2,900 appealed to join Pioneer package last year
SINGAPORE — The Pioneer Generation Package appeals panel received about 2,900 appeals as of Dec 31 last year, said Senior Minister of State (Finance and Transport) Josephine Teo in Parliament yesterday.
About 85 per cent of them, or 2,480 appeals, have been evaluated and the panel has approved 642, said Mrs Teo.
She was responding to a question by the Member of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Mr Seng Han Thong, on the number of such appeals the Finance Ministry had received as of last December and the main grounds for unsuccessful and successful appeals.
The panel was set up to handle appeals from those who missed out on qualifying for the Pioneer Generation Package.
Mrs Teo said the appeals panel recognised that the Government had already adopted a more inclusive approach by extending the package to those born in 1949 or earlier.
She noted that, regardless of the set age, there will always be those who marginally fall short.
“It would, therefore, not be feasible or fair to allow age-related appeals without extending the new age criterion to all Singaporeans. Hence, as provided under the Pioneer Generation Fund Act, the panel decided it would only consider appeals relating to the citizenship criterion,” said Mrs Teo.
As part of the evaluation process, the panel considers whether the appellant obtained citizenship shortly after 1986 — the citizenship cut-off date for eligibility for the Pioneer Generation Package — as well as other factors such as whether the appellant had contributed to Singapore society, she said. KENNETH CHENG
