SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) has seen a “surge” of youth volunteers over the last few elections, and its volunteer base is increasingly made up of people under 25.
Many have not stepped up to become party members yet but their values are aligned with WP’s and their vision for Singapore’s political future, said WP Youth Wing president Nicole Seah.
Ms Seah was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a post-Budget townhall organised by the Youth Wing, held on Saturday at the WP headquarters in Geylang.
In her opening address, Ms Seah said: “We have reached a critical juncture in the election cycle. Turning the clock back to GE2020, you might remember people getting swept up in campaigning. Watching political candidates going at each other in policy debates. Consuming election memes on your phone 24/7.”
She added that there is always a lot of fanfare and excitement in a general election, but what many do not realise is that when the dust settles, there is a lot of hard, invisible work by volunteers that goes unrecognised for years.
Ms Seah also asked the audience to consider participating in WP activities on a deeper level as Parliament enters its customary mid-term break.
Parliament’s mid-term break is from March 24, and it will reconvene on April 10 with a fresh agenda. Ms Seah said: “It (Parliament) is very likely ramping up for the next half of the term that will lead us into the next GE.”
Her speech was followed by an overview of WP policies and speeches from the recent Budget debate by MPs Jamus Lim and Gerald Giam, who lead its policy research team, and a question-and-answer segment moderated by Youth Wing member and former financial journalist Marissa Lee.
Members of the audience asked questions on WP policy points, such as its advocacy for a minimum wage, as well as its opposition to the goods and services tax hike, which saw the tax rise by 1 percentage point this year with another increase of the same amount scheduled for January 2024.
One audience member raised the issue of profiteering amid high inflation and the tax hike, asking: “What can be done?”
In response, Associate Professor Lim, who is an MP for Sengkang GRC, said the Government has convened against profiteering but amid high inflation, it is nearly impossible to tell which are genuine price increases and which are not.
He added that this is one of the reasons the WP opposed the hike in the first place.
Following the session, the MPs and Ms Seah spoke to the media, where they were asked whether youth volunteers were disheartened or had departed from the party due to the incident involving former MP Raeesah Khan, who resigned from the party in 2021 after admitting to lying in Parliament.
Two cadre members closely linked to Ms Khan had also stepped away from party activities about a month after she left WP in November 2021.
Prof Lim, who was Ms Khan’s colleague in Sengkang GRC, said: “It’s important to distinguish between youth being discouraged in general versus those who joined the party because they were strong supporters of Raeesah.
“Inevitably, it is the case that when you feel someone you supported was not well treated, you might become discouraged, and that might cause you to shift out.”
