"The mother of revolution is crime and poverty"

A revolution is a successful attempt by a large group of people to change the political system of their country by force. I agree that the cause of revolution and crime is poverty.

The whole world is currently experiencing globalisation. People are improving themselves everyday. However, did we ever think of those who are lagging behind?

Singapore is a good example to illustrate this. Our system works on meritocracy. One's academic performance or merit determines his future. However, there are many lost sheep which we had neglected while progressing.

Some of them are to poor to afford education; some are drop outs after primary school and start to work. Without enough education, their pay will always hover around the lower end. Although Singapore's economy is booming, the problem of income stagnation still exists. The standard of living among most Singaporeans improves but incomes remain the same. For a group of cleaners and labourers, their average monthly starting pay fell 30 per cent between 1996 & 2006 - from $860 to $600.

Singapore is also inviting foreign talents and low-skilled foreign labour to work here. This provides more competition for low skilled locals and further decreases their incomes. With low income, they cannot improve their standard of living.

Moreover, Singapore pays no employment benefits, no pensions and has no legal minimum wage. The government only gives subsidies to first-time buyers of HDB flats. The ruling party does not approve of welfare system too. Therefore, the poorer are at a disadvantage. The privileges they enjoy are limited.

Further signs of class discrimination can be seen from the issuing of government scholarships. One in three students on government scholarships came from families with income more than S$6500 a month. I feel that this is very unfair to the lower income group. Students from lower income households only made up only 7 percent of scholarship winners as reported by The Straits Times.
The education disparity is clearly shown here which will lead to greater income gap in the future.

Hence, does that mean that there are no talents in the lower income group? In my opinion, that is not true at all. I disagree with the government for leaving out those talents in the poorer families and give those scholarships to people who can well afford education. I do not think that this is the most effective way of attracting local talents. The government should restrict the wealthier from signing up for scholarships and help those who have talent but could not afford it.

People will start to feel upset for not being treated equally. As this tension accumulates, people will start to overthrow the ruling party by violent means (crime) which is currently happening in other countries. The situation then will be out of control and the country will suffer from political and social instability. Economy will be badly affected too. This is how the downfall of a country begins.

Poverty breeds unhappiness, people feel that there are injustice in the system as they lead their lives with their basic needs not met. Unhappiness will then result in revolution and crime as people's tolerance is "overstretched". Education disparity and income gap will always be present unless the government revises their policies. The tension between the rich and poor will continue to increase.