SINGAPORE — Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Paul Tambyah yesterday issued a point by point rebuttal against criticism of his party’s policy proposals lobbed by his People’s Action Party (PAP) Holland-Bukit Timah GRC opponents.

On the issue of minimum wage, he said a fair, universal minimum wage would benefit Singaporeans and foreign workers, because Singaporeans would not have to compete with low wage workers who are willing to work for less.

“The exploitation of migrant workers will stop if there is a minimum wage. These people build our schools, our roads, our homes, and they live in miserable conditions after paying huge sums of money through unethical and exploitative agents. The least they deserve is a fair wage for their work,” said Prof Tambyah, who was speaking at an SDP rally in Yuhua.

On Saturday, some of the PAP Holland-Bukit Timah GRC candidates, including Minister of State (Education and Communications and Information) Sim Ann, Mr Christopher de Souza and Mr Liang Eng Hwa, spoke against the SDP’s “tax-and-spend” proposals, with Mr Liang referring to the proposals as “crazy economic ideas”.

In particular, Mr de Souza had criticised the SDP’s plan to slash the defence budget — to help fund healthcare — saying it would “ambush Singapore’s sovereignty”. Mr Liang also said the SDP’s plans to impose a minimum wage for both local and foreign workers would drive up business costs and reduce the disposable income of Singaporeans.

Prof Tambyah said he found Mr Liang’s comments on a minimum wage for foreigners, as well as the PAP crowd’s enthusiasm, “troubling”.

He also reiterated that the SDP is not against beefing up Singapore’s defences, but that more transparency and accountability are needed in all areas of government spending.

“We are asking for smart defence spending. There have been many questions which have been raised; for example, about the F-35 fighter, which has been called the fighter plane which cannot fight. It would be good for the issues that involve huge amounts of taxpayer dollars and have had serious concerns raised by other international experts to be debated openly,” he said.

Prof Tambyah, who helped craft the SDP’s proposed healthcare plan, also addressed Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s comment that in countries where healthcare is free or nearly so, people “(pay) for it big time”.

“The SDP healthcare plan does not involve free healthcare. There are co-payments involved for non-emergency care,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, SDP chief Chee Soon Juan, who is also standing in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, took the stage yesterday to speak about the pressure on Singaporeans brought on by the high cost of living.

For example, high land prices set by the Government have driven up costs for small businesses, which in turn raise prices. But the PAP continues to “take care of itself very well”, with ministers justifying the need to be paid top dollar, he said.

At the same time, the public is told they cannot withdraw their CPF savings, because they might squander it.

“Dr (Vivian Balakrishnan), if you are listening to my speech, and I am sure you are, you have absolutely no moral authority to tell Singaporeans they will squander savings when you outspend the (Youth Olympic Games) budget by (over) S$300 million.”

Towards the end of his speech, he also appealed to voters to be rational: “I want to reason with you and appeal to your sense of logic, or all I have left is sensational rhetoric ... I know that if I can appeal to your intellect, to your sense of right and wrong, I know that together we can make the right decisions.”

Also taking the stage yesterday was SDP candidate for Yuhua Jaslyn Go. Of her PAP opponent Grace Fu’s five-year upgrading plan for the single-seat ward, Ms Go said the plan should be carried out regardless of who is elected. “There should be no distinction between a PAP ward and an Opposition ward. Upgrading of Yuhua, or any constituency, is a national building programme. The nation does not belong to any party, but the people,” she said.