SINGAPORE: Even if all 26 WP candidates are voted into Parliament in this election, the Government will still have enough space to deal with the issues of the day, said WP chief Pritam Singh.
If Singaporeans vote all the opposition party’s candidates into Parliament, the ratio of WP MPs to ruling party MPs will be only “about two or three to nine”, he said on April 28.
“The Government has enough space, enough leeway, enough focus to deal with the issues of today and tomorrow,” added the Leader of the Opposition.
He was speaking to reporters in Tampines Avenue 2 on the sixth day of the 2025 General Election campaign, alongside WP chair Sylvia Lim and the party’s Tampines slate.
Pritam was asked to respond to comments made by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong the day before at the PAP’s rally at Fern Green Primary School in Fernvale.
SM Lee had said that voters should not vote against the PAP to give opposition parties “a little bit more votes”, in the hope of getting two or three more opposition members into Parliament.
The Senior Minister also spoke about the proposed deal between NTUC’s Income Insurance and German insurer Allianz, saying that six PAP MPs and one WP MP had raised questions about it.
This was after Pritam said on April 26 that no PAP labour MP had asked questions about the deal in Parliament when the issue surfaced.
On April 28, Pritam said SM Lee had sidestepped the point he raised about the absence of PAP labour MPs weighing in, adding that while six PAP MPs and one WP MP had raised questions, the ratio of PAP MPs to WP MPs was about nine to one.
“The way the Senior Minister characterised the issue is if we were in government or if we were in charge, but we weren’t in charge,” he said.
The proposed S$2.2 billion (US$1.6 billion) deal was called off in October 2024 after it came under public scrutiny.
SM Lee said the deal would have happened if WP was in charge.
WP, noted the Senior Minister, had abstained from voting on a Bill to amend a law that would allow the Government to block the deal.
Lim on April 28 defended WP’s reason for abstaining from the vote.
“To suddenly change the law to affect a live transaction, business certainty-wise, is actually not good for Singapore,” said Lim.
She added that to pass a law that would affect parties in a live transaction, the logical and right thing to do would be to let it go to a parliamentary select committee, to understand how the law might jeopardise or undermine affected parties.
Lim said: “We didn’t oppose the Bill, but we had to abstain because we value Parliament as a check on government actions. We think that people have a right to talk to the parliamentary select committee.”
NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, who is contesting in Jalan Kayu SMC under the PAP banner, said at the PAP rally on April 27 that the Income-Allianz deal was done in good faith.
Ng also responded to Pritam’s description of the labour movement as a “trampoline” for losing PAP candidates. He said there is “no safe harbour”, as he had to stand for re-election in 2023 to continue as labour chief.
Pritam told reporters on April 28 that he disagreed with Ng’s rebuttal.
“Have workers been disenfranchised in any way because of his leadership in NTUC and also not being in Parliament at the same time? I don’t think so.”
Pritam was also asked to respond to SM Lee’s point that the Government would be in trouble if it lost more MPs who were good ministers.
He said it was a weak argument, pointing to former foreign affairs minister George Yeo, who lost his seat in the 2011 election.
“Did suddenly our Foreign Ministry lose its bearings?” Pritam asked. “It did not, because there’s so much depth in Parliament.”
He added that Singapore now has a more diverse political system, and Singaporeans want to see that expressed in Parliament.
“The Workers’ Party record in Parliament speaks for itself – very rational debate. Where we agree, we are not hesitant to say we agree. Where we disagree, we will explain why we disagree.”
Incumbent WP MPs in Sengkang pledge to push for educational reform, more childcare leave.
On foreign interference in Singapore politics, Pritam said the concern was real, and that was why he extended his rally speech by two minutes on April 26 to address it.
He said then that WP categorically rejected the involvement of any foreign element in Singapore’s politics.
The government had earlier blocked Facebook posts by three foreigners for attempting to interfere in the election.
The authorities directed social media giant Meta to block access to posts by two Parti Islam Se-Malaysia politicians and a former Singaporean who was an Internal Security Act detainee.
One of them had expressed support for WP vice-chair and Tampines GRC candidate Faisal Manap.
Pritam said he was not aware of the Facebook posts until the authorities issued their statement.
Separately, WP also disputed claims by religious teacher Noor Deros that the party’s candidates had agreed to take up concerns raised by asatizah, or Islamic religious teachers, regarding Singapore’s Malay/Muslim community.
Pritam said he had known about this slightly earlier.
“I knew one or two days earlier that there’s this gentleman who’s saying that there’s some secret handshake that the WP has done with him, which was not true,” he said.
On April 28, WP’s Tampines GRC team said it is committed to being the voice for residents and looks forward to having a chance to serve them.
WP candidate Michael Thng said the team has received a warm reception from residents.
“The most common refrain we keep hearing is how long they have waited for us to be here,” he said.
He said his team is committed to ensuring “we get their estate right”.
“We will lean on the experience that we have had in Aljunied, Sengkang and Hougang to ensure that we keep the corridors clean, the plants pruned, the paint fresh, and to ensure that they would have a very nice living environment.”
Responding to Ng’s criticism that WP does not have a plan for areas where it is not the incumbents, Lim said the party can put up feasible plans for an area only if it is in office.
The team has to understand the funding available and the town council’s financial position.
“It doesn’t make sense for contesting teams to make promises that have no substance,” she said. - The Straits Times/ANN
