People’s Power Party (PPP) chief Goh Meng Seng has dubbed Deputy Prime Minister Heng’s performance in Parliament on Tuesday (5 Nov), as he introduced a motion against the Workers’ Party, a “show of incompetency by PAP 4G leadership”.
DPM Heng, who is expected to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and become Singapore’s fourth head of government after the next election, is widely considered the leader of the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) fourth-generation (4G) slate of leaders.
This week, he introduced a motion calling on Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) to require Workers’ Party MPs Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim to “recuse themselves” from the town council’s financial matters, in the wake of the High Court judgment in the AHTC lawsuit.
Although the motion was eventually passed 52-9 after four hours of debate, Mr Heng’s performance in defending his motion was less-than-stellar.
Those who were present in the House have reported that the DPM was “flustered” and “fumbled” during the debate and called for an abrupt recess when confronted with the WP’s position. He reportedly did not fare much better when he closed the debate either.
In a Facebook post published today (7 Nov), Mr Goh shared his take on Mr Heng’s motion and said that the DPM’s poor performance could be indicative of the quality of leadership in the PAP’s 4G team. He wrote:
“The PM-DESIGNATED HENG was supposed to launch a politically attack at Workers’ Party’s Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim, sinking the whole ship together with its other seven MPs and NCMPs. But for such “routine” act, he fumbled. He was apparently ill prepared and didn’t expect the retort from Lim.
“Didn’t he know WP team could appeal against the judgement? Even if he didn’t prepare for that beforehand, couldn’t he think on his feet and fight back? He was apparently at a loss of words and wits.
“It really worries me because I seriously doubt his capabilities to lead SINGAPORE as our Prime Minister! You can’t just ask for adjournment of meeting or negotiations with foreign leaders just because they brought up points which you didn’t anticipate in advance!”
Asserting that the DPM’s performance has “shown the world that our PAP 4G leaders are really substandard in their planning and decision making process,” Mr Goh added:
“They lack foresight, insights, good coordination and good perspectives of issues at hand before they make decisions or execute their plans. Their performance is rather mediocre and Singaporeans should think twice before they cast their votes in next GE.”
Mr Goh is not the only opposition politician to have criticised Mr Heng in the wake of the parliamentary session on Tuesday. Revealing that the motion greatly angered and disgusted her, WP member Lee Li Lian also criticised Mr Heng’s “embarrassing performance” on social media.
Heng Swee Keat asks WP if it will remove Sylvia Lim from her post as vice-chairman of AHTC