In its statement on Wednesday, WP questioned why the Government chose to bring up the issue only now and not clarify the matter in Parliamentary debates in 2018 or anytime since, including the latest Budget, if the government had found WP’s stance vague or unclear.
“As leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh pointed out in Parliament, the Government’s raising the issue of the WP’s stance on the GST serves to distract the attention of Singaporeans,” said WP’s statement.
The opposition party said that its statements in Parliament in 2018 made clear that the party was not calling for the GST to be reduced to zero per cent, and that the party would have made the call “explicitly” if it had intended to do so.
WP said that “no response from PAP Members of Parliament was forthcoming” when Mr Perera asked in Parliament last week to cite evidence that members of the opposition party had called for GST to be reduced from 7 per cent to zero in 2018.
Responding to Mr Chee’s opinion on WP hypothetically changing its stance on a 9 per cent GST in the future, the opposition party said that future PAP governments may adopt policy positions advanced by the WP today, “much as former PAP governments implemented WP positions in the past”.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Mr Chee noted that on the issue of affordable housing, PAP’s Saktiandi Supaat had highlighted in Parliament that the WP’s Mr Louis Chua previously co-authored a report with his Credit Suisse colleagues in January 2023.
The report stated that public housing in Singapore is “affordable”, said Mr Chee.
“Yet just one month later, Mr Chua joined his fellow WP MPs in Parliament to criticise the government for not providing affordable public housing, and to call for HDB flat prices to be further reduced.”
Mr Chee said that Mr Chua was “not credible” for claiming that there was no contradiction between the report and his own statements in Parliament.
“The responsible and honest thing to do would have been for him to either stick to his original professional views or declare upfront that he had shifted his position and explain why,” wrote Mr Chee.
Replying to the issue, WP said that Mr Chua had made clear that the paper was written in his capacity as a commercial research analyst, and was intended to advise investors on where they can make profits in the housing market.
“His paper advised that HDB housing was affordable from the standpoint of prices not curbing sales transactions and not resulting in mass mortgage defaults, considerations relevant to investors when making commercial decisions,” said WP.
The party added that neither Mr Chee nor any other PAP MP rose in Parliament to express dissatisfaction with Mr Chua’s reply and ask him for clarifications.