A quote that is often misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi, which was actually first uttered by a trade union activist, Nicholas Klein, goes:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Judging by events in Parliament this past week, victory appears to be the next course on the menu for the Workers’ Party.
WP MP Leon Perera calls out ‘falsehoods’ against WP
During the parliamentary debate on Budget 2023, WP MP Leon Perera urged the PAP to stop ‘propagating falsehoods’. In his speech, Mr Perera, who appeared both exasperated and amused at the reactions he got from across the political aisle, Mr Perera referred to PAP’s mischaracterisation of WP’s position on HDB policy.
The WP MP spoke about how the PAP used its ‘tremendous PR and communicative’ machinery to repeat this false assertion about the Workers’ Party ‘again and again’ on social media and the forum pages of The Straits Times and Zaobao.
The basis of these assertions are an excerpt from the WP housing policy paper from 2019. At the tail end of the debate, which lasted more than 30 minutes, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong suggested that Singaporeans should be allowed to ‘judge’ for themselves based on what ‘exactly’ was published by WP in 2019.
Thus, it may be best to begin by casting our minds back to 2019.
What exactly did WP say in 2019?
The assertion arises from the paragraph below from page 47 of WP’s 64-page housing paper published in 2019, which DPM Wong said he read ‘cover to cover’.
Immediately after the paragraph which ruminates about the possibility of an oversupply of flats in the future, WP stated that ‘BTO projects should continue” and proposed that BTO flats be supplemented by additional flats under the WP’s proposed Universal Sale-and-Buy-Back Scheme in future.
In an earlier statement on 11 February 2023, WP elected not to speculate on the reasons why the ‘PAP would choose to deliberately ignore the context’ of the argument.
Just like DPM Wong, WP said that it would be best to leave it to Singaporeans to come to their own conclusions.
PAP MPs laughed when Leon Perera spoke
Reiterating WP’s position for the umpteenth time in Parliament, Mr Perera submitted that WP’s position was that ‘BTO projects should continue’.
To avoid any room for doubt, Mr Perera then repeated the opening lines of the final paragraph on page 47 of the policy paper:-
“The call to action comes in the second paragraph, which says BTO projects should continue. I repeat, BTO projects should continue. It doesn’t say BTO projects should continue at a reduced rate. It doesn’t say BTO projects should stop..”
At this juncture, Mr Perera paused his speech as he heard laughter from PAP MPs in the Parliamentary chamber.
Mr Perera deliberately stopped his speech to ‘highlight the laughter coming from the PAP MPs’. He did this so that those who watch the video of the Parliamentary exchange can hear the laughter for themselves.
The said laughter can be heard at the 30 second mark of this video.
@thehammertok MP Leon Perera on mischaratisation of WP position. Our 2019 HDB paper clearly stated “BTO projects should continue”. workerspartysg,budget2023, #hdb
♬ original sound – The Workers’ Party 🔨 – The Workers’ Party 🔨
The full video of the 37-minute exchange may be viewed here.
Pritam Singh called the issue a ‘convenient distraction’
The leader of the opposition, Pritam Singh, said that the stray paragraph from WP’s 2019 policy paper was a ‘convenient distraction’.
Over the weekend and at the start of this week, Singapore’s unaffordable housing and overall skyrocketing cost of living was in the headlines. Then, Pritam Singh points out, the PAP deployed “a convenient distraction”: pic.twitter.com/8NRhCUX6Rb
— Pritam Singh Fan Bot (@PritamFanBot) February 24, 2023
He reasoned that it the issue is a distraction as “if the point that was raised in the housing paper was critical, then the PAP would have raised it last year when the WP called for more HDB housing for singles.”
Lawrence Wong denies mischaracterisation of WP’s position
Lawrence Wong responded to WP’s arguments by stating that he knew the context of WP’s policy paper as he was in the Ministry of National Development at the time it was published.
He added that the paper was publish during a time where MND faced ‘tremendous pressure’ to cut back on BTO flats and many experts also called for a slowing of supply of BTO flats.
DPM Wong said that there was “no shame” in admitting WP’s position at the material time and asked WP to be “upfront and honest”.
Other instances of PAP MPs reacting to WP speeches
This is not the first time where the reactions of PAP MPs in Parliament have been noteworthy. Just a few months back, Minister Grace Fu audibly scoffed during an exchange with WP MP Jamus Lim.
@sgviralvids so arrogant.. #jamuslim #gracefu #pap #workersparty #Singaporepolitics #singapore #sgtiktok🇸🇬 #sgviral #singaporeelections
And no article about recent classy behaviour in Parliament would be complete without mention of the now infamous ‘lousy school’ remark directed at PSP NCMP Leong Mun Wai.
@weixianglimsg cabinet ministers dissing PSP’s LMW. Guess every school is not a good school.
♬ original sound – Weixiang Schrödinger – Weixiang Schrödinger
Laughing in the face of opposition is not quite new. In fact, when the opposition stalwart Chiam See Tong was elected into Parliament in 1984, he was often ridiculed by PAP MPs. As Liew Kai Khun, a resident of Potong Pasir, recalls:-
“In front of national television, this meek looking lawyer has been ridiculed and humiliated by the sea of white shirts across him. Perhaps the one image that I will always remember is the huge burst of mocking laughter from the PAP ministers and backbenchers at one of his speeches somewhere in the 1980s.”
Mr Chiam See Tong went on to serve as a member of Parliament for no less than 27 years. Although he may have been mocked in Parliament, he was loved by many in Potong Pasir and Singapore as a whole.
So, perhaps there is some truth after all in the quote that is often misattributed to Gandhi.
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