SINGAPORE — In his review of the year that was, the Workers’ Party Secretary-General and Leader of the Opposition Priam Singh looked back at the struggles Singaporeans faced in the past year due to inflation and high costs of living.
He wrote that 2022 “was to be the return to the days before the pandemic, yet it was not meant to be,” before adding that “The Workers’ Party believes that the struggle for dignity is common to our humanity and thus the voices of the people must be heard. In 2022, we have strived to improve the lives of communities that we serve and of all Singaporeans by speaking up in Parliament on key issues of concern to them.”
This is why WP MPs repeatedly brought up higher living costs, voicing strenuous objection to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike, a one per cent increase which begins implementation tomorrow (Jan 1), with an additional one per cent hike to take effect at the beginning of 2024.
“We objected to the GST rate hike as being ill-timed against this inflationary backdrop and proposed other ways to generate government revenue such as a wealth tax and making corporate tax more progressive,” he wrote, adding that the WP proposed several counter-inflationary measures instead.
The party’s MPs also expressed concerns over housing, “where a crisis of sorts has emerged.”
In September, Mr Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC) made a case for lowering the BTO eligibility age to 28 for singles but underlined that the ‘most pressing issue’ is the supply and availability of homes.
Two months later, Mr Singh asked for a breakdown of the development costs of new HDB flats as well as the dollar value of the subsidies applied to the assessed market price of these flats but was told by Second Minister for Finance and National Development Indranee Rajah that this would not be “helpful or meaningful” for those purchasing them.
Nevertheless, as Mr Singh wrote in his New Year’s message, “we pressed on. We did so because Singaporeans have a right to know more details behind one of the biggest financial outlays in their lifetime.”
The other issues raised by WP in Parliament this year involved jobs, retrenchment, re-employment, and livelihood.
On the ground, “we also sought to galvanise our community of residents and volunteers through various grassroots initiatives,” he added.
This includes the WP Youth Wing Policy Challenge 2022, won by Ms Ng Ziqin for her motion “The Merits of Introducing Compulsory Philosophy Education in Secondary Schools.”
“Nicole Seah, President of the WP Youth Wing, said that this initiative was launched to provide our youths with a platform and to try their hand at parliamentary work. We were heartened by the response from many young Singaporeans, which augurs well for the future of our nation,” wrote Mr Singh.
He also wrote that the WP hosted almost 1,400 people at its National Day Dinner 2022 on Aug 22, “including representatives from churches, temples, mosques, family service centres and community organisations based in Aljunied, Hougang and Sengkang. On that night, all of us were bonded together by our love for our country and comradeship with one another.”
The WP chief ended his message with wishes for the coming year. “As we welcome a new year, I wish to extend my gratitude to all our residents, volunteers, supporters, donors and Party members who have kept faith with us in 2022. Thank you for your belief, energy, time and ideas. I hope you look forward to your journey with us in 2023. Wishing all good health, be safe and well. Happy New Year!”
/TISG
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