Following the events of Nomination Day yesterday (30 June), People’s Voice (PV) had been confirmed to be contesting at three constituencies, namely Jalan Besar GRC, Mountbatten SMC and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.
The party chief Lim Tean had resumed his daily Facebook Live broadcast, as he talked about the happenings yesterday. Since his team is facing off People’s Action Party (PAP) which is led by Josephine Teo, he announced that he wanted to challenge Ms Teo at this GRC.
Incompetency and arrogance of the ruling party
He stressed that this election at Jalan Besar GRC is about Ms Teo’s and the PAP government’s incompetency and arrogance. The lawyer noted how the ruling party had become “deaf and blind” after being in power for 61 years, and that they refused to listen to the people’s plead.
By recalling Teo Chee Hean allegedly berating a voter at a kopitiam, Mr Lim expressed that politicians should accept the fact the many will be against them, and they should “never take offence”.
“As politicians, you will have to accept that there will be people who are against you. But you should never take offence because, at the end of the day, you must respect the will of the election.”
The PV chief went on to bring up Ms Teo’s past response when she was thrown the question if the Government would issue an apology to the migrant workers amid COVID-19 crisis. He pointed out the ruling party’s arrogance for their unwillingness to apologise for their mistakes.
Understanding that no government is perfect, Mr Lim mentioned that people would expect a government to “self-evaluate” and “apologise if necessary”, as well as assuring people that they will do better the next time.
The lawyer added that the arrogance displayed by the ruling party, especially Ms Teo, had “plunge Singapore down to the abyss” as far as COVID-19 was concerned. He claimed that Ms Teo was responsible for causing Singapore to go into a prolonged lockdown.
“Josephine Teo, almost single-handedly, is responsible for this catastrophe. The result of this catastrophe is that we were forced to go into a prolonged lockdown of two months. Which had resulted in financial crippling of many businesses and many individuals.”
Comparing how other countries would force the ministers to resign, Mr Lim added that he had also called for Ms Teo and other ministers such as Gan Kim Yong and Ong Ye Kung to resign. He described that these ministers had been “total disasters” at their jobs.
Regarding the infection of COVID-19 among school children, the party chief questioned the truth in the transmission that could happen in schools. Despite headlines reporting that these children contracted the virus at home, he does not believe that not even one of these cases contracted in schools.
More jobs for local Singaporeans
He reminded Singaporeans that this upcoming General Election (GE) is to “bring about a fairer and prosperous country” not just for the privileged few. Apart from that, he expressed that this GE is also to ensure that Singaporeans and the next generation “have the best jobs available in Singapore”, and these jobs will not be given to foreigners.
He noted that foreign labour had been earning more than local Singaporeans and that it is not because locals are not “incapable or unwilling”. The chief also pointed out that the National Jobs Bank “doesn’t even dare to report on jobs that are going to local Singaporeans”.
However, as for unemployment, Mr Lim mentioned that the Jobs Bank “lump PRs and Singaporeans together” under the category of locals.
PV wants to know how many Singaporeans lose jobs every quarter, as well as the number of Singaporeans employed every quarter. The lawyer stressed that these figures “must be transparent”.
Mr Lim agreed with one of his viewers’ comments, expressing that HR managers must only be exclusive for Singaporeans.
“If PV was to form the government, no HR manager job would go to a foreigner. Singaporeans are well-equipped with their skillset, there is no reason a foreigner should be doing that job.”
“If you allow a foreigner to do that job, they are going to favouring their own people. And a PV government will never allow that.”
He gave an example of when he heard Singaporeans had to interview with foreign HR managers and they “had to go through a very demeaning experience”. The chief pressed that Singaporeans should be given the highest priority in this country without being unwelcoming towards foreigners.
“Foreigners are welcomed, we are not a close society. But we will never allow foreigners’ interests to surpass the interests of a Singaporean.”
Singapore Parliament and the MPs
Apart from the issues above, Mr Lim stands for having Live broadcasts of every Parliament session. He believed that it is “disgraceful” that Singapore’s Parliament “sits for only several days every month”, and that it’s unable to achieve full attendance.
He described that the existing Members of Parliaments (MPs) have “lost interests in their jobs”.
“Any candidate of PV will attend Parliament “religiously”. It is the duty of an MP to attend every sitting of Parliament.”
Mr Lim added that any candidate from PV who is an MP would “attend Parliament religiously”.
“Any candidate, any MP from the People’s Voice, I assure you, we would attend Parliament religiously. We would not miss a single sitting unless there are compelling reasons. It is the duty of a Member of Parliament to attend every sitting of Parliament.”
Moving on, the party chief mentioned that the MPs are paid S$16,000 a month despite them working as “part-time” MPs. He revealed his wish of having more full-time MPs in Parliament. And he could not accept that there would be an empty House when the MPs are paid S$16,000 a month.
Not just that, but the chief expressed that the Parliament requires an “impartial speaker”, claiming how Tan Chuan Jin became the “spokesperson for the PAP”.
Lastly, Mr Lim believed that there are “so many ways” Singapore Parliament must improve on, however, it is “not going to improve” if the PAP is given “overwhelming power” at every election.
