SDP, PAP continue butting heads on public spending

SINGAPORE — The exchange between the People’s Action Party and Singapore Democratic Party’s on public spending continues, with SDP chief Chee Soon Juan today (Sept 3) lobbing “awkward” issues back at his Holland-Bukit Timah rival Vivian Balakrishnan.

This follows Dr Balakrishnan’s “awkward questions” directed at Dr Chee yesterday in a Facebook post. He questioned how much SDP’s policy proposals would cost and how they would be funded, and called on Dr Chee to tell Singaporeans the rates of taxation in France, which the SDP has said its healthcare policy is modelled after. Dr Balakrishnan, who is Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, also questioned if SDP was being responsible in asking for a “huge cut” of S$5.75 billion in defence spending given the current regional and global climate.

On the SDP’s Facebook page this afternoon before a party rally tonight at Chua Chu Kang Stadium, Dr Chee wrote: “The question is not how much a government spends but what priorities it gives for its expenditure. On this score, the PAP government has demonstrated some rather disturbing conduct.”

He said the PAP has increased the healthcare budget by S$4 billion over five years, which is the “same amount of money that Temasek Holdings offered in 2014 in a highly questionable investment in Olam International, a debt-ridden company”, and “also the amount Temasek paid for Shin Corp, an investment that went up in smoke”.

“In the meantime, our hospitals face repeated shortages of beds and have to put patients along hospital corridors and make-shift tents,” Dr Chee said. “Dr Balakrishnan needs to look at his own party if he wants to talk about cutting essential services. What is more essential: Our people’s health or ill-fated investments by Temasek?”

The exchange began on Tuesday when Dr Balakrishnan said the SDP’s policy proposals would lead Singapore to bankruptcy and that he would dissect the SDP’s proposals in the next few days.