PAP’s current leaders ‘have lost touch with ordinary Singaporeans’
SDP candidate Sidek Mallek speaks at a rally on Sept 4, 2015. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Leaders from the People’s Action Party (PAP) are “losing touch” with the plight of ordinary Singaporeans, especially the poor, said Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Sidek Mallek at his party’s rally in Bukit Panjang last night.
The candidate for Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC) said: “(I am) angry that the Prime Minister and the PAP ministers refuse to understand the plight of the lower-income Singaporeans, who are struggling daily just to make a decent living here. Yet, we see them, (with) their million-dollar salaries, living in (their) ivory towers, being distant from the people.”
Mr Sidek also took issue with the PAP’s claims that “opposition parties are not credible, with no alternative policies”, saying that the SDP has “worked hard on our economic policy paper”. He noted that the SDP has proposed, among others, the introduction of a minimum wage and retrenchment insurance for those out of a job.
Another speaker at the rally, Mr Sadasivam Veriyah, the SDP candidate for Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency, charged that the PAP is “no longer the same”.
A similar claim had been made by Singaporeans First candidate Dr David Foo, who said that the current PAP leaders fell short of their predecessors, such as founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and former Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee.
At SingFirst’s rally at Jurong Stadium on Thursday, Dr Foo had said: “The PAP of old had foresight ... Now, what (has) happened?”
SDP’s Mr Sadasivam said while Singapore is a “rich and developed country”, it was due to the work of past leaders. “The leaders of the past were committed ... they were concerned about you, they cared for you.”
He also told the crowd at the rally that he was a former PAP grassroots leader, working for its former Member of Parliament Dr Tan Cheng Bock, whom he called his “mentor”.
Dr Tan lives in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, where the SDP is facing a PAP team led by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Dr Tan said he had attended the SDP rally at Choa Chu Kang, where he met its candidates. He also said he would be attending a PAP rally last night. Alfred Chua
