SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party (WP) winning more constituencies is important for the future of Singapore’s democracy, said party chief Pritam Singh on Friday (Apr 25).
“One or even two WP GRCs can easily be lost; nothing can be taken for granted,” he said in a party political broadcast, referring to group representation constituencies.
“With more WP constituencies comes a higher chance that parliament will continue to have a fully-elected democratic opposition presence for the longer term.
“This will make our system stable and sustainable for the future.”
In his speech, Mr Singh touched on the three ways in which the WP works for Singapore and Singaporeans.
One way, he said, is how its elected Members of Parliament (MPs) speak out on critical topics, ask “probing” parliamentary questions and propose important motions in parliament. He added that these questions and motions are based on facts and figures that are researched by WP MPs and the party’s research team.
“We ask tough questions. More importantly than being tough, our questions are appropriate and necessary because they reflect the concerns of ordinary Singaporeans,” he said during his allocated broadcast time of six minutes.
“You know that PAP MPs do not question the government on all matters you would like them to,” he said, noting that the WP MPs “can ask any question” and do “not need to toe the PAP’s line” when they vote in parliament.
Mr Singh said the WP opposes measures that it believes are not in the national interest, but will support government bills and even constitutional amendments “when it is right to do so”.
