SINGAPORE — Most of Singapore’s opposition parties, including the Workers’ Party (WP), have suspended their outreach activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but two parties said that they intend to continue meeting residents while taking appropriate precautions.

In a Facebook post on Thursday (March 26), WP said: “In light of stringent social distancing measures and the spike in Covid-19 cases, the Workers’ Party will temporarily suspend all house visits for the time being.

“Our residents’ welfare and safety are our utmost priority.”

However, WP reassured residents that its Members of Parliament (MPs) and town councillors will continue to inspect their respective estates and serve their residents’ needs with the help of one to two volunteers, staff members or Non-constituency Members of Parliament.

“Other WP members will walk the ground with this directive in mind,” it said.

A General Election (GE) must be held by April next year, but the release on March 13 of a report by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC), which redrew some electoral boundaries, propelled talk that the GE could be held fairly soon.

Aside from WP, eight out of 10 of Singapore’s other opposition parties have either stated publicly, or told TODAY, that they will be suspending their own outreach efforts for similar reasons.

These parties are:

• Progress Singapore Party (PSP)

• Singapore People's Party (SPP)

• Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)

• Reform Party (RP)

• Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA)

• People's Power Party (PPP)

• Singaporeans First (SF)

• Peoples Voice (PV)

SPP's chairman Jose Raymond said on Thursday that party members have stopped knocking on doors and “no major community-based events” have been planned in this period in Potong Pasir and in other areas that they intend to contest, including Bishan-Toa Payoh, Marymount and Mountbatten constituencies.

“In any case, most households in Potong Pasir have my personal phone number and they are aware that my lines are always open in the event that they need assistance or wish to continue any conversation with me,” he said.

A spokesperson for PSP told TODAY that the party will “review the situation in due course” and decide on when activities can be resumed.

“Clear guidelines on how we should conduct our activities when we resume will be communicated to all our members,” it added.

On March 20, PPP’s secretary-general Goh Meng Seng said in a Facebook post that Singapore is in the midst of a “coronavirus threat” and that the party will not “risk the lives of Singaporeans now”.

“There will be no outreach as we are practising social distancing very seriously," Mr Goh wrote.

The sentiment was shared by SDA's chief Desmond Lim who said that his party had stopped house visits about two months ago, because they did not want to “add burden” to Singapore’s health system.

“We have to be responsible to our members, volunteers, the residents and also the medical workers. They already have enough stress,” he said.

However, two parties, the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said that they intend to push ahead to meet residents — though they both stressed that they will exercise appropriate safety measures such as social distancing and not be shaking hands.

NSP’s secretary-general Spencer Ng said that his party has no plans to call off a visit to a group of rental flats on Sembawang Drive on Friday.

He explained that the party had already prepared hygiene supplies — such as hand sanitiser and mosquito patches — to give to the residents.

“These are the groups of people we feel will need help in acquiring some of (these) products,” Mr Ng said, adding that he was concerned that the residents could be facing the risk of a dengue infection.

He said that his party also wanted to find out how the residents are coping, because he was aware that some may have either lost their jobs or are facing financial difficulties due to the economic downturn caused by Covid-19.

As to whether the party will continue with their outreach efforts after Friday, Mr Ng said that the party’s central executive committee will make a decision once they meet.

Mr Mohamad Hamim Aliyas, DPP’s secretary-general, said that the party’s leaders made the decision to press on after a meeting on March 21.

Starting from April, the party will be visiting constituents in Bishan-Toa Payoh, Marymount and Kebun Baru constituencies, he said.

“The EBRC is already out. So we need to keep going. (The release of the EBRC report) means that we have to meet the people, meet the voters around (these areas),” he said.

“We don’t know when the election will be called, so we have to prepare now.”