ACCEPTING POLITICAL REALITY
During his speech, Mr Singh rebutted an earlier comment made by Mr Wong, who said on Monday that the WP does not support the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The WP chief said that at the last general election in 2020, the party had opposed the GST hike but did not ask for the tax to be abolished.
“This is a distraction and the PAP should be upfront about it since we have been clearly talking about a GST hike from 7 to 9 per cent and what alternatives there are for it,” he said.
Wrapping up his speech, he addressed Mr Wong’s calls for the WP to be honest in its plans, policies and intentions.
“The reality is that the Workers’ Party is a small party and we have a long way to go,” he said, adding that the party’s medium-term objective is to “ensure that one-third of the seats in this house are not in the PAP’s hands”.
“I want to emphasise that the Workers’ Party intention is not to block all the changes to the Constitution proposed by a PAP government. Far from it,” he said.
“If the constitutional amendments are in the interests of our people, we will support them. But if we assess that the proposed changes to the Constitution are detrimental to Singapore and Singaporeans, we will speak against them and vote against them,” he said.
While the party does not seek a revolution that includes a change of government at this stage of Singapore’s political development, he said PAP should not rest on its laurels as this can change.
“What if a rogue government sprang from the bosom of the PAP?” he asked.
“Singaporeans want an opposition to check the PAP because in their heart of hearts, we all know that ownself check ownself is not realistic. The inherent nature of power makes this unrealistic.”