Workers’ Party chief and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh spoke at the WP Youth Wing volunteer town hall on Saturday (Sept 3), underlining the importance of groundwork and regular outreach in the party’s efforts “to represent the voices of Singaporeans.”
“Always an eye-opener speaking to younger Singaporeans on issues they care about,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Sept 4.
Ms Nicole Seah, the party’s Youth Wing President, called it an “insightful afternoon for the attendees.”
“It was also a trip down memory lane as LO used to be a WPYW exco member when he was elected to parliament in 2011!” the Youth Wing noted.
Indeed, Mr Singh opened his speech with a recollection of his experiences, “fondly remember(ing) some events we tried to organise.”
He told attendees that they had once invited the Inter-Religious Organisation of Singapore or the IRO, a Non-Governmental Organisation, to talk to the WP “about multi-racialism, respect for different faith groups and inter-racial harmony in Singapore.”
However, the invite was turned down, even though some IRO members had been “supportive of the request and keen to participate.”
“I suppose the best thing about being associated with a youth-related entity like the Workers’ Party Youth Wing is that you don’t really care about how you are perceived by others and try to do adventurous and unconventional things anyway.”
However, he added that they still needed to clear their ideas with the Party Central Executive Committee before launching anything.
Mr Singh also said that he gleaned from the attendees’ list that some who had come were associated with causes they’ve embraced, “ranging from advocacy for foreign workers to many others.”
He underlined that “All this is part of the important journey many of us take when we are young or young at heart, and continue to take throughout our lives, not just in our youth – Fighting for a cause beyond ourselves and our immediate preoccupations.”
He also said that the WP cannot rest on its laurels, as everything it has achieved may still be lost.
“But let me be clear, none of us in the Workers’ Party should be under the illusion that the Workers’ Party has arrived. Everything we have achieved can be easily frittered away and lost, particularly if the Party is not rowing in the same direction in the public eye.”
Hence, the importance of house visits and public outreach through activities such as the sale of the Hammer, and the WP newsletter, on weekends.
“Through these activities, you get a personal sense of our median society, meet people you may not readily meet in the day-to-day course of your life. These things open your eyes and minds to the nuances that are a reality in Singapore – and by extension, what is politically possible and what isn’t. This does not happen in the course of one or two or even months of such engagement, but requires much effort and time,” he added.
Mr Singh also said that he and his fellow members of the WP “are determined not to let Singaporeans down,” which would happen if there is no political opposition in the country.
“The unity we seek as a nation with our fellow countrymen will weaken and this would be a disaster for not just the political system, but our sense of nationhood too. In the ring of adversarial politics, let us never forget that a key outcome the Workers’ Party seeks is a better Singapore for all Singaporeans and a home we can all be proud of.” /TISG
Concerned residents talk to Pritam Singh about rising prices of HDB resale flats