The Workers’ Party at The Online Citizen’s Face to Face forum
Face to Face, a political forum organised by socio-political website The Online Citizen (TOC) was held on 16 Dec 2010 at the Quality Hotel ballroom. Six political parties were represented on the panel, together with about 350 members of the public, the media, bloggers, civil society and party supporters in the audience.
The Workers’ Party was represented by Mr Gerald Giam, a member of the Party’s Central Executive Council (CEC). The other panellists consisted of Mr Chiam See Tong (Singapore People’s Party), Dr Chee Soon Juan (Singapore Democratic Party), Mr Goh Meng Seng (National Solidarity Party), Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam (Reform Party), and Mr Chia Ti Lik (Socialist Front). The forum was moderated by Mr Choo Zheng Xi, co-founder of TOC.
In response to a question on how to tackle the problem of income inequality, Mr Giam pointed out that WP had spoken on this issue on many occasions. He said that the current quantum of payouts under the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme was inadequate, and argued that WIS should be increased significantly to ensure that low-wage workers have enough to meet their living needs. He also proposed reducing the inflow of foreign workers, so as to give Singaporean workers more bargaining power to ask their employers for higher wages.
A member of the audience asked the parties what they planned to do to help people with disabilities. Mr Giam said that WP chairman Sylvia Lim had argued in Parliament for concessionary fares on public transport to be extended to people with disabilities. Mr Giam also called for all public buses to be made wheelchair accessible. This would require all bus stops to be modified to be made barrier-free. He added out that the WP had called for the creation of a Board of Equal Opportunities, which could prevent employment discrimination against people with disabilities.
On the question of public housing affordability, Mr Giam pointed out that the government had failed to adequately plan for the huge influx of foreign workers and immigrants in the past decade. This had created huge demand pressures on the housing market, leading to the current high prices. He said the government should increase the supply of new flats to keep pace with population growth. He also suggested that the prices of new HDB flats should be pegged to median incomes of Singaporeans, instead of the current pricing mechanism, which is based on the valuation of resale flats in the vicinity. He added that a 30-year housing loan—as is commonly the case now—was too long, and suggested that a 20-year loan should be used as a benchmark of affordability.
Under the topic of civil liberties, questions were asked about the Internal Security Act (ISA)—a law which provides for detention without trial in cases of alleged subversion. Mr Giam reiterated the WP’s position that the ISA should be abolished. Nevertheless he said that WP recognised the necessity of tackling the threat of terrorism, and had suggested enacting a dedicated anti-terrorism law which allows for preventative detention of terrorist suspects, but with judicial oversight whereby a judge can order their release if he or she is not satisfied with the basis of detention.
In response to a question on the perceived bias of the mainstream media, Mr Giam said that the current system which allows the Government to exert control over the media by way of the Newspapers and Printing Presses Act was undesirable.
All of the panellists were in agreement that they may have to implement unpopular policies if they came to power. Mr Giam pointed out that the onus was on the government of the day to enact policies which are in the best interests of Singaporeans, then persuade the people to support their policies. With regard to a perception that government leaders were out of touch with the public, Mr Giam felt that the PAP was in fact not out of touch, given its extensive grassroots network, but had chosen to ignore much of the feedback of the people.
In his closing remarks, Mr Giam urged members of the audience to share their views on politics with family and friends. He encouraged everyone to take the time to find out more about the candidates standing for election and the parties they represented, before casting their votes.
