Needy will get vouchers

Singaporeans do not need “more expensive rents and housing, and longer and longer waits for Build-To-Order flats,” said Ms Ho Soak Harn, a West Coast GRC candidate.

“We know that, as a society, we have to rebuild the middle class, to provide mechanisms in place to work hard, earn a decent salary, to save for a home and retirement, and afford to pay the PUB utilities and conservancy bills each month, and still have a little left over.”

She cited an example of insecurity felt by a 10-year-old girl in Block 41, Teban Gardens, whose lorry driver father had to stop working due to cancer. The family had borrowed money from friends and did not know what to do when the money ran out, said Ms Ho.

The Ang Mo Kio GRC candidates spoke out against the term “suicide squad” being used to describe their contest against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s team.

“Actually, we go there to win over the constituency. I hope when we win, they don’t go perform hara-kiri (Japanese suicide ritual),” said Mr Osman Sulaiman, the team leader.

Team-mate Mansor Rahman said Malays in Singapore have been oppressed under the People’s Action Party (PAP).

He challenged the PAP to reveal the number of Malays in high positions in Government service, and criticised Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s failure to apologise for his remark about Malays’ difficulty in integrating in his book,

PAP steam rolls

The future leaders of

this country need to have four Cs:

Clear head,

[independent enough to stand in SMC, otherwise who knows whose head is CLEAR or not ? ? ? ?]

Compassionate heart,

[donate half the allowance for the people and serve FULL TIME ? ? ? ?]

Clean hands and

[carry  water bottle to wash hands ALL THE TIME ? ? ? ?] 

Competency

Reform Party Ang Mo Kio GRC candidate Lim Zi Rui questioned the PAP Government’s ability to listen to the people. “Singapore is prosperous and has improved, but we are not all prosperous,” he said in Mandarin.

These shortcomings, the Opposition argued yesterday, buttressed their argument for greater checks and balances on the PAP.

On Monday, Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam said in a press interview that the WP wants to be in the front seat of the car as a “co-driver”, and able to stop the car if it does not like the direction in which it is going.

Taking up this analogy, WP chief Low Thia Khiang last night said: “A co-driver is essential, especially when the road gets tougher to navigate. The co-driver is there to slap the driver when he drives off course or when he goes to sleep or drives dangerously.” He added: “But, of course, if the driver is friendly and drives responsibly, we just keep talking to him to keep him awake.”

Lawyer and WP candidate Chen Show Mao, who returned to Singapore recently, and who faced questions from the PAP over his ability to identify with Singaporeans’ aspirations, addressed the crowd in all four official languages and spoke about issues close to voters’ hearts: Wages and jobs.

Mr Chen noted that the average incomes of Singaporeans had not kept pace with economic growth. At the same time, corporate profits and the wages of the high-income earners are rising faster, he said.

NSP’s Tampines GRC candidate Gilbert Goh blamed foreigners for taking away jobs from Singaporeans, with one in three jobs performed by a foreigner.

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam, at his party’s rally in Clememti, said that if elected to Parliament, his party would push for HDB owners to convert their homes from leasehold into freehold properties while changes to the CPF scheme were needed to give people more control of their savings.

During the parties’ political broadcast aired on television last night, Singapore People’s Party chief Chiam See Tong called on voters to let the Opposition keep a regular check on the Government, debate national policies and “most importantly, hold the government accountable for you”.

Recent issues that demanded answers include the Mas Selamat escape and “gross overspendinghe said.” for the Youth Olympic Games,

Singapore Democratic Alliance candidate