‘More vouchers?’ Singaporeans on what they expect from PM Wong’s National Day Rally speech

SINGAPORE: After it was announced on Wednesday (Jun 18) that Prime Minister (PM) Lawrence Wong will be delivering the National Day Rally speech on Aug 17, commenters online expressed what they were looking forward to or expected from it.

The PM’s Office said that the speech will be held at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central in Ang Mo Kio.

This is the second time Mr Wong will be giving the speech, and the first since Singapore handed the People’s Action Party (PAP) a very strong mandate in last month’s General Election.

The speech is widely recognised to be the most significant political one of the year, since important policy announcements are made.

In last year’s speech, PM Wong made announcements concerning SkillsFuture, public housing, and other social support measures.

This year, based on comments online, a number of Singaporeans appear to expect more announcements about vouchers.

One Facebook user, perhaps mostly in jest, wrote that they expected the speech to be “50% about vouchers.”

A Reddit user decided to play it twee, writing “Papa Wong, I want more vouchers.”

Others, however, decided to take things more seriously, and more than a few netizens across various social media platforms expressed hope for a rollback on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike.

For one, however, public housing was high on their wish list.

“I just want affordable housing for young and future Singaporeans. Million-dollar public housing while the youth struggle with one of the worst job markets in history,” they wrote.

“Housing, housing, housing. The snowball keeps growing bigger,” another agreed.

A commenter on Reddit was also concerned about jobs, writing, “Please do something to prevent companies /jobs from leaving. Once they leave, they can only return back to our shores in next five to 10 years given the investments and commitment of their contracts in the countries they relocate to, so what will happen to us during these years, eat grass?”

For one Facebook user, meanwhile, wi-fi costs are a big concern.

“Your speech should include reducing internet, WiFi Data cost for the people. Currently, it is just too high. Many competitors in the market, but all are game to con and swindle the people money. First month price is good. Second month, they just increase it like crazy…  We want you to address these issues if we are to move forward Sir.” /TISG

Read also: IN FULL: Lawrence Wong stresses strategies to navigate new world in maiden National Day message as PM