The Four Yes One No (4Y 1N) slogan touted by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in its general election campaign this year is not about xenophobic sentiments, said party chief Chee Soon Juan.
The 1N refers to rejecting the prospect of increasing Singapore’s population via the influx of migrants and being in favour of reducing the nation’s reliance on migrant workers.
“We have a situation where the rulers — the powerful, the elite — are using the vulnerable to make the vulnerable even more vulnerable,” Dr Chee told YouTube personality Preeti Nair — also known as Preetipls — in an interview published on YouTube on Wednesday evening (8 July).
It is a “serious problem”, he said, when “foreigners from overseas, especially from poorer countries” are being exploited when such migrants “are just looking for economic survival”.
Compounding the problem is the situation faced by vulnerable Singaporeans “who are really just struggling to make ends meet”, said Dr Chee.
“You pit the two together, and then you say who can accept lower wages. And it’s a race down to the bottom,” he observed.
“We want to protect both … We want to make sure that the powerful don’t always capitalise on the weak,” stressed Dr Chee.
Dr Chee is contesting in the Bukit Batok single member constituency.
Watch the full interview below:
