SINGAPORE: The opposition has a role to play in Singapore’s maturing democracy, with the country needing both “serious government and serious opposition”, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Friday (Apr 21) in response to Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh.
“I believe there is a role for the opposition to play in our politics, in our democracy, and a very important role to campaign for your ideas and your proposals to hold the elected government to account and to offer serious alternatives to the government,” Mr Wong said on the fifth day of the debate on the President’s Address.
Over the past few days, ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) from both sides of the House have sparred several times over comments made by Mr Wong earlier this week about how the opposition should provide concrete alternatives and “not just opportunistic or populist ideas”.
During his speech, Mr Singh (WP-Aljunied) rejected criticisms that the Workers’ Party (WP) has no serious policies or that it advances populist ideas, adding that it was “a most unfair charge” levelled at the WP.
Joining the debate on Friday, Mr Wong said he accepts Mr Singh’s view and that both sides “may well have to agree to disagree”.
He added that he had raised the point about the future of Singapore’s democracy due to worries over how populism has divided and polarised more developed democracies elsewhere in the world.
Singapore is not immune from this risk and if populism takes root here, it will cause “great damage to Singapore and Singaporeans” in the long term, he said.
As such, the government rejects all forms of populism and seeks to “uphold honesty and integrity in policymaking”, added Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
“If the government were ever to fall short of these standards, we expect the opposition to call us out and say so. Please do. You have to do it, we expect you to do it,” he said.
“Conversely, if the opposition were to propose ideas and policies that we feel are populist, we likewise will highlight them and highlight our concerns, rightfully so. I hope that’s our common understanding of how we can take Singapore’s politics and democracy forward.”
In response, Mr Singh said in the course of debate, both sides of the House “will be going back and forth at each other’s proposals and ideas”.
“But insofar as populism and opportunism are concerned, I am quite certain that DPM means that ought to work both ways,” he added, noting that it “cannot be a case of pointing fingers at the opposition and accusing them of that when certain actions of ruling party politicians on the ground are no better”.
“But having said that, I accept DPM’s concerns of our democracy and certainly the Workers’ Party, and I hope the opposition in general, will be mindful going forward and work towards the betterment of Singapore and Singaporeans,” said the WP chief.
The opposition comprises nine WP MPs and two Non-Constituency MPs from the Progress Singapore Party.