Singapore Democrats
The SDP continued its campaign for the next GE meeting residents at the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC last Sunday morning at the various food centres in Bukit Timah, Farrer Road and Clementi. The message conveyed to the people was simple: the cost of living continues to outpace wages.
Although the Government has announced a healthy GDP growth for our economy, it must be remembered that wealth is not evenly distributed among the population.
The lower- and middle-income groups continue to feel the brunt of the escalating cost of living. Inflation is stripping away any increase that we see in wages with housing prices way beyond the reach of ordinary Singaporeans.
The SDP has advocated, among other measures, lowering the cost of living such as reducing the GST to 3 percent and abolishing it for basic foodstuffs and medicines. We also want to see HDB flat prices reduced by making the scheme a zero-profit venture for the Government.
We also propose a Singaporeans First Policy where businesses are required to demonstrate that the skills that they are looking for are not available among Singaporeans before they are allowed to employ non-Singaporeans. This is the practice in many countries.
It is only in Singapore that the Government brings in cheap foreign labour at the expense of the citizens in order to suppress wages. This allows businesses to report glowing annual reports and the PAP to claim GDP growth.
But as we have shown, the GDP is not a good indicator of the economic health of the people.
These were some of the messages that the SDP communicated to the people during the walkabout and we will continue to hammer home the idea that the SDP’s policies are better than the PAP’s.
The Singapore Democrats are looking to field a team at the GRC which adjoins the Bukit Panjang single-member ward.