SINGAPORE: The People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR) has called for a freeze on new S Passes and the barring of permanent residents from buying resale HDB flats in its manifesto.
The alliance also pledged to “significantly” cut net migration and “ensure that Singaporeans are given priority for jobs”.
Dubbed a Contract with Singapore, the manifesto was posted on Facebook by PAR candidate Prabu Ramachandran on Thursday (May 1), the final day of campaigning before the May 3 General Election.
The PAR comprises the Democratic Progressive Party, Peoples Voice and Reform Party.
It is fielding 13 candidates across six constituencies – Jalan Besar and Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), and Potong Pasir, Radin Mas, Yio Chu Kang and Queenstown Single Member Constituencies (SMCs).
In a foreword to the manifesto, PAR secretary-general Lim Tean said that the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) policies have allowed “people of foreign origin to flood our nation”.
“This has led to a feeling of helplessness as so many Singaporeans now feel second-class in their homeland as they are displaced or replaced by foreigners in their jobs, which is the reservoir of dignity of any person,” he continued.
Giving Singaporeans priority for jobs is one key area in the PAR’s roughly 2,000-word manifesto.
The PAR said that “unfair treaties” like Singapore’s Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with India have “crippled many Singaporean workers”.
“PAR is the only party which has vigorously opposed CECA and wants it abolished,” the manifesto read.
The alliance also proposed a policy that “every employer will have to demonstrate exhaustively that no Singaporean is capable or available to work a particular job before a foreigner can be employed to do the same”.
“We will also call for the immediate suspension of the issuance of new S Passes,” said PAR, adding that this would allow Singaporeans to take up the jobs instead.
S Passes are issued to skilled migrant workers who perform specialised roles. The qualifying salary for new S Pass applications, currently S$3,150, is set to rise to S$3,300 from Sep 1.
Another key area is to make public housing more affordable. PAR said that “much of the surge in HDB resale prices can be attributed to the policy of allowing permanent residents to buy resale HDB flats”.
The alliance said it will fight to prevent permanent residents from buying resale flats.
Currently, permanent residents can own a resale flat if they form a family nucleus with a citizen, or if all the proposed owners have held permanent residency for at least three years.
To bring down the cost of Build-to-Order flats, the PAR also proposed “incremental reductions of 5 per cent in the land cost component every six months”.
On immigration policy, the PAR criticised the government for “allowing huge numbers of foreigners to enter and live in our country” and making “no comprehensive effort” to integrate them.
“PAR will fight to significantly reduce net migration. We believe this is absolutely essential in order that our social cohesion is not fractured and our Singapore identity diluted,” it said, without elaborating on the reduction.
The manifesto also reiterated proposals to provide free school meals, healthcare and education up to university for every Singaporean child. The PAR said this would be funded by:
- “A difference of about S$13.4 billion between what the government earns from returns investing your CPF funds and what it pays to CPF holders every year”;
- The government’s special transfers, including top-ups to endowment and trust funds, which was S$25.1 billion in FY2024; and
- A 10 percentage point increase in the spending limit for net investment returns, from 50 per cent to 60 per cent.
The PAR also called to abolish the offices of the five mayors in Singapore – who earn about S$660,000 (US$505,000) a year each – and reduce the prime minister’s salary by 70 per cent.
“Because the PAP leaders have such astronomical incomes, they have been insensitive to the effects which their policies have on the people,” read the manifesto.
“We must make our political class more sensitive to the effects government policies have on the ordinary Singaporean.”
