a silent but destructive equation:

1. Keeping land prices high → thus preserving asset values and government revenue

2. Sustaining high rents → so landlords and developers can earn never-ending passive income

3. To make rents affordable for businesses → suppress labour costs

4. To suppress labour costs → flood the labour market with cheap foreign workers

5. To sustain consumption growth despite local wage stagnation → import rich foreigners to consume and buy property

6. To pacify citizens → issue CDC vouchers, rebates, and token grants

The result? A glittering GDP, booming property market, and glowing foreign investor confidence.

But beneath that, the Singapore Dream is crumbling for the very people who built the nation.

Impact on Ordinary Singaporeans

1. Stagnant Wages vs Soaring Prices

While GDP and executive pay keep rising, median wages have barely outpaced inflation. In retail, logistics, F&B, and even entry-level PMET roles, salary growth for Singaporeans is suppressed by foreign labour competition.

> Example: A local diploma holder in logistics earns $2,400/month — yet pays $150,000 for a car COE and $700,000 for a BTO flat.

2. Housing Stress for the Young

Young Singaporeans now carry 30-year mortgages on 4-room flats. Property prices are inflated not just by scarcity — but by speculation, asset hoarding, and foreign demand.

> Impact: Homeownership no longer guarantees security. It locks families into decades of financial anxiety.

3. The Crushed Sandwich Generation

Middle-aged Singaporeans face the burden of raising children, supporting elderly parents, repaying home loans, and coping with rising healthcare costs—often without real wage growth.

> Consequence: Falling marriage rates, declining fertility (TFR at 0.97 in 2023), and a sense of hopelessness.

4. Fading Social Mobility

Education once promised a better life. But with many industries relying on low-cost labour, and top jobs going to foreign hires, Singaporeans see diminishing returns on education.

> Impact: Talents are seeking greener pastures overseas. Foreigners come to live well; locals leave to live freely.

Economic Consequences for the Nation

Productivity Stagnation

When companies rely on low-wage labour, they cease innovating. Productivity flatlines as firms delay automation or tech upgrades.

Prediction: Singapore risks becoming stuck in the middle-income trap, unable to transition to a truly high-tech, high-wage economy.

Declining Domestic Consumption

With locals squeezed by housing and essential costs, domestic demand is weak. The economy depends more on external factors: tourists, foreign workers, and rich new citizens.

> Impact: Vulnerability to external shocks. A nation of under-consumers and over-taxed workers.

Loss of Global Competitiveness

Countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, and even Indonesia are catching up — offering better value, talent, and innovation ecosystems without Singapore’s high property distortions.

> Prediction: Regional HQs will begin moving. Singapore may lose its edge in finance, tech, and logistics unless reforms are made.

A Moral Reckoning: Who Will Be Left Holding the Bag?

When the social fabric frays, the people suffer. But those who engineered this system— the ministers, top civil servants, and elite class—will retire to Good Class Bungalows, shielded by the very wealth structure they created.

Meanwhile, average Singaporeans will live with:

• Shrinking retirement adequacy

• Elderly poverty

• Limited social mobility for their children

• Mental and financial burnout

This is not just unsustainable. It is immoral.

The PAP of Old vs the PAP of Today

The PAP of old—under Lee Kuan Yew—built institutions with a 50-year view. They asked: What will life be like for Singaporeans decades from now?

Today’s PAP looks only to the next GDP figure, the next economic report, or the next electoral calculation.

Singaporeans live across decades. But PAP’s leadership today governs quarter by quarter.

This short-termism is stripping the future from the next generation.

Conclusion: Reform or Collapse

Singapore cannot prosper by pushing its citizens to the financial brink while congratulating itself on GDP growth and city rankings.

To restore the Singapore Dream, the state must:

• Reform labour policy to prioritise local wage growth

• Decouple government revenue from land sales and rental extraction

• Rebuild affordability, dignity, and fairness into housing, healthcare, and education

• Govern with a 50-year view — not a 5-year KPI sheet

If we fail, then yes — Singapore may still look like a success story to the foreigner passing through.

But for those of us who live here, raise families here, and grow old here — the dream would have already died.

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