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Singapore did not collapse when PAP lost ministers and a GRC: WP

This article is more than 12 months old

Singapore did not collapse when it lost two full ministers and a senior minister of state in 2011, said Workers' Party (WP) candidate for Marine Parade GRC Yee Jenn Jong in a Facebook post yesterday.

In the general election that year, the PAP lost Aljunied GRC to the Workers' Party, and with it Foreign Minister George Yeo, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua and Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

Many countries also have different parties represented in Parliament, he said, citing New Zealand as an example of a minority government that has handled the Covid-19 crisis "far better" than Singapore has.

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He also said investments are healthy even in developed countries without a single party with a supermajority.

"The PAP will already have their majority in the 14th Parliament for sure after this general election which is hurried in the middle of a pandemic to their enormous advantage," he added. "Vote fearlessly."

The remarks were put up on Facebook hours after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's afternoon rally, where he said that investors, friends and adversaries of Singapore would scrutinise the election results to see if Singaporeans are united and whether they still strongly support their leaders.

Mr Yee yesterday also referred to an earlier post by fellow WP candidate Leon Perera, who is standing for election in Aljunied GRC. Mr Perera had addressed the PAP's argument that Singapore's foreign direct investment (FDI) from multinational corporations could be affected if the PAP loses more seats in Parliament.

"I remember that, in the past, this view was used by the PAP very frequently and loudly at every GE," he said.

"Yet, the stock of FDI grew after the 2011 GE where the WP won the GRC of Aljunied as fully-elected MPs for the first time - from approximately $665 billion in 2010 to $1.27 trillion in 2015."

Mr Perera, chief executive of a market research consultancy, also said the WP supports strong FDI attraction and good economic management. - THE STRAITS TIMES

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