[SINGAPORE] The Workers’ Party (WP) on Thursday (Apr 17) launched its manifesto for the upcoming general election, featuring 125 policy proposals across five broad areas.
Titled “Working for Singapore”, it sets out WP’s vision for a more “resilient, inclusive and democratic Singapore”, said Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam.
“We invite Singaporeans to read our manifesto in its entirety and assess for themselves if the policies that we propose are able to take Singapore forward,” he added.
Giam fronted the press conference with Sengkang GRC MPs He Ting Ru and Jamus Lim, who were also involved in preparing the manifesto.
The manifesto’s five chapters are: affordability and cost of living; economic growth and opportunities; inclusion and equality; accountability and democracy; and security and geopolitics.
The first two deal with helping Singaporeans to “cope with cost of living and also to seize economic opportunities”, said Prof Lim.
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For instance, WP reiterated its calls to exempt essential items from the goods and services tax, and introduce redundancy insurance for local workers.
Another focus is housing affordability. Said Prof Lim: “Essentially, what we are trying to address is what we believe is an irreconcilable conflict between asset price appreciation and housing affordability.”
The party suggested having “a clear metric” of affordability for Build-To-Order (BTO) prices. The house price-to-income ratio for first-time BTO applicants should be based on the median income levels of new homeowners, rather than at the national level.
Of the second chapter, Giam said: “Our policies aim to strengthen the Singaporean core and the workforce, uplift SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and prepare workers for future industries through affordable reskilling and CPF (Central Provident Fund) reforms to boost retirement adequacy.”
Switching from “defence to offence”, Prof Lim outlined proposals to help Singapore steer through global trade frictions, such as prioritising local hiring.
For instance, WP proposed a new “fixed-term” work pass for specific industries. To renew or re-issue such passes, employers should have to show that local employees have benefited by acquiring skills.
Inclusion, democracy, geopolitics
Introducing the third and fourth chapters, he said the proposals “further our aims in working towards a country that gives everyone the best chance to flourish”.
Ideas to enhance support for families include providing six days of paid annual leave for caregivers of elderly parents or family members with severe disabilities.
WP also suggested providing childcare leave on a per-child basis up to the age of 12. Currently, parents get six days of childcare leave annually until their child turns seven, capped at 42 days over their lifetime – regardless of how many children they have.
The final section focuses on geopolitics and security, with a call for the full-time national service allowance to be raised to S$1,600 and renamed to a salary, to “reflect the contributions and sacrifices that our young men make”, said Giam.
“Strengthing internal resilience also means strengthening food security,” he added. One proposal is to get major institutional buyers – such as the armed forces, hospitals and prisons – to buy from local farms.
Asked about policy proposals that have appeared before, Giam said today’s manifesto is the “enhanced” version of the GE2020 one.
Some proposals recur because they have yet to be implemented, he added. “We’re not dropping them just because they weren’t implemented by the government.”
Prof Lim added that WP does not propose policies only during elections. “We have been actively engaging in that conversation over the course of the prior five years.”
Asked how WP’s proposals differ from the ruling party’s, Giam said WP does not take reference from the People’s Action Party (PAP) when suggesting policy. Instead, MPs take inputs from residents and assess whether existing policies have gaps.
“If they happen to align with the PAP’s, we make no apologies for that,” he said. “We are leading the PAP with many of these policies.”
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