The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) held a press conference on Wednesday morning, 2 September, to respond to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s criticisms of SDP’s alternative policies. The press conference was held at the party’s headquarters in Ang Mo Kio, and helmed by Secretary-General Dr Chee Soon Juan and his Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team-mate Dr Paul Tambyah.
In his statement, Dr Chee commented that Dr Balakrishnan should look at his own party’s track record of such practices, citing the low interest rate of the CPF as an implicit tax, and the large stream of revenue for the government due to the “slew of taxes, fees, and levies”.
“All this has resulted in our large reserves, which are handled by the GIC and Temasek Holdings. In 2008, the two sovereign wealth funds admitted that they had lost between $120 billion to $140 billion in failed investments in Western banks such as Merril Lynch, Citigroup and UBS,” he said.
“If it had not been for the intervention of the US government in the form of bailout money under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), these banks would have collapsed, and our reserves would have been irretrievably lost.”
Both Dr Chee and Dr Tambyah said they welcome Dr Balakrishnan’s engagement on the issue. In addition, Dr Tambyah said they appreciate a contest in ideas “rather than character assassination and gutter politics”.
On the allegation that SDP had copied policies that had failed in other parts of the world, Dr Tambyah pointed out that Dr Balakrishnan has not provided any evidence to support his claims.
“In fact, this contradicts the World Health Organization, which ranked the French healthcare system, which is probably closest to the SDP’s National Healthcare Plan, as the best performing healthcare system in the world,” said Dr Tambyah.
In their statements, both Dr Chee and Dr Tambyah also brought up the fact that while Dr Balakrishnan was critical about SDP’s proposal to raise taxes for the top 1% of income holders during the last general elections, his colleague, the Finance Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, decided to raise taxes for the top 5% of income holders this year. The move is in fact one that is in agreement with the SDP’s alternative policy proposal.
“It seems that Mr Tharman did exactly what Dr Balakrishnan attacked the SDP for,” Dr Chee added.
Speaking to reporters during the question and answer session, both Dr Chee and Dr Tambyah clarified criticisms and misconceptions about the minimum wage. They explained that a universal minimum wage model, for both Singaporeans and foreigners alike, as opposed to the current system where it is only applicable to the security and cleaning industries in the form of a progressive wage model, will result in employment based on skills and abilities rather than how cheap a prospective employee can be hired. This will in turn ensure productivity across all sectors and minimize the exploitation of vulnerable workers.
They reiterated that Singaporeans do not need handouts but a level playing field, where they will not be at a disadvantage, especially in the areas of employment and healthcare.
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SDP-Press-Con.jpg
In his statement, Dr Chee commented that Dr Balakrishnan should look at his own party’s track record of such practices, citing the low interest rate of the CPF as an implicit tax, and the large stream of revenue for the government due to the “slew of taxes, fees, and levies”.
“All this has resulted in our large reserves, which are handled by the GIC and Temasek Holdings. In 2008, the two sovereign wealth funds admitted that they had lost between $120 billion to $140 billion in failed investments in Western banks such as Merril Lynch, Citigroup and UBS,” he said.
“If it had not been for the intervention of the US government in the form of bailout money under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), these banks would have collapsed, and our reserves would have been irretrievably lost.”
Both Dr Chee and Dr Tambyah said they welcome Dr Balakrishnan’s engagement on the issue. In addition, Dr Tambyah said they appreciate a contest in ideas “rather than character assassination and gutter politics”.
On the allegation that SDP had copied policies that had failed in other parts of the world, Dr Tambyah pointed out that Dr Balakrishnan has not provided any evidence to support his claims.
“In fact, this contradicts the World Health Organization, which ranked the French healthcare system, which is probably closest to the SDP’s National Healthcare Plan, as the best performing healthcare system in the world,” said Dr Tambyah.
In their statements, both Dr Chee and Dr Tambyah also brought up the fact that while Dr Balakrishnan was critical about SDP’s proposal to raise taxes for the top 1% of income holders during the last general elections, his colleague, the Finance Minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, decided to raise taxes for the top 5% of income holders this year. The move is in fact one that is in agreement with the SDP’s alternative policy proposal.
“It seems that Mr Tharman did exactly what Dr Balakrishnan attacked the SDP for,” Dr Chee added.
Speaking to reporters during the question and answer session, both Dr Chee and Dr Tambyah clarified criticisms and misconceptions about the minimum wage. They explained that a universal minimum wage model, for both Singaporeans and foreigners alike, as opposed to the current system where it is only applicable to the security and cleaning industries in the form of a progressive wage model, will result in employment based on skills and abilities rather than how cheap a prospective employee can be hired. This will in turn ensure productivity across all sectors and minimize the exploitation of vulnerable workers.
They reiterated that Singaporeans do not need handouts but a level playing field, where they will not be at a disadvantage, especially in the areas of employment and healthcare.
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SDP-Press-Con.jpg
