WP: Singapore should leave no stone unturned to build a resilient nation for the future

SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party (WP) issued a response to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s National Day Rally speech on August 17, calling on the government to look into all solutions, including ones that have yet to be tapped, in ensuring Singapore’s future amid troubled times.

The WP, the only opposition party represented in Parliament, quoted the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) as having warned recently concerning the likelihood of persistent global economic uncertainty that could affect hiring and wage growth, particularly in outward-oriented sectors. The MOM also noted a decrease in wage expectations in outward-oriented sectors such as financial insurance services, professional services, transportation, and storage.

“Against this cautious backdrop, the Workers’ Party urges the government to engage widely and explore all solutions tabled in good faith, including previously untapped ones. Singapore should leave no stone unturned in our collective efforts to build a truly resilient nation for the future and keep our Singapore flag flying high.”

The party also urged the government to address the issues that businesses and employees face, including increasing rental rates. Aside from other effects, this could cause the rate of real income growth of 0.7 per year over the past five years to slow down.

The WP also asked for underemployment measures to be urgently tracked and regularly published, as this would allow people to evaluate if the efforts to get workers into suitable full-time employment have been successful.

As it has done repeatedly in the past, the party has again called for the implementation of a statutory minimum wage.

In a similar vein, the WP repeated its call for aligning Singapore’s school curriculum with today’s changing needs through a collaboration between the Ministries of Education and Manpower “to ensure continuous alignment between our education system and the evolving needs of our economy.

Singapore should implement skill-demand feedback loops from industry on three levels: (a) curriculum design, (b) funding for structural skill-gap areas, and (c) career guidance for students.”

It further called for more allied educators, which would result in smaller class sizes and give students the necessary individual attention to help prepare them for life at a time when AI is increasingly prevalent.

“Ultimately, our goal is to create an education system that develops well-rounded individuals with the confidence and capabilities to succeed in an ever-evolving world,” the WP wrote, calling as well for better safety nets amid AI-related disruptions, such as redundancy insurance and retrenchment benefits for companies with at least 25 employees.

As for an issue that several of its MPs have spoken about lately, the job market for the youth, it noted the new government-funded traineeship announced by PM Wong, but urged the government “to ensure that the programme is designed with safeguards to ensure their effectiveness and fairness. State-sponsored internships and apprenticeships must not be used by companies only as a source of cheaper, subsidised labour.” /TISG

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