[SINGAPORE] Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh on Tuesday (Apr 29) hit back at Prime Minister Lawrence Wong for characterising the opposition party’s campaigning as “negative politics”.
Delivering the final speech at a rally held at the Bedok Stadium, Singh listed various examples of how opposition wards used to be the last to receive estate upgrading, as well as how opposition MPs are not able to use certain municipal facilities to conduct programmes for its residents.
He said that these are “textbook examples of negative politics” that have been perpetuated by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).
He claimed that the WP’s MPs – the incumbents in Aljunied and Sengkang GRCs and Hougang SMC – have not had access to the community clubs since 1981.
Community clubs – which can be found in most residential estates in Singapore – serve as common spaces for residents to engage in activities or run programmes. They are managed by the People’s Association (PA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth that oversees neighbourhood communities and social organisations.
Singh criticised the PA’s close ties with the unelected PAP grassroots advisers in opposition wards, in contrast to how opposition MPs are often shut out of their activities.
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This included PAP grassroots advisers being provided information on residents recovering from the Covid-19 virus and being able to send them care packages, while WP MPs were not able to.
He also cited how WP MPs are not able to welcome new Singapore citizens in their constituencies, as community clubs are often used as venues for new citizenship ceremonies.
“I’m taken aback by how the PAP does not walk the talk when it speaks of a united Singapore to deal with the challenges of tomorrow,” said Singh.
“Democratically-elected opposition MPs are kept away when new Singaporeans are welcomed to our community. So let me ask Lawrence Wong again, isn’t this a textbook example of negative politics?”
Singh also brought up comments made by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong back in 2006 about how he would have to “fix the opposition” if more of them were elected.
“This is the PAP DNA. I wonder what Prime Minister Lawrence Wong would say about this. Is this negative politics?” Singh added.
Earlier on Tuesday, PM Wong had rebuked the WP for its negative tone and attacks on Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is running in Punggol GRC against the WP. PM Wong also called on the WP to reject “negative politics”.
On Monday, Singh had taken swipes at the PAP’s team in Punggol, and said that it was strange for a Cabinet minister like DPM Gan to not be elected into PAP’s latest central executive committee in 2024, and asked whether it could be because he was ready to retire and did not plan to run in this election.
During Tuesday’s rally, Singh said that a new generation of young Singaporeans deserve to inherit a country “without the artificial lines drawn by the PAP that can create divisive politics”.
He brought up how Hougang and Potong Pasir SMCs – the only two opposition wards before the 2011 election – used to always be the last to have their lifts upgraded.
But those policies were shelved because there were backlash from voters who felt that such differential treatment towards opposition wards were unfair, and this caused the PAP to have a lower vote share.
“PAP only listens when it loses vote share and parliamentary seats to the Workers’ Party,” said Singh.
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