GE2025: PAP's approach on difficult issues is to bring all Singaporeans together, says PM Wong

Straits Times

30-04-2025

PM Lawrence Wong and the PAP's Tampines GRC candidates posing for photos with residents during a walkabout on April 30. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
GE2025: PAP's approach on difficult issues is to bring all Singaporeans together, says PM Wong
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SINGAPORE – When making policy, the PAP government's approach is to try and bring all Singaporeans together, especially on issues that may accentuate differences between people, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
Speaking to reporters after a walkabout in Tampines on April 30, PM Wong said the Government took this approach when handling difficult issues such as the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code, allowing Muslim nurses to wear the tudung in their workplaces, as well as the Israel-Hamas conflict.
'We try to forge as wide a national consensus as possible on these issues, and to make sure we continue to expand our common ground and bring Singaporeans together, so as not to accentuate our differences, nor to seek to exploit those differences,' said PM Wong.
'That's the PAP way,' he added. 'That's the PAP's DNA. And that's how over the decades, we have been able to bring Singaporeans together, unite our people and forge a much stronger Singaporean identity today, and we will continue to take that approach.'
Asked about WP chief Pritam Singh's criticism of the PAP's use of 'negative politics', such as by denying opposition MPs access to People's Association (PA) resources, PM Wong characterised this as an issue of policy and not negative politics.
'On policies, I take it that there will always be differences. We can discuss, we can debate robustly – even in Parliament – and there's always room to improve,' he said.
'I don't take the view that all our policies are perfect. They continue to be improved, fine-tuned, and we do keep on doing better, as our policies have been over the decades. And so are the same with our policies regarding PA,' said PM Wong.
He noted that there have been robust debates in Parliament before about the PA's role.
'I'm sure there will continue to be debates on PA's role, which we have always explained is non-partisan, and it helps to strengthen social capital in Singapore,' he said.
'But the WP and the opposition parties will have a different view, and we are happy to debate and make adjustments along the way, if we think it's necessary.'
At a WP rally in Bedok on April 29, Mr Singh had also said the PAP changed its policy on municipal upgrades in opposition-held constituencies after it lost votes for the ruling party.
Mr Singh noted that Hougang and Potong Pasir voters were told in the past that their wards would be last in line for estate upgrades if they voted for the opposition.
He said the policy change shows that the PAP 'only listens when it loses vote share and parliamentary seats to the Workers' Party'.
Responding on April 30, PM Wong said policies – such as those on municipal upgrading – are not static.
'There was a logic, which we explained, about how we allocated in the past,' he said.
'That's one possible logic you can use. It's not that (municipal upgrading is) withheld. It's a question of queuing and prioritisation, because we will do it. But it was a matter of when.'
He added that there was a logic previously 'that if you didn't support the PAP, then you don't get it earlier than the ones that supported the PAP'.
'That logic, I think, is no longer wearable today,' said PM Wong.
He added that the policy change on the prioritisation of municipal upgrades was not just in response to the opposition protesting, because Singaporeans also expressed that there could be a better way of allocation and prioritising resources.
'That's why, as I said just now, policies will always be fine-tuned with the input of Singaporeans,' PM Wong said.
'When we hear their voices, when we engage Singaporeans, we understand, we continue to improve policies,' he said.
'And in this case, we, over time, evolved and developed a system where we prioritise based on the age of the estates and the age of the blocks.'
PM Wong said that whether on municipal upgrades or other policies, the PAP is open to debate.
'We are happy to discuss, not just in Parliament, because the debates and the discussions and the inputs and the feedback we get come from multiple sources, including from Singaporeans directly,' he said.
On accusations by opposition parties that the PAP government is out of touch and not responsive enough, PM Wong said he understands such criticism and accepts that there may be individuals who have encountered 'frictions' in the Singapore system.
'I always take the view that there is room to improve. There's room to do better. We are not perfect,' he said.
But having more voices does not mean there will be better outcomes in Parliament, PM Wong added.
' It depends on the quality of the inputs in Parliament too,' he said, adding that the PAP does not take in inputs only from Parliament alone.
'We engage widely, we listen, and we will take in inputs from all Singaporeans,' said PM Wong, who added that this is something he has spent such time on since taking over as prime minister, such as by visiting every constituency across Singapore.
He said: 'We will continue this journey with your support, to engage, listen, to hear your feedback, get your inputs, and to keep on making Singapore better for you and your families.'
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