Do not leave debts to the next generation – draw on the Reserves now ! Why are we keeping the reserves for gambling only ???
Minister Chan Chun Sing said that accountability means not leaving debts to the next generation. I think that a better term to describe it is – financial responsibility.
This implies that a person is not financially responsible when he or she have to leave debts to the next generation.
Debts could be caused by spending beyond one’s means. However, it can also be caused by events beyond one’s control.
Here are some examples:
a) The family incurs a large debt due to medical bills
b) The family loses a lot of money on bad investments that were sold by approved institutions. These include the credit linked notes that went bad during the global financial crisis in 2008, the structured products that are now being sold by the banks and the recent Hyflux preference shares and perpetual securities.
c) The family over-invested in expensive HDB flats bought on the resale market which eventually have no value on expiry of the lease.
In all these cases, the government could have played a more effective role in looking after the interest of ordinary people and ensure that they are not taken advantage by more sophisticated parties.
If the government fails in this duty and responsibility, it is not acting to the standard of accountability that is expected.