In the section on accountability and democracy, WP said to do away with the office of the Mayor. It noted that mayors head the Community Development Councils (CDCs) established in 1997 to coordinate grassroots bodies and community programmes.
In practice, the assignment of mayors align with existing political divisions and they are invariably MPs from the governing party, WP said.
“Many roles that were previously handled by the CDCs under the respective mayors have since been devolved back to other organisations, such as the Social Service Office. The reduced role of mayors does not justify a salary of about S$660,000 a year,” WP said.
The party also proposed a Freedom of Information Act, similar to what’s implemented in the United States, where citizens should be able to request for information from public agencies at the level of detail they need.
Currently, the Singapore government “retains control over the release of information to domains of its choosing, and often at a level too coarse for reasonable scrutiny”, WP stated.
“This impedes access to publicly-generated information that should be made publicly available, and reveals a fundamental lack of trust in our citizens being able to draw their own conclusions.”
In its final set of proposals, to do with security and geopolitics, the WP argued for the Internal Security Act (ISA) to be repealed and replaced with a new anti-terrorism law permitting swift detention for a limited time.
It noted that the ISA allowed for indefinite detention without trial, which limited suspects’ legal recourse. WP said this would allow a rogue government to deploy ISA for purposes other than national security, such as suppressing political dissent or silencing the opposition.
The party also called for the state of Palestine to be recognised. “We support a negotiated two-state solution where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live in peace within secure and recognised borders,” WP said.
“Singapore should formally recognise the state of Palestine, even before negotiations on a two-state solution are concluded. Such recognition would lend legitimacy to our two-state position,” it added, while noting that many Singaporeans cared deeply about the pain and suffering of those involved.
Asked about this on Thursday, Mr Giam said it was important for the party to put forward its position to help “advance” the peace process.
“It’s important that there is a conversation on this in Singapore as well, and we hope that this will also spark small discussions.”
