Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan has hit out at the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in a video he published on social media, this week.
Speaking in Cantonese, the opposition politician criticised the ruling party’s policies and asserted that the PAP will give voters a “chicken wing” before elections only to take back the “whole chicken” after the elections are over.
Dr Chee focused particularly on the difficulties the elderly in Singapore faced, in the video published on Tuesday (30 July).
Giving an example of the promises the PAP doles out before elections, he cited Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s election promise in 2015 when he said that elderly Singaporeans “deserve peace of mind in their golden years” and should “live out their years with dignity.”
This, however, is not the reality on the ground for many senior citizens today. Asserting that the elderly have “difficulty in making ends meet,” Dr Chee highlighted the fact that senior citizens have to continue working in their twilight years just to get by and pointed out that many elderly Singaporeans work as cleaners to eke out a living.
Partially attributing this to the Government’s policies that do not allow “retirees to take back their CPF savings at 55 years old,” Dr Chee highlighted the plight of senior citizens – some of whom “have to sleep on the streets and McDonalds because they are homeless” or contemplate suicide seeing “no way out” of their bleak financial situations.
Noting that the number of suicides among senior citizens is at a record high since 1991, Dr Chee added that the young also have their fair share of financial burdens, with many retrenched workers “turning to driving taxis and Grab cars” due to foreign competition.
Dr Chee also highlighted the rising cost of living in Singapore, with the increasing price of basic necessities, the increasing town council fees and public education fees and the recent 30 per cent water price hike as examples of how the PAP will “make you pay and pay.”
He asserted: “Before elections, it will lower the price of this and that, like giving you kopi for 50 cents and get your vote. But after the elections, it will increase prices again and more, then take back the money it “gave” you before. Before elections, it will give you a chicken wing. After elections, it takes back a whole chicken.”
https://www.facebook.com/cheesoonjuan/videos/889767208042347/