Story by Shukry Rashid
Photos by Fawwaz Baktee
The People’s Action Party (PAP) press conference held in the wee hours of 12 September 2015 at The Treasury saw 10 elected candidates – mainly Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and two newly elected candidates Mr Ong Ye Kung and Ms Cheryl Chan – speaking of the sweeping victory they had when they won 83 seats of the 89 contested seats.
DPM Tharman’s win for the Jurong Group Representative Constituency (GRC) also saw the highest margin for the entire election, which garnered some 79% of the votes. He credits this big margin to the high overlap of the oppositions’ push for policies with what PAP has already done or are intending to do in the future.
“[There is a] very high overlap. Whether if it’s foreign worker policy, whether it’s education, whether it’s social security, whether it’s uplifting the poor. They [the opposition] were saying things we are doing … but basically it’s the same agenda. We have brought an agenda that impacts the consensus, amongst the broad base of Singapore. And people have confidence in that,” he said.
These overlapping policies which are already in place include those called for by the Labour Movement and the tripartite partners like the Fair Consideration Framework, enhancements to the CPF, and the implementation of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM).
Progressive Wage Model
PM Lee also said that he looks forward to debating with the opposition on the issues they have proposed during the hustings, which include the minimum wage.
PM Lee said: “I look forward to the opposition candidates … coming fully prepared to engage and to have a robust exchange on significant issues including all the issues which they have raised in the hustings which they haven’t always previously raised during the Parliamentary debate. For example, the new minimum wage is a new subject which they have brought up which they never mentioned during the last term of the Parliament.”
This minimum wage model is one of the overlapping ladders that make up the PWM which also include enhancing workers’ skills, productivity and career. It was first enforced in the cleaning sector in late 2014, with the security sector coming next in June 2016 and the landscape sector in September 2016.
Source: NTUC This Week
