WP Leader Pritam Singh Critiques PAP Manifesto for Lacking Substantial Details and Concrete Proposals in GE2025
FRESH TAKE:
In the lead-up to Singapore's General Election 2025, both the Workers' Party (WP) and People's Action Party (PAP) have unveiled their manifestos, each pushing unique visions for the island nation. Here's a lowdown on these blueprints, focusing on substance and specifics.
Workers' Party (WP) Manifesto: "Gearing Up for Singapore's Future"
WP's manifesto, aptly titled 'Gearing Up for Singapore's Future', is organized under these chief zones:
- Budget-Friendly Essentials: Proposing to remove essential goods from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bracket, and offering a scheme to protect local workers against job losses, the WP plans to make life more affordable for ordinary Singaporeans.
- Growing the Economy and Opportunities: A focus on fortifying the domestic workforce by offering low-cost retraining programs and revamping the Central Provident Fund (CPF) to ensure financial security in retirement is a key pillar of the WP's economic policy.
- Community and Equal Opportunities: The WP aims to bolster social support systems for families, caregivers, seniors, and underprivileged individuals through more inclusive urban planning initiatives.
- Keeping Power in Check: The WP advocates reducing voting age to 18, returning to single-member constituencies, and enforcing institutional checks to curb power concentration.
- Security and Global Affairs: The WP suggests steps to counter gray-zone threats, increase National Service (NS) pay, and ensure supply chain security for vital goods and commodities.
People's Action Party (PAP) Manifesto
The PAP's GE2025 manifesto particulars are not currently available, but the WP has called it out for being 'light on substance.' Typically, the PAP focuses on policies that guarantee economic stability, social harmony, and Singapore's development as a leading global hub. However, with PAP's latest manifesto yet to be disclosed, a direct comparison with the WP's plans is difficult to draw at this stage.
Assessing the Playing Field
- Cost of Living: The WP stresses affordability by advocating GST exemptions for essential goods and a redundancy insurance scheme. The PAP, conversely, often advocates fiscal prudence and gradual adjustments to taxation policies.
- Economic Prosperity: WP emphasizes initiatives to grow the domestic workforce and reskill workers, while the PAP tends to prioritize maintaining Singapore as an attractive business hub by implementing a broader gamut of economic strategies.
- Accountability and Democracy: The WP calls for reforms to enhance transparency and maximize accountability, a stance that contrasts with the PAP's historically centralized approach to governance.
- Security: The WP proposes enhancing national security through measures like increasing NS pay and securing supply chains, whereas the PAP is known for employing comprehensive defense strategies.
Overall, while both the WP and PAP tackle critical issues like the cost of living and national security, the parties significantly differ in their approaches to economic growth, democracy, and social welfare.
1.Singaporeans are anticipating the Workers' Party's (WP) proposed policy of removing essential goods from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bracket to make life more affordable.2.In opposition to the People's Action Party's (PAP) focus on fiscal prudence, the WP has presented a redundancy insurance scheme as part of their ongoing efforts to protect local workers against job losses.3.The WP's economic policy includes low-cost retraining programs and revamping the Central Provident Fund (CPF) to ensure financial security in retirement, a contrast to the PAP's typical emphasis on maintaining Singapore as an attractive business hub.4.The WP has advocated for reducing the voting age to 18, returning to single-member constituencies, and enforcing institutional checks to curb power concentration, a stance that challenges the PAP's historically centralized approach to governance.5.As part of their security and global affairs policy, the WP has suggested steps to counter grey-zone threats, increase National Service (NS) pay, and ensure supply chain security for vital goods and commodities, a departure from the PAP's known comprehensive defense strategies.
