Glenda Han (WP candidate in East Coast GRC) said, "Government grants for small and medium-sized enterprises should not be available only for areas where the Government wants to grow."
I really want to ask her which grant she’s referring to. There are 3 govt schemes in place to help SMEs & NONE have any industry criterion. Miss Han.. how to vote for you when you don’t even know what you’re talking about?
hello, i came across this page by accident and i feel i should perhaps clarify what i meant from the above-mentioned statement. I didn’t mean that the grants available had any industry criterion but that the government should not loosely hand out grants to industries they want to promote and reject those they feel do not weigh in as much.
Hi Glenda,
Thank you for attempting to clarify what you said.
Firstly, let’s be clear that from your statement to the Straits Times, you criticised the government for not giving grants to SMEs from “areas that the government does not wish to grow”.
Secondly, even after reading my blog post, did you do your homework on what are the schemes the government has in place to help SMEs? In case you do not know where to look, let me give you a tip – please read all the schemes posted on the IE Singapore and SPRING Singapore website.
Thirdly, the government has always been very transparent in how they award subsidies. The criteria for the various schemes are clearly spelt out on the various stat boards’ websites. Whether an SME is entitled to a subsidy or not, is determined strictly by the criteria set out on the sites. Since there is NO industry criterion, how can you then say that the government rejects giving grants to industries that “they feel do not weigh in as much”?
Can you please name me at least 1 SME that has failed to get a subsidy because they were in a “wrong industry” or in “an area the government feels does not weigh in as much”?
The unfortunate thing is that many Singaporeans who do not work with SMEs would not be aware of the criteria for obtaining grants and are likely to be misled by your irresponsible statement to the press.
I would appreciate if you retract your statement PUBLICLY if you are unable to provide any evidence to substantiate your statements.
Thanks.
Dear Uptown gal,
i’m not sure if you understood my clarification to your initial comment. I only meant to clarify the bit where you felt that i have insinuated that the government had industry criterions.
Lastly, my comment was picked up by ST when asked about my thoughts about SMEs. I spoke at length but if they chose to publicise that particular sentence, i have no control over it, neither can i “retract” it.
If i was giving an official statement, it would encompass more than just a statement plucked out and left to be interpreted in different ways.
glenda Han
but thank you for highlighting all the above to me, appreciate it!
glenda Han