Opposition slammed for playing up emotions

« Previous

PAP

May 5, 2011

Opposition slammed for playing up emotions

By Rachel Chang

The Opposition in this election has offered only bad proposals or empty rhetoric designed to stoke up anger and disaffection, charged Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on Wednesday night. --ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW

THE Opposition in this election has offered only bad proposals or empty rhetoric designed to stoke up anger and disaffection, charged Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on Wednesday night.

Speaking at a People's Action Party rally at Yishun Stadium, Mr Shanmugam delivered a damning assessment of what he called the opposition's 'primary campaign approach' of playing up emotions for 'pure political gain'.

'There has been no attempt to debate policies on the larger context, and when they do, their policies make no sense,' he told the rally.

Citing proposals the opposition has made on housing, immigration and economic strategy, he characterised them all as 'somewhere between bad and downright crazy'.

On the Workers' Party call to peg the prices of new flats to the median household incomes of eligible buyers, he argued that this would bring the price of all flats down.

He also said that the proposal of Singapore Democratic Party candidate Tan Jee Say, a former top civil servant, to phase out manufacturing in Singapore would cause a loss of 500,000 jobs.