Opposition MPs' maiden speeches in Parliament

Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Chen Show Mao and Non-constituency MPs Gerald Giam and Lina Chiam made their debut speeches in the week-long parliamentary debate on Tuesday.

Giam of the Worker's Party highlighted healthcare, public housing and public transport as the three areas where he felt the government has not done enough.

In healthcare, Giam said that present schemes and policies are insufficient in helping Singaporeans, especially the elderly poor, in obtaining treatment when they are ill.

"For seniors with no income and little savings, the burden of healthcare is shifted to their children," he said, adding that children of such patients are often low-income earners and the government is merely shifting the burden of poverty within the pool of the poor.

"Basically we are asking one disadvantaged group to pay for another," Giam said.

While he acknowledged the government's move to increase the supply of flats, he pointed to the current housing shortage and further noted that cooling measures do not seem to be working. He also called for more aid to those "caught in between the policies", such as singles and divorcees.

In healthcare, public housing or public transport, the government has gone too far down the road of pursuing free market efficiency, often to the detriment of the elderly and low wage workers, said Giam.

"This regressive transfer of risks from government to citizens must count as one of the PAP government's biggest policy failures in the last decade," he pointed out.

Giam's point was rebutted by Christopher de Souza, MP for Holland-Bukit Timah and Minister of State for Defence and Education Lawrence Wong, reported The Straits Times.

De Souza asked Giam not to "throw the baby out with the bath water" and pointed out that a large number of Singaporeans own their own homes.

Wong pointed out Singapore's employment rate is one of the highest in the world and median incomes have increased in real terms over the past decade.

The suggestion that Singapore's problems result from the government's focus on growth as 'disingenuous', he argued, noting that the government has never pursued Gross Domestic Product as an end in itself, but with a firm commitment to fairness.

Chen Show Mao, MP to Aljunied GRC, who advocated for diversity in society and in politics, highlighted that intolerance caused division, not differences.

He said, "I believe that our community will come out of robust debates alive and stronger, not just in Parliament but in the larger society as well. Social cohesion will be strengthened when we give people, including our young people, room to voice their views and grievances and participate in community affairs.

"This has been recognised in households, and workplaces all around us are changing how they are being run and there's no reason why we can't learn from it. But we must start from a position of difference, not a forced unity," Chen was quoted as saying.

NCMP Lina Chiam of the Singapore People's Party urged the government to do more in getting younger Singaporeans to participate in the affairs of the country.

"If the government wants its citizens to participate in the affairs of the country and in order for its citizens’ participation to have good meaning, there must be real freedom to generate, test and implement ideas and not to decide how, what, when and where it should be done," she said.

Chiam also felt the government should look into allowing political exiles and their families to come back to Singapore freely, without fear and without conditions. These people with their families are also our future with home grown Singaporean talent, she stated.