Rising cost of living residents' top concern at WP's Sengkang town hall

Rising cost of living ahead of next January's goods and services tax (GST) increase was the top concern aired by residents at a town hall in Sengkang on Sunday.

About 30 residents attended the session in a multipurpose hall in Compassvale, where they spoke to Sengkang GRC MPs Jamus Lim, He Ting Ru and Louis Chua. Other issues raised were mental health in schools and wealth inequality.

Associate Professor Lim said the Workers' Party (WP) will continue to argue against the proposed GST increase in Parliament, as well as for alternative forms of taxation, such as wealth or carbon taxes, to make up more of government revenue.

The GST rate will be increased from 7 per cent to 9 per cent in two stages - one percentage point each time on Jan 1, 2023, and on Jan 1, 2024. Inflation here and globally has spiked in recent months due in part to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The town hall was held as part of a new series of forums organised by the Sengkang MPs called Sengkang Conversations. These are meant for residents to give their opinions or ask questions on national and local issues, the WP said.

Sunday's session was the second such town hall.

The first was held via Zoom in January, and the team intends to run sessions on a quarterly basis, Ms He said. Participants can be quoted but not named, for frank discussion.

Speaking on rising costs, one resident asked if the MPs could ask in Parliament if GST increases can be tiered across different classes of goods, for example, limiting the increase to luxury goods.

In response, Ms He, who chairs the Sengkang Town Council, said the resident's suggestion was in line with her own arguments for certain essential goods, such as food or healthcare, to be exempted.

Mr Chua said communicating residents' worries about rising costs is a key concern for Sengkang's MPs as the area is largely made up of public housing.

He told The Straits Times: "People come up to us, saying the price of eggs or fuel has increased, and all this eats into their household budgets… It is a looming concern and source of stress."

Asked about the whole of Sengkang town coming under the town council's direct management from next year, Mr Chua said his team will apply its experience from managing Anchorvale ward, which it has been managing since October last year.

Mr Chua, who is the town council's vice-chairman, said: "We're working with the service provider to ensure a smooth transition, it's all about scaling up what we've been doing already at Anchorvale and we have ample time as the handover is next year."

The team had earlier failed to secure a new vendor to take over from EM Services after putting out a tender in April.

January's session was where the MPs announced how Sengkang would be divided between the three of them after the resignation of Ms Raeesah Khan last November following her admission of lying in Parliament.

Addressing how the MPs are managing the new arrangement, Ms He said: "Of course the workload has increased. But we have the support of our party and they are helping by stepping in at various points."

WP veteran and Aljunied GRC MP Faisal Manap drops in once a month to helm Meet-the-People Sessions at Ms Khan's old ward, Compassvale, Ms He added.

One resident said it would be good for the team to introduce their prospective fourth member earlier to residents so they could get to know them, to which Ms He said: "This is a valuable suggestion which we will take on board."