Reader Contribution: NTUC IB paying website and bloggers to promote their policies?

Dear Editor,

Recently, there has been a couple of websites suddenly promoting NTUC’s policy of Progressive Wage Model. First, what is a the PWM? It is a PAP apologist argument for the government’s stubborn refusal to enact a minimum wage policy in Singapore. While low-wage workers such as security guards and cleaners struggle with depressed salaries and long hours, the policymakers have come up with the PWM to say that these workers will gradually get more money if they increase their productivity and go for more training.

But how can someone working long hours and trying to make ends meet, have spare time to go for more training? How can they increase productivity when they only have four limbs and 24 hours in a day? And after everything, the PWM is no different from your employer giving you a promotion. If your boss don’t want to give you a promotion and a pay raise, can you force him? The answer is NO. But still the government is insisting that this model will work! If your boss is not forced by the government, do you think he will automatically give you a pay raise?

Recently, these two websites suddenly began promoting the PWM and started to praise NTUC and its chief Minister Lim Swee Say for coming up with this brilliant idea.

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Are they being paid to do so? If they are being paid by NTUC, they should inform readers that it is a sponsored post.

Is NTUC trying to hoodwink Singaporeans to say that things are becoming better for low wage workers? What is the reality? Is there credible media and civil society to report on the situation?

Not only are bloggers and websites suddenly promoting NTUC and the Progressive Wage Model, we suddenly find these articles being posted on popular local forum Hardwarezone. It gets even more interesting as these articles are all posted by one forummer “faithang”, a profile which only joined in Sep 2014 and uses a profile picture of a plunging cleavage. Why would someone create a forum account and keep spreading pro-government stuff??

Is the NTUC internet brigade out on the loose in Singapore cyberspace? Are they trying to manipulate the free cyberspace that belongs to Singapore citizens for their political agenda?

Lam Ti Tui