GE2025: Campaigning should not generate ‘heat’ without providing solutions, says Chan Chun Sing

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SINGAPORE – Campaigning should not be about stirring up people’s emotions or anger without providing them with “real, tangible solutions”, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said on April 30.

Defining what he termed “positive campaigning”, Mr Chan said it should be about presenting the electorate with options and not about having debates that generate “heat without light”, he told reporters before a walkabout at Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market and Food Centre with the PAP’s Tanjong Pagar GRC team.

“In the nature of any contest, there will be both arguments back and forth, but I really hope to see that throughout these debates and discussions, we will generate not just heat but (also) light,” Mr Chan said when asked about the issue of “negative politics” that was the subject of a recent exchange between Prime Minister Lawrence Wong

and WP chief Pritam Singh

.

“Light in the sense of the type of solutions we can present to fellow Singaporeans to help them make a decision as to who can better represent them in Parliament (and) which team can better help Singapore and Singaporeans get through all the challenges that are confronting us,” he added.

On April 29, PM Wong

criticised the negative tone of the WP’s campaign

, particularly towards Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and the PAP team in Punggol.

Mr Singh in a rally later in the day rejected the view that his party engages in negative politics, saying it was the PAP that had done so for years.

“In fact, it is incumbent upon us to try to provide the solutions or... offer... solutions for the electorate to consider carefully,” said Mr Chan.

Mr Chan is helming the five-member slate

against the People’s Alliance for Reform

in the May 3 polls. His team consists of fellow candidates Alvin Tan, Joan Pereira and Rachel Ong, who had overseen the Telok Blangah area under the former West Coast GRC, and political newcomer Foo Cexiang.

Mr Chan took issue with another line of argument he said had surfaced in the campaign.

“Team A has done well, and therefore they don’t need so many good players. Team B has not done as well, so we should reward them with more players,” he said. “I think fair-minded Singaporeans will know that there is something not very correct with this line of argument.”

He said that in his more than 30 years of service in the military and then politics, he learnt that leaders must be first to take responsibility and last to claim credit.

“I find it rather amusing to hear some of (the discussion) during the debate that displays the exact opposite of this,” said Mr Chan.

He said that there were instances where some have claimed credit for good outcomes simply because they had “contributed by not objecting”, he said.

While he did not single out any political party, Mr Chan highlighted Singapore’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the more recent handling of the global increases in tariffs as examples.

Other examples included the Progressive Wage Model, a wage ladder tied to skill and productivity improvements. While some perceive this as equivalent to a minimum wage, the idea and rationale behind this scheme are “quite different”, said Mr Chan.

The same goes for the

Jobseeker Support scheme

, which some have likened to unemployment insurance, noted Mr Chan. The scheme, announced by PM Wong at the National Day Rally in August 2024, provides financial support to eligible workers who lost their jobs due to reasons beyond their control.

Mr Chan did not refer to the WP, but the opposition party had, in a Facebook post on April 16, cited unemployment insurance as one of the 15 policies they had advocated that ended up being adopted “in some form” by the Government.

He said: “There is a role for constructive opposition in any healthy democracy, and I think Singaporeans want to see that. But we should all be humble and try not to claim more than what is due.”

Asked a follow-up question on whether his remarks applied to the WP, Mr Chan said they apply to all political parties, including the PAP.

“There is the standard we must aspire to present to fellow Singaporeans. It is the standard that we must keep, it is a standard that we aspire to keep raising,” he said, adding that there should not be different standards for different parties.

“Once we start having double standards, we will quickly have a race to the bottom.”

Mr Chan also said he had confidence that Singaporeans will want to hear “the real substance” from every policy debate. They will also want to know about the “real solutions” and who can provide and deliver these solutions.

Also present as Mr Chan addressed the media was Mr Foo, the only new face in the PAP Tanjong Pagar line-up. The incumbent for Radin Mas SMC, Mr Melvin Yong, and Mr Eric Chua, who is contesting the new Queenstown SMC, were also there.

Mr Foo said he completed visiting eight residential blocks in the Tanjong Pagar Plaza area in the past few days, which used to be overseen by Ms Indranee Rajah. She will be contesting Pasir Ris-Changi GRC in this election.

Based on his engagements so far, he said that residents’ support for the PAP was “very strong”.

He also said he will be continuing Ms Indranee’s initiatives such as a “huncle” programme to engage men aged 50 and above, which was launched in April 2024. Participants exercise together to improve their physical and social health.

As for younger residents, Mr Foo, a former director at the Ministry of Transport, said he would “100 per cent” hear them out and consider their concerns.

“If it is in the interests of the greater majority of residents, I will speak up for them (in Parliament).

“But that is obviously different from saying that I will say everything they share with me because sometimes the individual’s interest is not always the same as the interests of the general public.”