Leon Perera – Despite the sarcasm Low Thia Khiang drew from PAP, WP will fight on

Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leon Perera commenting on the proceedings in Parliament in the past few days noted that, “most of the People’s Action Party members of the House were present for this particular debate (on the Motion of the NCMP seat), (but that) over the past few days, when the House debated national issues and Parliamentary questions, the attendance often dipped to 30 or 40 (or less)”.
He took a dig at the People’s Action Party, calling it “Interesting priorities.”
Mr Perera asks Singaporeans to read the text of the PAP’s amendment to the Workers’ Party’s motion. “It speaks volumes about their approach to politics and Parliamentary debate,” he said.
Referring to the question posed to him in Parliament asking him why he accepted the NCMP position if he opposed the NCMP scheme as bad for Singapore in the longer-term, Mr Perera said, “I believe the NCMP scheme serves the PAP’s interests by enabling it to ask voters to vote only for the PAP to entrench the current one party hyper-majority in Parliament.”
It is fully elected Opposition MPs who assure political balance”, he emphasised.
He drew reference to the sarcasm Mr Low got in Parliament from the PAP MPs when he tried to better explain why the political party opposed the NCMP scheme.
“But, as Mr Low Thia Khiang explained (amidst occasional laughter from the PAP MPs), we need to work within a flawed system, one that keeps getting changed and “refreshed” by the ruling party.”
Asking, why the opposition party still “do this” despite all the ridicule and sarcasm, the opposition member said that it is because of its commitment to do whatever the Party can to “help build a democratic society”.
He reminded Singaporeans that in the 1960s, the Barisan Sosialis left Parliament in protest at what they saw as unjust policies. WP will be different he pointed out. It will choose to “stay and work within the system, in spite of its many unfair aspects and challenges”.
“A democratic society has to be fought for, step by step and brick by brick,” the NCMP believes.