SDP chief Chee Soon Juan said SDP candidates are committed to becoming full-time MPs, taking aim at ruling party MPs who also hold full-time jobs. - ST/ANN
SINGAPORE: If elected into Parliament, candidates from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will outdo those from the PAP any time in managing town councils and raising pertinent issues in Parliament, SDP chief Chee Soon Juan told voters in Sembawang at a rally on April 27.
That is because the SDP candidates are committed to becoming full-time MPs, he added, taking aim at ruling party MPs who also hold full-time jobs.
“Most, if not all, PAP MPs have a full-time job on the side, and they do their MP duties only on a part-time basis... I just don’t see how anyone can possibly do it on a part-time basis,” said Dr Chee.
Speaking at a field next to Sun Plaza, he noted that his opponent Poh Li San had “accused (him) of not doing ‘real work’” in Sembawang West SMC, the single seat that they are both vying for in this election.
Before Nomination Day, Poh had told the media that residents would be able to “discern clearly between who has done real work and is committed to stay here... versus someone who just shows up one month before the election”.
Dr Chee said on April 27: “This real work can only be done if you spend your working hours full-time in the estate and among the residents Monday to Friday, not just on weekends.”
Poh is senior vice-president at Changi Airport Group.
Dr Chee added that while many PAP MPs were performing their duties only on a “part-time basis”, they continued to draw an allowance of about S$16,000 (US$12,164) a month.
“Tell me how many of you can work part-time and draw $16,000 a month,” he said to the crowd.
In addition to Sembawang West SMC, the SDP is contesting Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Sembawang GRC and Bukit Panjang SMC.
SDP’s slate for Sembawang GRC comprises party vice-chairman Bryan Lim, 49; treasurer Surayah Akbar, 42; deputy head of policy James Gomez, 60; and party members Damanhuri Abas, 54, and Alfred Tan, 59.
Several of them also took aim at Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who is the anchor minister for the PAP’s Sembawang GRC slate, comprising two new faces – Ng Shi Xuan, 35, and Gabriel Lam, 42, alongside incumbent MPs Vikram Nair, 46, and Mariam Jaafar, 48.
Tan said the Government “(taxes) and spends like nobody’s business”, adding that there was a lot of wastage, such as in the healthcare sector.
For a small country, having three healthcare clusters was unnecessary and had resulted in three times the administrative costs, manpower costs and infrastructure costs, he added.
“All these brainwashed, blind followers of the PAP, stop asking where the money is coming from. Ask instead – where is the money going to,” he said.
He urged Sembawang GRC voters not to worry about voting out the PAP and losing a minister, adding that the SDP had a “more relevant and qualified health minister for the country” in SDP chairman Paul Tambyah, who is an infectious diseases senior consultant at National University Hospital.
Gomez, meanwhile, said Singapore’s health policies had pushed up medical costs and resulted in much stress for caregivers, and put the blame on Health Minister Ong, whom he described as “unresponsive” and “underperforming”.
Professor Tambyah said that amid a turbulent global climate, what Singapore needed was a fresh set of ideas, diverse views and honest arguments, instead of a “not-so-fresh team resolved to keep doing the same thing”.
Therefore, voting in opposition MPs would not be risky for Singapore, and would in fact put the country in a better position to address the fresh challenges it faces, he added.
Besides the PAP, the SDP is also up against a team from the National Solidarity Party (NSP) in Sembawang GRC.
Damanhuri took a dig at NSP when he said: “Ong Ye Kung did express somewhat of a concern when he learnt that SDP is coming into Sembawang GRC. It has been easy-peasy with their last opponent, am I right?”
In the 2020 General Election, the PAP won Sembawang GRC with 67.29 per cent of the vote against the NSP.
“Minister Ong Ye Kung also now must realise that the SDP GRC team are not a bunch of fly-by-nights. We are serious contenders for this GRC; we want to win,” said Damanhuri. - The Straits Times/ANN
