GE2025: Government did not weaken after losing GRCs, says PSP's Leong Mun Wai
SINGAPORE: The government has not shown signs of weakening despite losing Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) with Cabinet ministers in past elections, said Progress Singapore Party (PSP) secretary-general Leong Mun Wai on Thursday (May 1).
"Would a weak government be able to pass through or bulldoze the GST in 2022?' He asked, referring to the increase in the Goods and Services Tax from 7 to 9 per cent announced during Budget 2022.
Mr Leong was speaking during a walkabout at Boon Lay Place Market with the PSP team contesting West Coast-Jurong West GRC on the final day of campaigning before Polling Day.
His comments were in response to Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who said at a rally on Wednesday that a further GRC loss for the People's Action Party (PAP) could destabilise Singapore and risk the country "crashing".
Calling Mr Ong's remarks "out of this world", Mr Leong said: "PAP has lost ministers and GRCs before. Has that weakened the government in the past few years or past 10 years?
"A strong government with all the power to amend the Constitution – only such a government can bulldoze the GST through the parliament," he added.
"So, the argument that the minister had about losing some ministers of GRCs to weaken the government is not quite accurate."
PAP BROUGHT ONG YE KUNG BACK
Fellow PSP candidate and former Non-Constituency MP Hazel Poa also responded to Mr Ong's remarks, pointing out that he lost the 2011 election at Aljunied GRC as part of a PAP team led by then Foreign Minister George Yeo.
'But what happened after that? He was brought back in the next election, at another GRC,' she said.
Mr Ong was fielded in Sembawang GRC in 2015, where he was elected and later appointed Health Minister.
The PSP team for West Coast-Jurong West GRC is led by party founder Tan Cheng Bock, and includes Mr Leong, Ms Poa and new candidates Sumarleki Amjah and Sani Ismail.
They are contesting against a PAP team led by National Development Minister Desmond Lee, alongside incumbent MPs Shawn Huang and Ang Wei Neng, and new candidates Cassandra Lee and Hamid Razak.
When asked why Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong have focused more on rebutting the Workers' Party (WP) rather than addressing PSP directly, Dr Tan said it showed the party's credibility.
'I think they find that the ground we have built for the party is strong enough,' he said. 'You take us, we can reply – our rebuttals are there … they realise that our party is a party that has got a lot of meat, it's got a lot of substance.'
Dr Tan added that the limited direct confrontation with top PAP leaders was a 'testimony to the fact that we want to have a fair fight'.
He said the PSP does not have to resort to shouting to get its points across, though he acknowledged 'a little bit' of over-enthusiasm after a boisterous chanting match broke out between PSP and PAP supporters at a Jurong West coffee shop on Wednesday.
The party, he said, has proven itself to be a 'very responsible' opposition in parliament, and Mr Leong and Ms Poa have shown that in their NCMP roles over the last five years.
WARM RECEPTION AT TAMAN JURONG
After their stop at Boon Lay Place Market, the PSP team visited Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre, where the reception from the crowd was noticeably warmer.
The market is located in Taman Jurong – previously the ward of former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam before he resigned to run for the presidency.
The PSP team could hardly finish their coffee as residents approached them for chats and photos. Several residents greeted Dr Tan, 85, while others shook hands and took selfies with Mr Leong and Ms Poa.
In the 2020 General Election, PSP ran in West Coast GRC and narrowly lost with 48.31 per cent of the vote, earning two NCMP seats as the best-performing losing team.
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