Voters should see through the “propaganda” that the PAP is an exceptional party which does not need an elected opposition to hold them accountable, SDP chief Chee Soon Juan said.
In his lunchtime rally speech yesterday, the opposition politician listed a litany of missteps by the PAP government in the last few years to urge voters to send the Singapore Democratic Party’s candidates to Parliament.
Chee also led the SDP’s call for Singaporeans to reject the PAP’s “fearmongering” that more opposition in the House would weaken the government’s ability to field a strong team.
Speaking at UOB Plaza a day after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s Fullerton rally on the same stage, Chee cited the PAP government’s “scandals and screw-ups” to argue that Singapore would be stronger with more opposition MPs.
Among the cases he cited were Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s handling of former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan Jin’s affair and the Ridout Road rentals by Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
These incidents showed that the PAP is not the exceptional party it says it is, said Chee, who is standing in the new Sembawang West SMC.
“Most of all, acknowledge and accept the fact that the PAP needs meaningful opposition in Parliament to govern Singapore better,” he said.
SDP’s candidate for Sembawang GRC, James Gomez, said it was “nonsense” that the PAP would not be able to govern effectively if there were more opposition MPs.
Dr Gomez said such logic was unbelievable, and came from the PAP’s desperation.
“Losing ministers will be a problem for the PAP, not for Singaporeans.”
He added: “If (PM) Wong says that his team can only function when given unchecked power, then the problem is not with us Singaporeans, but with the PAP – a PAP that fears scrutiny.” — The Straits Times/ANN
