SDP’s manifesto dangerous: PAP’s De Souza
The People's Action Party's (PAP) Holland-Bukit Timah GRC candidate Christopher De Souza has called the Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) manifesto proposals "dangerous".
In his rally speech to an estimated 2000-strong crowd for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Bukit Panjang SMC on Monday evening, he said, "The SDP manifesto launched very late in the day is a rushed patchwork of ideas. Lose at its core, unviable in its implementation, dangerous to residents of Holland-Bukit Timah, across the board.
"There are disconnects within the manifesto, not minor ones (but) major ones, major consequences, dangerous," he added.
The incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) and lawyer took issue with SDP's proposal to increase personal income taxes to the 30 per cent mark for higher-income earners.
"Did you know that the SDP wants to raise personal income tax to about 30 per cent?" he said, with the crowd responding with boos.
De Souza argued that it would be unfair to tax higher-income earners, citing young families in his ward who not only live but invest in the private properties as a nest egg.
"Many of the new condominium dwellers are young families investing in a private property as a nest egg and SDP wants to raise personal income tax to about 30 per cent, not by a small margin but by a fairly large margin," he said.
He added that there is also a "disconnect" in wanting to increase income tax, supposedly to assist the poor as the SDP's proposal to divert the country's economy away from the manufacturing industry to a services sector would affect almost 500,000 blue-collar workers.
"The SDP wants to increase the tax of the higher wage earners which will seriously affect the financial planning of this group of my residents.
"But in the same breath, it also seeks to detrimentally affect the jobs of my blue-collar worker friends and residents who live in the HDB heartlands and they want to do so by dismantling Singapore's manufacturing sector," said De Souza.
His comments come after SDP's candidate Tan Jee Say proposed in his 46-page working paper titled 'Creating Jobs and Enterprises in a New Singapore Economy' that Singapore move away from the manufacturing sector to a "full-fledged integrated services hub for the region".
"Politics is about service, it's about applying heart and mind together. To assess, to understand, to deliberate what is in the best interests of our residents and Singaporeans. I consider it a scared duty.
"The last 5 years have not been easy, the MPs, my fellow MPs in this team have been on the frontline, witnessing, dealing, understanding, responding to the worst financial crisis since the great depression.
"We were on the ground, we were not giving speeches, rhetoric, high falutin ideas, no. We were banding together and overcoming one of the greatest economic obstacles the world has seen, and Singapore has seen," said De Souza.
Meanwhile, his Holland-Bukit Timah GRC teammate Liang Eng Hwa also took a swipe at SDP, calling them to unveil plans for the constituency.
Speaking at the rally, he said, "When I entertain the thought that (the) SDP team assembled two days before Nomination Day, and who are not interested in communicating with you face to face at your doorstep to understand your concerns, is to run this place, how will this town be like?"
He also questioned whether the SDP team truly understands the sentiments and needs of the residents or are they using the constituency as a stepping stone "to make more noises in Parliament".
"If they get in, there are no local plans for this town, simply because they did not bother to find out your needs and they have anyway a different focus.
"This thought and these dreadful scenarios spur me to work very hard for this campaign because we owe it to our residents here, to build a better and secured home.
"It is our responsibility and I will fight every ounce of my energy that I have, to make sure that our homes are secured and getting better. We are the team that feels strongly and emotionally attached to this place and we really want to make a difference here," he said.
The PAP rally saw 13 speakers delivered their speeches including "new face" Sim Ann who is part of the party's Holland-Bukit Timah team and guest speaker, Minister of State for the Ministry for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Mrs Yu Foo Yee Shoon, who will be retiring from politics.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan also addressed three key issues — costs of living, jobs and housing prices, and urged voters not to go for quick-fix solutions as proposed by the opposition parties.
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