GE2025: SDP says vouchers do not ease cost concerns; calls for opposition to check PAP spending

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SINGAPORE - Distributing vouchers to help Singaporeans cope with the rising cost of living is not enough to tackle such concerns, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said on April 24. 

Instead, a greater opposition presence in Parliament could help to keep rising costs in check, with MPs scrutinising government expenditure and speaking out against policies that could impact people’s pockets.

This was a key message from the party’s first rally at Choa Chu Kang Stadium.

Veteran opposition politician and party chief Chee Soon Juan said Singaporeans are struggling with high costs of living that are due to “the PAP’s very own making”, and not due to global trends. 

He said: “The PAP raises the GST and then tells you that it is giving you vouchers to help you cope with the increased GST. Am I missing something here?

“Or does this sound like the arsonist that sets your house on fire and then comes and gives you a cup of water to help you put it out?”

Cutting the GST from the current 9 per cent to either 7 per cent or 5 per cent has been a key policy proposal mooted by the opposition party, and was one of the key issues raised in

the party’s manifesto released on April 21.

The party chief was the last in a line of 12 speakers that included the party’s candidates for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Sembawang GRC and Bukit Panjang SMC.

Dr Chee faces a straight contest

in the new Sembawang West SMC,

against PAP’s Ms Poh Li San.

Cost of living pressures and job security concerns were a common thread throughout the speeches.

Dr Chee accused the Government of “profligate spending”, which he said led to the need to raise taxes and GST, which the party has slammed in its manifesto.

He cited the Founders’ Memorial, the roll-out of touchless traffic light buttons and the $40 million

needed to maintain the current ez-link and Nets FlashPay card system

for public transport as examples of “wasteful spending”.

That is why SDP MPs are needed in the next Parliament, said Dr Chee.

He added: “We will not be fearful when it comes to engaging the PAP on cost of living. We will push the Government to lower expenses and costly, wasteful spending on unnecessary projects that don’t add value to your lives.”

SDP chairman Paul Tambyah, who is facing PAP incumbent MP Liang Eng Hwa

in Bukit Panjang SMC

again after narrowly losing in the 2020 election, argued that the GST affected low- or middle-income earners disproportionately.

He added that more opposition parties are needed in Parliament to voice concerns against such policies.

Professor Tambyah said people may question how SDP will bring down the GST if it does not form the government.

But he added: “Now, do you know when the vote was taken on the raise in GST, every single opposition MP in Parliament voted against the rise in GST, but there were too few of them?”

“Maybe two elections from now, we will really get a chance to bring you to a Singapore where everybody can thrive,” he said to applause.

SDP candidates in Marsiling Yew-Tee GRC and Sembawang GRC gave their support to Dr Chee and Prof Tambyah in their speeches.

Marsiling-Yew Tee contender Ariffin Sha, the founder of alternative news site Wake Up Singapore, asked voters to picture Dr Chee and Prof Tambyah in Parliament, adding: “Can you imagine the level of debates?”

Mr Ariffin said some had called his team the “suicide squad” for contesting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s constituency. 

“What matters in this election is not just who wins, but the margin of victory... The smaller the margins of victory, the better the policies and welfare for the people,” he added.

He argued that “a PAP that wins by 80 per cent is very different from a PAP that wins by 60 per cent”, as it would push the ruling party to work harder.

Sembawang GRC candidate and SDP’s deputy head of policy James Gomez made a push for the party’s presence in Parliament.

The political scientist and regional director of a think-tank said: “(Singaporeans) want MPs who are not afraid to challenge bad policies. MPs who will not be silenced. MPs who will ask the tough questions and fight for better answers.”

Marsiling-Yew Tee has been the battleground for SDP and PAP for the past three elections.

This round, the SDP slate for the four-member GRC includes Mr Ariffin, theatre director Alec Tok, SDP organising secretary Jufri Salim and former businesswoman Gigene Wong.

They face a straight fight against PM Wong’s team – an unchanged PAP slate from the 2020 elections comprising Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad, North West District Mayor Alex Yam and Ms Hany Soh.

In Sembawang, the SDP slate – comprising Mr Gomez, party vice-chair Bryan Lim, treasurer Surayah Akbar, and party members Damanhuri Abas and Alfred Tan – face a three-cornered fight with the PAP and National Solidarity Party (NSP).

The PAP team is led by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, incumbent MPs Vikram Nair and Mariam Jaafar and two fresh faces – Mr Ng Shi Xuan, and Mr Gabriel Lam.

Meanwhile, the NSP team comprises party chief Spencer Ng, polytechnic lecturer Verina Ong, swimming coach Raiyian Chia, associate lecturer Lee Wei and business owner Yadzeth Hairis.

At the end of SDP’s rally, supporters – some dressed in red party colours – jostled to get photos and autographs with Dr Chee and Prof Tambyah.

PAP’s Mr Ong Ye Kung had in a separate rally on April 24 said

that Dr Chee “abandoned” Bukit Batok for Sembawang West.

The Bukit Batok single seat was absorbed

into the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC

under the latest changes to electoral boundaries.

In response, Prof Tambyah drew a parallel to significant PAP slate changes in other constituencies.

For example, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng was moved from Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC

to Chua Chu Kang GRC,

while Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, formerly the anchor minister for Chua Chu Kang, went

to helm the newly carved-out Punggol GRC.

Pointing out that Dr Chee had spent about a month in Sembawang West, Prof Tambyah said: “That is a lot longer than spending an hour in Chua Chu Kang or an hour in Punggol.”

Meanwhile, Dr Chee said this was a “silly season” for the PAP, and that Mr Ong’s words were a personal attack “when (PAP) finds that they cannot talk about the issues”.

He added: “Voters have had enough of these things already, and they want to see a good debate, a good contest, but on the policies, on what affects them.”