PAP handouts are not lasting solutions but temporary reprieves, says SDP’s Bryan Lim

Singapore — An opposition Singapore Democratic Party politician has gone on social media to remind Singaporeans that People’s Action Party “handouts are not lasting solutions” but “temporary reprieves which the PAP uses to make voters feel beholden to them”.

He added that this should not be the case since these handouts come from the financial contribution of the voters themselves.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Sept 8), SDP Treasurer Bryan Lim highlighted how PAP handouts before an election were effective in making Singaporeans forget what the party had actually done.

Mr Lim included a photo of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, with a quote said by the latter on Nov 24, 2014. “The PAP will always be on the side of Singapore and of Singaporeans, and we will always do its best for Singapore and for Singaporeans.”

However, the image also lists price increases after the 2015 General Election.

“Policy adjustments are the ultimate long-term solutions,” added Mr Lim. He attached a link to an SDP proposal, entitled A Better Life For All: Keeping The Cost of Living In Singapore Affordable, first released in March 2019. It is a 10-point plan geared towards making Singapore a more affordable place to call home.

The SDP suggested, among others, cutting ministerial pay to fund assistance schemes for the poor, raising the income tax rate for the top one per cent, ensuring revenue-neutral Budgets, scrapping the GST (Goods and Services Tax) for essential items while raising it for luxury goods, and legislating a minimum wage.

Mr Lim was in the four-member SDP team that contested against a PAP team in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC in the recent General Election. His team received 36.82 per cent of the vote there and the PAP team 63.18 per cent.

Read the policy here.

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