1 July 2020, Singapore
A very big part of social mobility is ensuring that we take care of those that have already contributed to our economy and our society in the years where they were putting in the effort. So we need, we absolutely need to take care of our elderly that lives among us. It is really a crime that we see the elderly continue to feel that they have to work in order to make ends meet. Dr. Chee mentioned as well about education and, as an educator myself, that warms the cockles of my heart. But unfortunately we have moved away. When I was in school, we used to have an educational system where really there was equality of opportunities. But if you look at the schools now, you don't see that And Dr. Chee Mentioned one of the elements where we can actually bring about a greater equality by ensuring that the schools that are not the elite schools actually get a disproportionately higher amount of educational spending.
Now, the other element which we feel strongly about is decreasing class sizes, because I think this ironically ends up penalising students that are in large classes and are forced to take lessons, additional lessons out of the classroom, in the form of private tuition. We do not necessarily object to policy just because of the sake of objection. Ultimately what we want is the right policy. I think the fact that we're having a debate and agitating toward an answer is a step positive in that direction. Within the manifesto, we have actually done the math behind it and everything within our budget actually is budget neutral. Now, what is true though, is that it does entail a set of trade-offs. Where we fundamentally differ is where we think those trade-offs actually should occur. Now, the PAP tend to side on the side of capital, we think in fact that for every dollar of national income, Singaporean workers already receive an insufficient amount. 42 cents, compare that to 55 cents in Japan and much higher in other high-income countries. And we think that a rebalance of that kind of share of labour income is ultimately necessary.
This is exactly why the debates about ideas for how Singapore should progress should occur. And I think it's also clear just from this debate that the PAP does not have a monopoly on the best ideas on how we should bring the society forward. Now, the PAP has argued that this election is really about giving them a mandate to bring the country out of this crisis and they need this mandate in order to do so. The truth is, the PAP, in all likelihood, will have this mandate by the end of this election. And I think that what we are trying to deny the PAP isn't a mandate, what we're trying to deny them is a blank check. And that is what I think this election truly is about so that we can actually have this kind of debate. It's not just in the constrained form over a table, but actually in the forum, which was designed for this, which is parliament. So if you believe, and I call on voters, if you believe in having all voices heard, if you believe that we succeed only when we have sound and rational debates about what matters, if you believe in the essence of a democratic, modern society for the 21st century, then we ask that you make your vote count.