Pritam Singh: “It is we in the WP who are thankful, a hundred times over”

The Workers’ Party’s (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh took to his Facebook on Wednesday (5 Aug) to thank the voters “a hundred times over” following the Party’s wins in the recent General Election (GE).

Mr Singh shared about his house visits in his Facebook post, noting that he has known some of the Eunos residents at close quarters for nearly 10 years.

“A reflective night of housevisits today meeting residents like the Loh family, Mdm Mala and Mrs Poh. It has been a close to 10 years knowing some of the Eunos residents at close quarters, seeing them age in place and meeting them at the local market on weekdays and weekend mornings,” he wrote.

Mr Singh recalled the first time when he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 2011, he didn’t know how the residents would react to him.

“But right from the first day, they were warm and welcoming,” said the Leader of the Opposition.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh noted that some of the residents in Aljunied GRC were “unhappy” with him for not coming around to thank voters on the WP’s lorry after the GE.

“I explained that the Elections Department did not permit any thank you processions for all parties after polling day arising from COVID-19 concerns,” he stated.

Mr Singh cited a quote from a resident who said, “We just wanted to thank the WP”.

Referring to the resident’s quote, the WP’s chief said it is the Party’s members that should be thankful with the residents instead.

“As I drove home in my car this evening, I thought to myself – it is we in the WP who are thankful. A hundred times over,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, the WP’s member Kenneth Foo Seck Guan also shared on his Facebook some of the interesting encounters that he experienced during the GE campaign period.

Mr Foo, who contested in East Coast GRC, noticed that on many occasions when he was crossing the road, some drivers would be sounding the horn at him and shout “Workers’ Party” with their thumbs up to encourage him.

While on another occasion, the WP member stated that some strangers would approach him on the bus and talk to him about the Party’s stance on certain issues and its solutions to address the issues.

“It made my bus ride more enjoyable and engaging,” he remarked.

In fact, Mr Foo claimed that “people of all ages” would stop the WP team on the streets to share about their personal issues with the Party.

“We had many heart to heart talk about how we want to shape the future of our country. Building a system to benefit Singaporeans,” he wrote.

With that said, Mr Foo opined that Singaporeans are “no longer taking things as status quo” but instead “they want to have a say and acted on it”.

“On 24 August, when parliament sits, it marks a new milestone for Singapore. We have 10 elected oppositions and 2 NCMPs, the strongest slate since independence. Expectations are high and WP will continue to put up strong debates to scrutinise government policies as it always does,” he added.

Mr Foo went on to say that there has been a lot of talk about presenting alternative policies in Parliament following Mr Singh’s appointment as the Leader of the Opposition and given with extra resources to produce alternative policies.

“WP have proposed several policies before such as the Redundancy Insurance, Minimum Wage Scheme or reducing Class Sizes for optimum learning.

“It is a mountain to climb vs the strong public service at the disposal of the incumbent. WP will harness the ideas from the ground and work with many who have stepped forward to volunteer with us to work on better policies for a better future,” he asserted.