Category: Singapore

Please come and show your support for the Workers’ Party on Nomination Day for the Singapore General Election 2011!

East Coast GRC and Punggol East SMC teams will meeting friends and supporters at:

Venue: Blk 51 New Upper Changi Road (void deck)

Time: 10.00am

Attire: Light blue tops

From here, we will walk to the Nomination Centre (at Bedok View Secondary School) just a few hundred metres away.

The Nomination Centres for other WP teams and a security advisory from the police are listed here.

Excerpts from Straits Times article “WP ‘not looking to raid reserves'” (22 April 2011) by Kor Kian Beng:

WORKERS’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang yesterday accused National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan of trying to distract Singaporeans from the issue of keeping new HDB flat prices affordable.

The opposition veteran said Mr Mah’s remarks on Wednesday, suggesting that the WP is trying to raid the reserves with its housing proposals and abolish the elected presidency, were ‘calculated to confuse Singaporeans’.

‘I would advise the minister not to sidetrack (from) the issue of public housing that the WP has raised in its manifesto,’ said the Hougang MP.

‘The WP is saying that the current flat prices are too high and would be a financial burden for younger generations of Singaporeans. What is the Government’s response to that?’

Continue reading “WP chief rebuts Mah Bow Tan on ‘raiding reserves’”

I was introduced today by Workers’ Party secretary-general Low Thia Khiang as one of the party’s candidates for the upcoming General Election. I gave a short speech introducing myself. (See 7:25)

I also answered a question by Channel NewsAsia’s Imeda Saad on how my work experience can contribute to my role as an MP. (See 2:46)

(Photo: Workers’ Party Facebook. More photos here.)

Fazli, myself and a few friends and supporters visited Pulau Ubin on Saturday. According to residents on the island, there are only about 30 or so families left there. Despite this, we decided that since Ubin falls within the boundaries of East Coast GRC, it would be important to pay a visit to the island to meet the residents there. After all, every resident counts.

Continue reading “Visiting residents on Pulau Ubin”

This is the speech I made at the launch of the Workers’ Party’s 2011 Manifesto on Saturday 9 April 2011. My speech covered the chapters on Economic Policy, Population and Immigration, and Public Housing. It starts at 4:23. The full text of the speech is below.

——- Continue reading “WP Manifesto launch speech”

I represented the Workers’ Party at a Channel NewsAsia television forum titled “A political form for Singapore’s future”. The forum will be broadcast on Sat 2 April at 10pm on CNA, with a repeat telecast on Mon 4 April at 10pm on Channel 5. Here is the news report / curtain raiser for the programme:

This is a speech delivered in Parliament yesterday by Workers’ Party chairman Sylvia Lim, and excerpts of the response by Foreign Minister George Yeo.

—————-

Ms Sylvia Lim:

The tension between Thailand and Cambodia over the Preah Vihear Temple flared up once again in February, with military attacks across the disputed border resulting in casualties and deaths on both sides. This is the fifth time that Thailand and Cambodia have engaged in low-level military conflict since October 2008.

This conflict has shone the spotlight on ASEAN as a grouping that exists, first and foremost, to maintain the peace between member states. This dispute is a test for ASEAN’s credibility. But what role can it play in such bilateral disputes, and what are the limits?

Since its founding, ASEAN has adhered to the twin principles of non-interference in the affairs of member states and a consensus-based decision-making approach to guide its members’ interaction with each other. How do these principles impinge on the grouping’s ability to settle disputes between members, since dispute settlement could be viewed as interference? Does the consensus-based approach effectively give each state veto power?

On the more general issue of creating an ASEAN Community by 2015, it would be instructive for Minister to provide an update on progress of the three planks viz. the Political-Security Community, Economic Community and Socio-Cultural Community?

I note, in particular, that the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) aims to achieve solidarity among the ASEAN nations and peoples by forging a common identity and building a caring and sharing society. The ASCC Blueprint (2009) sets out some bold objectives and activities to achieve these goals, including teaching of common values and cultural heritage in school curricula and supporting the learning of ASEAN languages.

Will the Minister share what progress has been made towards forging a common identity and better understanding among the peoples of ASEAN states? It is also not too clear how ordinary Singaporeans are being engaged in this process.

(Source: http://wp.sg/2011/03/mfa-asean/)

Continue reading “Potential and Limits of ASEAN”

This is the speech by Workers’ Party secretary-general and MP for Hougang Low Thia Khiang, on the first day of the debate in Parliament on Budget 2011.

(Video credit: Channel NewsAsia)

Continue reading “WP chief Low Thia Khiang responds to Budget 2011”

Eric Tan, the treasurer of the Workers’ Party, appeared on Channel NewsAsia’s Talking Point programme on Sunday night. Eric is also the chairman of the Workers’ Party’s Eastern Area Committee and was a candidate for East Coast GRC in the 2006 General Election.

Here are the video clips, uploaded by YouTube user watchtowertv. A repeat telecast on CNA will be broadcast at 8.15pm on Tuesday.

(Credit: Channel NewsAsia)

The Electoral Boundaries report was released yesterday. This begins the unofficial countdown to the Singapore General Elections, expected in just a few weeks’ time. Of late, there have been lots of goodies announced in the Budget, to be dispensed presumably days before Polling Day. There has also been a television ad campaign featuring a remix of the song, “Home” by Kit Chan, which is usually only runs during the National Day period in August.

I love the song “Home”. It movingly conveys the message that Singapore is our true home, where our family, friends and loved ones are — and where our heart remains. Many Singaporeans have gotten disillusioned with songs like these, because of how the current ruling party has diluted the Singaporean identity over the past 10 years. I choose not to be disillusioned, but to stand up and fight. This is why I joined the Workers’ Party and why I intend to help the Workers’ Party win as many Parliamentary seats as we can during the upcoming elections.

My friends, readers and fellow Singaporeans, this is the time where your actions can make a real difference to the future of Singapore. Don’t let this opportunity slip away. We need all hands on the deck now. The Workers’ Party is looking to recruit as many volunteers as possible to help in our election campaign. WP is looking to contest possibly 4 single-member constituencies and 4 group representation constituencies. Party activists have been working hard on the ground for the last five years since the end of the 2006 election, but these next few weeks will be a particularly intense and critical time.

If you are interested to help out the WP, please fill up the form at this link or if you prefer, email me at gerald.giam@gmail.com.