At the global asia conference held yesterday (Sep 19), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched a post-election political attack against the Opposition parties calling their approach “dangerous and going against human nature” because his government is “doing good”.
“The opposition’s storyline was (that) the Government is doing good; you vote for us, the Government will work even harder. That’s a very dangerous approach and it goes against human nature”
The PM went on to add that the strong mandate in the recent election shows that Singaporeans agree with the PAP government policies and has nothing to do with more or less social policies for Singaporeans. He however acknowledged that there are some “anxieties” over specific policies but his government will try to address them:
“Most Singaporeans agreed with us that the way to build a relationship and develop close bonds for the future was to work with the Government… As for whether the results validated the shift to the left in social policies, (I) do not see this as more welfare or less welfare. Rather, the Government tries to address specific sources of anxiety, such as housing and jobs. But aspirations are hardest to meet, he said, for new ones emerge even as old ones have been fulfilled.”
Photo Lee Hsien Loong from Chew Seng Kim The Straits Times
Although housing and job opportunities shortage are one of the many “anxieties” faced by Singaporeans, PM Lee Hsien Loong did not clarify about the main ones like a 6.9 population target and the state of retirement fund CPF. Singapore is currently overpopulated which resulted in the shortage and failures of it s infrastructural support like the MRT trains. The CPF retirement issue has also surfaced as a major worry because more Singaporeans are unable to retire and have to work past the retirement age of 65 due to insufficient payout from the retirement fund.