SINGAPORE: The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has reportedly taken its criticism about the Workers’ Party’s (WP) position on housing from the Straits Times forum page to Edusave Award ceremonies.
Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean appeared at an awards ceremony in his Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC on 26 Feb and allegedly used the occasion to criticise the WP, according to parents who attended the event.
The Edusave awards are awarded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to deserving students. As a part of the civil service, the MOE is supposed to serve all Singaporeans regardless of political party affiliations but opposition parliamentarians are not invited to their Edusave award ceremonies.
One of the parents who attended an awards ceremony Mr Teo presided over said that the Senior Minister took the opportunity to criticise the WP. The parent shared a photo of Mr Teo standing in front of a screen showing a slide about the WP’s housing policy – a policy that multiple PAP politicians have criticised, this year.
The parent added on her Instagram story that her family had an unpleasant experience at the ceremony and that the Senior Minister “hijacked” the event with his presentation on unrelated issues. She asked:
“With all due respect, we are here to celebrate our children’s achievements. Why do you put us through this?”
Asserting that the event should have been about sincerely congratulating the children, she said: “The last time I attended this, the same thing happened. But it was not so bad. It was about the new bus service that would link Pasir Ris to Tampines more quickly. But today, it’s a little much.”
The disgruntled parent added, “You think the children and their parents want to hear about how you feel about WP? It’s tak bertempat. Tolong la. (not a suitable place for political discussions, please)”
This is not the first time the PAP has taken to a platform outside Parliament to air their disagreements with WP policies. Last month, Kebun Baru SMC MP Henry Kwek chose to use the Straits Times forum page repeatedly to air his rebuttals to WP’s remarks on housing.
PAP MP keeps using ST Forum to rebut WP politicians’ parliamentary remarks
https://theindependent.sg/teo-chee-hean-should-focus-on-more-important-things-instead-of-a-family-dispute-filmmaker/
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