SINGAPORE: The rallies that the Workers’ Party (WP) has held so far in the run-up to the May 3 polls have been huge. Observers, however, have warned that WP rallies have historically been well attended, but this doesn’t necessarily translate to more votes.
Nevertheless, the gatherings generated a lot of excitement among rally goers, with stirring speeches from the candidates, some of whom have been described as “orators in the making”.
Jamus Lim, who is hoping voters will take him and the WP team at Sengkang into a second term, took to social media late on Monday night (April 28), grateful that Day 6 of what must be a gruelling campaign was over, and shared some insights on how it’s going so far.
One of the points Assoc Prof Lim made concerned the rallies. For him, as well as the Sengkang slate and the new candidates, these are the first in-person rallies since the last general election, in 2020, took place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many have shared about how the electric atmosphere at rallies gets them excited about voting, and that’s great!” he wrote, adding, “Most of the time, politics is only interesting to wonks like myself, but it is a healthy mark of a democracy when, every election cycle, citizens appraise themselves of the issues at stake and make informed decisions on the candidates they would like to have representing their voice for the next half-decade.”
Assoc Prof Lim also thanked the “hundreds of volunteers” who have assisted in numerous ways during the campaign.
“Small parties like us can only succeed through the effort, dedication, and passion of the entire family that are willing to don the blue, take up the hammer, and work for a better Singapore,” he added.
Meanwhile, He Ting Ru, his teammate at Sengkang, was one of the standouts at the WP’s rally at Punggol on Monday night. She took to the stage at the end of the night to say that the WP Members of Parliament (MPs) had “led the charge in Parliament against the sale of NTUC Income in August”.
This marked a change from the previous WP rallies, where WP chief Pritam Singh usually capped the night. However, since the Income-Allianz deal has become a hot-button issue in this election, Ms He gave the closing speech.
This was in response to remarks made by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong last weekend, who said that only one WP MP had raised a question on the Income-Allianz deal and that the WP had abstained from an Amendment Bill meant to block it.
That MP happened to be Ms He, and she took full advantage of the opportunity on Monday night to set the record straight.
“The PAP government heard the people loud and clear. They rushed to pass legislation a few months later to block the sale. The Workers’ Party abstained because existing MAS powers would have allowed the same result without new legislation, and I explained this in Parliament.
“The WP did what any responsible opposition should do: agree with the outcome but not oppose the rushed legislation for the sake of opposing. Overreacting and passing new legislation to give the government new powers it doesn’t need is bad for the rule of law,” she added. /TISG