https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...n-worker-issues-for-upcoming-general-election
SDP to campaign on immigration and foreign worker issues for upcoming general election
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SDP secretary-general Chee Soon Juan said the party will work with economists to come up with proposals on how Singapore can reduce its reliance on foreign labour. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
UPDATED MAY 11, 2024, 10:44 PM
SINGAPORE - The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will focus on issues including immigration and foreign workers for the next general election, the party said on May 11 as it launched its election campaign.
At the campaign launch, which was held at the party’s headquarters at WCEGA Tower in Bukit Batok Crescent, party secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and chairman Paul Tambyah laid out their plans for the coming election.
Singapore has to hold its next general election by November 2025. But some pundits say the election could come sooner rather than later, given that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will step down on May 15.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will take over then as the country’s fourth prime minister.
On why the SDP is launching its campaign now, Professor Tambyah pointed out that it also had an early start for the 2020 General Election, launching its campaign in February 2019, or 17 months before Singaporeans went to the polls.
“We know that to mount a credible campaign, we need time to mobilise volunteers, update our policies, prepare our social media strategies, walk the ground, get to know the residents, which is especially important if we aim to win the constituency and manage the town council,” he said.
The launch event was attended by some 70 party members, volunteers and members of the public.
Dr Chee said the SDP intends to push the incoming prime minister, DPM Wong, to “keep to the PAP’s promise to significantly reduce the inflow of foreign workers”.
Singapore’s policy around foreign talent has impacted productivity, the cost of living, inequality and its national identity, he said, adding that the SDP will work with economists to come up with proposals on how Singapore can reduce its reliance on foreign labour.
Asked whether the People’s Action Party’s recent political controversies – such as the ongoing corruption probe involving former transport minister S. Iswaran – would give the SDP an advantage, Dr Chee disagreed.
“My own sense is that people see these issues as water under the bridge. I think people are looking forward to the issues that we’ve raised, and they are concerned about their future,” he said.
The party has said it intends to contest Sembawang GRC, in addition to the constituencies it contested in the 2020 General Election.
Back then, the SDP fielded 11 candidates in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Bukit Panjang SMC, Yuhua SMC, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Bukit Batok SMC.
When asked if the party had any new faces to introduce, Prof Tambyah pointed to its treasurer Surayah Akbar, 41, whom he said is one of the SDP’s possible new candidates.
The music publisher and mother of three told The Straits Times that she has been volunteering with the party for the past 18 years.
SDP treasurer Surayah Akbar is one of the party’s possible new candidates. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
Ms Surayah said she started doing weekly house visits and twice-a-month walkabouts in areas including Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC a few months after GE2020.
Residents have told her that they find it difficult to keep up with the rising cost of living, she said.
“As a working parent myself, I feel for them because this is what I experienced too,” she said, when asked for her thoughts on the party’s campaign platform.
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