Pritam Singh: Misunderstandings about CECA could have been avoided if gov’t had been transparent earlier

Singapore — Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party head Pritam Singh weighed in on the debate on CECA in Parliament on Tuesday (July 6), saying that had the government been more open with data regarding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India, this would have addressed the misunderstandings over CECA sooner.

Speaking from his experience as a former trade negotiator, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, as well as Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, sought to clarify the issues concerning CECA during the session on Tuesday afternoon, sparring with Progress Singapore Party Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai.

The PSP has had a number of questions concerning CECA, seeking clarifications on the agreement.

Mr Singh said that when WP MP Leon Perera asked the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in 2016 how many intra-corporate transferees (ICTs) are working in Singapore through CECA, the answer given to him is that MOM does not disclose data concerning the breakdown of foreign manpower by nationality.

And when Mr Leong asked a similar question in Feb, the Government said that the number of ICTs is about 5 per cent of all employment pass (EP) holders.

Furthermore, the Manpower Minister said on Tuesday that 500 of the 4,200 ICTs last year are from India.

“If this information had been made known earlier, it does occur to me whether a lot of the misunderstanding, the reaction we see on CECA could have been addressed and actually nipped in the bud,” said Mr Singh.

“And so I hope the Government understands that with more information, actually, we can hold the line better in terms of some of these discussions moving into a realm of xenophobia and so forth,” he added.

One of the issues Singaporeans have been unhappy about concerning CECA is that it allegedly allows the unfettered entry of Indian professionals, which is supposedly linked to anti-Indian sentiment.

Both Mr Ong and Dr Tan sought to untangle the falsehoods around CECA in their speeches.

However, while the Health Minister agreed with the Leader of the Opposition that disclosing some information promptly is better, he added that the government is not always free to reveal some data, which may be classified.

“When it concerns issues like racism or xenophobia, it’s much better to quell it early,” he said.

/TISG

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