Speaking to the media on Wednesday at the sidelines of his visit to a public housing estate at Tampines North with the party’s Tampines GRC and Tampines Changkat Single Member Constituency (SMC) teams, Mr Wong said: “They targeted Gan Kim Yong the entire night with personal negative attacks. That kind of negative politics, in my view, is unwarranted.
“I don’t think we want to see negative politics in Singapore.”
On the other hand, the issues that Mr Singh raised were matters of policy and on this point, Mr Wong acknowledged that when it comes to policy discussions, they are not static and there would always be room for improvements and debate.
MORE VOICES NOT NECESSARILY BETTER
During his previous rally speech, Mr Singh raised the example of how opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) are denied access to community clubs in their wards, as well as how the Housing and Development Board’s upgrading plans in opposition-held wards used to be de-prioritised by the government.
Mr Singh noted that this has changed, with upgrading plans in both PAP and opposition wards now being carried out “at the same time”, adding that PAP changed its strategy because its “bullying sticks and disrespectful carrots did not work”.
On Wednesday, Mr Wong said in response that municipal upgrades in opposition wards were not withheld but “a matter of queuing and prioritisation”.
“And there was a logic previously that … if you didn’t support the PAP, then you don’t get it earlier than the ones that supported the PAP,” Mr Wong added.
“That logic, I think, is no longer wearable today.
“It’s not just about whether or not it’s because of the opposition protesting. Even Singaporeans themselves have explained to us and highlighted that they feel that there can be a better way of allocating and looking at how to go about prioritising.”
In any case, these are matters that Mr Wong said could be discussed in parliament. Outside of parliament, policies will always be fine-tuned with inputs that the government gathers from multiple sources, including from Singaporeans directly.
”That’s what the PAP does. We listen to every voice,” he added.
