Residents of East Coast GRC, my fellow Singaporeans, good evening! Please allow me to speak briefly in Malay and Chinese first and then English.
Singapore has come a long way. We are rightly proud of our progress. But should we let that pride turn us complacent?
I head an international consultancy operating in 8 countries. When I go to other countries like Korea, Japan, the USA and Hong Kong, when I open the newspapers, watch the TV news or listen to their Parliamentary debates, I do not hear a never-ending barrage of statements about how superior they are to everyone else. About how things are so much better than everywhere else.
About 10 years ago, I saw a Korean TV documentary on Korea’s tourism industry. The lead presenter said that we Koreans should be ashamed that Korea is not a great tourism nation and we should strive to become one.
I remember feeling quite shocked. It is rare to hear such talk in Singapore these days about how we should be ashamed about a big national problem and how we must improve. Has anyone in the PAP ever said that we should be ashamed that so many elderly Singaporeans have to work in food courts or collect cardboard boxes and we should solve this problem? No.
They always congratulate themselves and say we are the best in this and that!
We hear statements like, for example, the CPF is a good system but we are going to make it even better. Our education system is among the best in the world but we are going to make it even better.
Do you think the PAP admits frankly when it makes a mistake? In what I call the lost decade before the 2011 general election, the population grew much faster than the infrastructure to support it. Many Singaporeans suffered. Our trains got overcrowded, our property prices skyrocketed, our hospitals became over-crowded and we faced competition for jobs and school places. We all lived through this, we all know the facts.
Did the PAP admit these mistakes squarely? Did they explain in detail how such a massive failure of planning could happen? Did they explain why the Ministry in charge of granting permits to foreigners did not plan with the Ministries in charge of building infrastructure? Did they talk to one another or just ‘Bo Chap’ and do their own things? Up to today they have not explained exactly HOW they will ensure that this never happens again!
My friends, what did we Singaporeans get for this failure? We got one apology from the Prime Minister. One apology! And that apology came with a few days left to go in the 2011 election campaign.
Have you heard any apology since? No.
The PAP likes to gloss over uncomfortable truths.
They use phrases like “we were in a bad place in the property cycle, no one could have anticipated that the prices of resale flats would skyrocket.” Really? When you control the number of foreigners given work passes, when you own most of the land, when most housing is public housing, when you know the rate of new household formation every year, is this the fault of the property cycle? No, it is a failure of government forward planning.
Recently the Minister of Manpower said that the foreign manpower policies adopted in the 2000s were right for that era. But the tightening of foreigner inflow we are doing now is right for today. They do not think that they made any mistakes.
Even when we have an MRT breakdown – I say when not if – the government likes to say that the system is still one of the best in the world. They say: in other cities like London there are more breakdowns. Why don’t we compare ourselves to a country like Japan where there are very few train breakdowns and the Transport Minister gets paid a fraction of what our Ministers get paid?
Honestly, my fellow Singaporeans, is this never-ending self-congratulation healthy for our country, the country that we love?
Why does the PAP always wants to talk about how great they are? Because we have had only one crushingly dominant party in government and Parliament for 50 years. I think they feel a need to justify that dominance by saying that everything is perfect, or close to perfect. Because we are in charge. So keep voting for us.
My friends, this is going to breed complacency. Ultimately it will lead to the decline of Singapore.
A few days ago I represented the Workers’ Party in a TV debate. I started by thanking the PAP for its contributions to Singapore. Ms Denise Phua of the PAP replied by thanking the Workers’ Party for acknowledging the achievements of the PAP. Before coming here, I watched the PAP’s opening and closing statements in that debate again. The two PAP representatives at that debate made hardly any mention of the role of others in the Singapore story – like civil society, businessmen and the people themselves. They kept talking about the PAP. They certainly did not give credit to any opposition party for playing any role whatsoever.
Mr Lawrence Wong said “We are proud of our track record” – twice.
The PAP likes to accuse the Workers’ Party of claiming credit. But honestly my friends they are NUMBER ONE – the Olympic gold medalists – when it comes to claiming credit!
They have claimed credit for everything that goes right in this country. When something go wrong it is airbrushed from history. Or it is the fault of the world economy or some other such force.
The PAP slogan is “With you, for you, for Singapore”… but actually, it’s all about them not you! On my way here, I saw the streets lined with posters of the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister contesting in East Coast GRC?
In my first rally speech I talked about their manifesto being backward-looking. But it is not just the manifesto. The PM’s National Day Rally speech last week, the entire PAP campaign in this GE is all backward-looking, designed to make you think that this election is all about the past 50 years.
But you are voting for the PAP leaders today, not the PAP leaders 50 years ago.
What is the PAP’s vision and program for the next 5 years? They have outlined no bold new vision. They expect your blind faith.
But the Workers’ Party has a manifesto with a coherent vision and specific plans! You can disagree with our proposal. You can say it is boring. But there is a vision and there are plans. Where are theirs?
This shows the danger of relying on one crushingly dominant party to steer the country.
There is another model, my friends.
- Balance instead of dominance.
- Passionate striving for improvement instead of complacency.
- Admitting mistakes and preventing their recurrence instead of pretending that there were no mistakes.
- Humility instead of arrogance.
There is another way. That way is not to depend only on a strong state dominated by one entrenched party. It is to rely on a strong civil society, a strong private sector, an active citizenry and a strong, responsible Opposition.
That way is about all stakeholders finding solutions together, not just ramming policies down our throats through speed-reading in Parliament.
We want to ensure free and fair debate about Singapore’s problems and Singapore’s solutions, not a debate where we only hear the good stuff.
In our manifesto, we propose a Public Consultation Select Committee and Standing Select Committees in Parliament to debate bills before they become law and to scrutinize each Ministry’s spending, policies and operations. We propose freeing up our newspaper and broadcasting industry to open, regulated competition. And we call for an end to the requirement that internet news websites need to comply with cumbersome registration requirements.
Which vision is better, ours or the PAP’s? Which vision will better secure your future and your children’s future?
Do you want a culture of passionate striving? Do you reject complacency?
Then please support us to entrench a responsible opposition in Singapore politics.
Vote Workers’ party to empower your future!