Gov’t unsure of what it wants to achieve: SDP

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) questioned on Wednesday the government's ability to plan the future for Singaporeans following the release of the budget for the incoming fiscal year.

Leaders of the opposition party said features of the budget pandered to populist sentiments that arose from the general election last year, when the ruling People's Action Party garnered the lowest share of votes ever.

At a press conference Wednesday, SDP treasurer Vincent Wijeysingha and SDP secretary-general Chee Soon Juan presented the party's second annual "shadow budget" as a suggested alternative to the government's spending plan.

When asked to cite examples of what they said was government's "irresponsible financial planning", Chee cited the participation of government-linked corporations and multinational corporations "suffocating the SMEs" as one.

Arguing that budgets should lay down fundamentals for the future, Wijeysingha, also the principal author of Shadow Budget 2012: Securing Our Future, noted that the government has instead been operating "from a position of insecurity" following its performance in the last parliamentary elections.

"A plan must always look at the long-term… (even though) the temptation of any government is to try to re-build its relationship with the electorate," he said.

Adding to that, Chee said if the government tries to appease negative sentiment and still try to keep up GDP growth, "we're going to get this very schizophrenic situation, which we cannot afford."

Chee pointed out that in the case of the contentious migrant workers' issue, the government did not seem to know what it wants to achieve in the long term and how to achieve it.

He noted that in 2010, the government said it wanted to reduce Singapore's reliance on foreign workers but the next year, the Ministry of Manpower announced that the number of foreign workers coming in increased.

"Then Prime Minister comes in and says we need to increase the number of foreign workers because of a weakening economy. And within just barely three months, Minister Tharman comes out and says the exact opposite… We're not getting a consistent picture," he said.

Alternative budget

The SDP's shadow budget this year proposes a stark shift away from the government's spending priorities. For one, the party suggested cutting defence spending by 22.5 per cent, or an approximate $$2.72 billion, because the enemies "don't exist".

Under the government's budget, Singapore will raise its defence spending by 4.3 per cent, or S$504 million, to S$12.28 billion in the financial year 2012. According to data cited by AFP, the expenditure will constitute 24.4 per cent of the government's total spending for 2012, making the ministry the largest beneficiary of the budget allocation.

This maintains Singapore's status as one of the biggest spenders in this area on a per capita basis, second just after Israel, as stated in the shadow budget.

While anticipating a vulnerable global economic outlook ahead, the alternative expenditure plan also outlines a series of measures to promote "more efficient, productive, people-focused and creative approaches to the developmental issues we face now".

Singapore faces the challenges of slowing economic growth, increased social needs, high income disparity and low social indicators, Wijeysingha said.

The alternative budget also unveiled what Wijeysingha referred to as a "troika' of agencies designed to reorient the domestic industrial structure towards the SME sector.

The troika — the Economic Development Board joined by a Singapore Enterprise Agency and Spring Singapore — will work alongside three new funds: a Developmental and Exploratory Fund, an Invention Fund and a Youth Enterprise Fund.

In his hour-long presentation, Wijeysingha also detailed measures to reduce costs of doing business, including the introduction of Corporate Ezlink Cards and subsidies for premises rental as well as the removal of ERP for business vehicles.

The SDP also pushed for a graduated Goods and Services Tax and a Property Sales tax for foreign, non-resident property buyers.

Turning to social welfare, the shadow budget also proposed new approaches to improve public transport and the quality of education in Singapore.

More on the healthcare aspect will be addressed in the party's upcoming National Healthcare Plan, where proposals have been set out to make services truly affordable to ordinary Singaporeans, Wijeysingha said.

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