OPPOSITION WILL SAY, DO “EVERYTHING” TO BRING PAP DOWN
On Saturday, Mr Wong also said that the opposition is “always quick to take credit” whenever the PAP advances something positive, doing so “for their own narrow political objective”.
“But the truth is, the PAP will keep on refreshing and updating our approach – with or without their input,” he said.
“We keep on striving and working hard because of you,” said Mr Wong.
He said that the PAP’s strength and Singapore’s strength do not come from more opposition in parliament.
“It comes from you – the people of Singapore,” he said. “Real strength comes from your inputs, your voice and your trust in the PAP.”
Mr Wong also said that opposition parties will “say and do everything” to bring down the PAP, attributing anything that goes wrong or any grievance to the ruling party.
“If it’s raining, it’s the PAP’s fault,” he said.
Even when an issue has been debated and clarified in parliament, the same false claims would be repeated and new doubts raised to cast the PAP in a negative light, said Mr Wong.
He cited the debate around jobs and foreigners as an example.
He said that although the government has shown that its approach strengthens Singapore’s competitiveness, attracts investments, and creates more good jobs for Singaporeans, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) keeps pushing the same line that foreigners are taking jobs at the expense of Singaporeans.
PSP is fielding a team to contest Chua Chu Kang GRC in this General Election.
Mr Wong said that the opposition party does this because it thinks it is an emotive issue that will give them political mileage.
“Perhaps they have seen this strategy work elsewhere,” added Mr Wong, citing the political situation in the West and how it has resulted in countries becoming more nativist and insular.
While bigger countries like America can survive if they close their doors, Mr Wong asked if Singapore can really afford to go down such a path, adding that “there will be a huge price to pay” if Singapore does so.
He said that some multinational companies are rethinking their presence in Singapore because of the US tariffs situation.
“What message do we want to send to them? If you have the PSP coming into parliament, I think they will conclude – the political risk in Singapore has gone up, policies may start to change and they may decide to move out of Singapore earlier,” said Mr Wong.
“And if they do, who suffers in the end? It is Singaporeans.”
Another policy issue that Mr Wong highlighted was the opposition’s calls to bring down the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates.
Mr Wong noted that while the government has explained that the rising cost of living is a global issue and not caused by the recent GST hikes, opposition parties still persist with “these sorts of distorted arguments”.
He added that with GST vouchers issued for middle- and low-income Singaporeans, the effective GST rates for these groups is below 7 per cent.
If most of the lower- and middle-income pay GST of seven per cent or below, who actually pays the nine per cent rate, Mr Wong asked.
“The people who pay nine per cent are foreigners, tourists and high-income households,” he said. “Don’t you want them to pay nine per cent? I want them to pay nine per cent.”
When the opposition cannot win on arguments, they instead turn to personal attacks, said Mr Wong.
“They say the ‘PAP 4G has lost its way’,” he said, referring to the PSP leaders’ speeches in their election rally on Thursday.
He said they are exploiting voters’ frustrations and turning them against the PAP, not to solve problems but only to score points to improve their chances of getting into parliament.
