DPM Teo questions if Hougang voters being taken for granted
Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Sunday questioned if the Workers' Party has taken Hougang voters for granted.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at the People's Action Party's first Hougang by-election rally on May 20, 2012. (Photo: Siti Bazilah, channelnewsasia.com)
SINGAPORE: Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Sunday questioned if the Workers' Party has taken Hougang voters for granted.
Speaking at the first PAP rally for the Hougang by-election, Mr Teo, who is the first assistant secretary-general of the PAP, pointed to the way the Workers' Party had handled the Yaw Shin Leong affair.
The expulsion of former Hougang MP Mr Yaw from the Workers' Party had directly led to this by-election.
Mr Teo said the Workers' Party has now put up another candidate, and its secretary-general Low Thia Khiang is acting as if "nothing has happened" and is "pulling on the emotions" of voters.
"Hougang residents should consider carefully, and not just accept any candidate that WP is sending to them," he said. "You have scrutinised Desmond Choo very carefully but scrutinise the candidate that they send to you very closely as well."
"I watched Mr Png on Nomination Day. He spoke in three languages - English, Chinese, Teochew - but what is his message?" Mr Teo asked.
"His only message was 'send me to Parliament' in English, Chinese and Teochew. But (if you) think very carefully, the WP decided not to send Png Eng Huat to parliament when they could have done so."
Mr Teo explained that when the WP had to choose one member from their East Coast GRC team to send to Parliament as a Non-Constituency MP, they did not choose Mr Png.
"If he was their best man, why didn't they choose him?" Mr Teo asked.
"Is Hougang so special, that the WP is sending you a candidate that they themselves decided not to send to Parliament when they had the chance?"
"Is it possible that they are pulling on your emotions and really taking you for granted?" Mr Teo questioned.
Mr Teo stressed that this by-election was about who could serve Hougang residents better, not about who forms the government or about ensuring opposition members in parliament.
"They say there is now an imbalance in Parliament but what has contributed to that so-called imbalance? The seat here was vacated not because of anything the PAP did. The seat here was vacated when they sacked the MP they recommended to you. Now they tell you there is an imbalance, so you must vote in a WP candidate. It's not how many MPs there are from this party or that party but whether they are good people and can live up to the trust that you have placed in them."
On national issues raised by the Workers' Party, Mr Teo pointed to the various policies and programmes the government has rolled out to address them.
These include building more new flats to stabilise property prices and schemes such as the Workfare Income Supplement to raise the wages of low wage workers.
Mr Teo said these were "real concrete things" that make Singaporeans' lives better.
He questioned what the Workers' Party has done for Singaporeans.
"It is easy to talk, but even the WP when it honestly confronts the issues we face... it has changed its previous positions and came out with solutions that are not so different from what the PAP is doing. The WP had previously argued for less foreign workers but changed its mind in the recent budget debate. The WP now says that we should not reduce foreign workers in several major industries. I don't know what they are saying in their rallies but I hope they have not changed their mind again.
"On ministerial salaries, they spoke loudly and fiercely at election rallies just one year ago. But in parliament this year, they quietly abandoned their previous drastic proposals without explaining why. Their top leaders remained totally silent during the debate. Instead, the WP endorsed the same key principles as the review committee and came up with a proposal which was very similar. I hope they don't change their position again.
"And when it came to voting for this year's budget, the WP MPs voted "aye". They agreed with the budget, the measures and the programmes. But now, on the rally stage, they are posturing and making strong criticisms. Are they changing their tune again, doing the twist, playing their guitars and singing the song which will give them the most appeal to the audience?"
Both Mr Teo and candidate Desmond Choo spoke in English, Mandarin, Teochew and Malay.
Much of Mr Choo's speech was devoted to his track record in Hougang, and he tackled the question thrown at him from the Workers' Party about where he gets funding for the programmes he has rolled out.
"I work hard to raise funds from many private donors, sponsors and businesses. I pushed for government funded schemes to be fast-tracked in Hougang. I also worked with charitable organisations on projects to benefit residents. But somehow, someone on Saturday thought it was wrong for me to have done so. Do you think I should continue helping people?"
Mr Choo appealed to voters in Hougang, saying he is serving them for the long term even though it wasn't easy losing the May General Election.
"It wasn't easy to stand up in front of the whole nation and take a defeat. I feel I must have been the worst performing candidate at that time. I lost badly. There was a 30 per cent spread. Was I disappointed? Of course I'm disappointed. I found it hard to get back but I knew that I had to get over my disappointment because you are my family."
Over 23,000 voters will go to the polls on Saturday, May 26 for the Hougang by-election.
