Asking probing questions are basically about appeasing to the opposition voters.
Wrong. Asking probing questions is about changing the behaviour of the government.
The problem is that you are still fixed in the mindset of "how are we going to get seats in parliament" and not yet the deeper question of what people in parliament are actually supposed to do.
Parliament is a lawmaking body. The other function of parliament is to decide who forms the executive, but forming the executive is so far away that we don't really care about it now. And even then, the cabinet of a government is like the rider of a horse. If the rider cannot control the horse then it's also no use.
They will be debating issues that have more impact on the kopitiam uncles than help with the parking tickets and kissing babies. Things like education policy which determines what kind of schools people go to, health policy which determines how many people get to see the doctor. Most important in the day and age we live in are housing policy, which determines our most serious problem - the supply and demand of new flats and therefore the price of housing. And the direction of the economy, such as what businesses should make up the Singapore economy. And they can also mobilise people to write letters to their PAP MPs to complain about stupid decisions.
Also, people who say that nobody really cares about government policy didn't really factor in the protests against the 6.9 million population white paper.
Opposition people are voted in because people have the perception that they have the power to change things. But you have to realise that people who take seats away from the PAP to do exactly the same thing as what the PAP would have done are actually worse than the PAP, because they take away all the time and energy and hope that you put into "the opposition" and you end up with exactly zero results. Now it's not true that the WP are not doing or saying anything in parliament, but clearly they could use a little more help in their ability to criticise PAP policy.
At the moment, it's not even about what people think about the opposition performance. The biggest factor in the polling numbers, even now, is how dissatisfied people are with the PAP. And the WP is still ahead of the other opposition parties in terms of brand name recognition. But it's a very big shame if in this interim period, when the opposition is gaining strength but still in the minority, the opposition doesn't have a voice in the running of Singapore. That means that the PAP can carry on like the good old days. They can keep on entrenching the interests of the ruling class, the elites. It will be even more difficult to reverse the policies when the time comes for the opposition to be powerful enough to do so. You're almost forgetting why we have an opposition in the first place.
Why a "world class parliament"? They've sold very well the idea that more opposition in the parliament is a good thing. But why is it a good thing?