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‘Allow sufficient opportunity for opposition’

Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Low Thia Khiang said he expects the members of the opposition in Parliament to be given fair time to speak their views.

At the first session of Singapore’s 12th Parliament on Monday, Low, one of the six elected WP Members of Parliament (MPs), highlighted the fact that the new Parliament contains the highest opposition representation – six MPs and three non-constituent MPs (NCMPs).

“This is the mandate of our people expressed through the watershed election in May,” he said, in a speech congratulating Michael Palmer, MP for Punggol East single-member constituency (SMC), on his election to Speaker that day. “Singaporeans want members of the opposition to speak on their behalf without fear or favour.”

“In this respect I trust that, Mr Speaker, sir, you will allow sufficient opportunity for members of the opposition to express our views and voice the concerns and needs of the people,” he said, adding a word of thanks to the voters in Aljunied and Hougang.

Parliamentary rules state the time that MPs have to speak, which varies according to the purpose behind their speeches.

An MP, for instance, has 40 minutes when advancing a motion, but has just a quarter of that when making an argument during the second reading of legislative bills.

Furthermore, the amount of time allocated to each MP, regardless of which party they are from, is the same.

Low had previously rejected the position of “unofficial leader of the opposition” in Parliament, a title referring to the MP who is the leader of the largest opposition party — in this case, the WP — who is able and prepared to assume office if the government resigns, saying that he found the term “unofficial” derogatory.

The WP has eight representatives in Parliament—Low, Sylvia Lim, Pritam Singh, Chen Show Mao and Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap for Aljunied, Yaw Shin Leong, MP for Hougang, and NCMPs Gerald Giam and Yee Jenn Jong. They are joined by a third NCMP, Lina Chiam, of the Singapore People's Party, who lost Potong Pasir SMC by a slim margin in the May polls.