Singapore — On Tuesday (July 7), the People’s Action Party’s team for Nee Soon GRC held an online rally. In the e-rally, Mr K Shanmugam took a shot at their competitors in the General Election, the Progress Singapore Party, for not having plans for both Covid-19 and Nee Soon.
Mr Shanmugam, who addressed the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, praised the healthcare and frontline workers for doing “an exceptional job”.
He said that the ministerial task force, of which he is a member, faced a challenging crisis, such as worries over having adequate medical supplies and protecting healthcare workers. The way the pandemic had adversely affected all aspects of society was why there was a multi-ministry task force to take the lead in handling the crisis, “to make sure that we keep going without interruption”.
Mr Shanmugam said: “Throughout this period, we worked with local and international experts, we took advice, we made decisions in the best interests of Singaporeans.”
He then referred to the PSP: “Throughout this period, I don’t recall any suggestions from PSP, who are competing here, on what can be done or what could have been done better on Covid. Nothing. And even now they say nothing.”
Moving on to Covid-19 as an economic crisis, he spoke about the large-scale economic disruption caused by the virus. He elaborated on what the government has done to ease the economic hardship for both individuals and companies in the nation.
With Covid-19 being such a dire health and economic threat, he said: “After the elections, you are going to need the best team, a strong government, united with people to deal with this.”
Moving beyond the national crisis, he zoomed into the constituency itself, questioning the plans of the PSP. “What are the opposition’s plans for Nee Soon? They say they won’t reveal the plans yet. I think that means they have no plans,” he said.
However, Mr Shanmugam pointed out one thing that he said the PSP had shared.
He said: “Mr Bowyer said, they want more Singaporeans to be cleaners in the Nee Soon Town Council. So that is their plan for Nee Soon. More jobs for Singaporeans as cleaners in our town council. I say Singaporeans deserve better.”
Mr Shanmugam reiterated his stance that he felt that PSP’s contest in Nee Soon is a half-hearted one, bringing up once again the exchange between the Reform Party and the PSP on which party should contest in the constituency.
PSP Assistant Secretary-General Leong Mun Wai had previously addressed this accusation of “horse-trading”. This is what Mr Leong had said:
The PAP’s Nee Soon GRC team comprises Mr Shanmugam, A/P Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Mr Louis Ng, Ms Carrie Tan and Mr Derrick Goh.
They will be going up against the PSP team of Mr Brad Bowyer, Mr Damien Tey, Ms Kalla Manickam, Mr S Nalla and Mr Taufik Supan. /TISG