SINGAPORE — As the world economy grinds to a halt, the Covid-19 pandemic is a “storm that shakes up the very structure of our open economy and threatens its foundations”, the Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh said in support of the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets in Parliament on Monday.

“These supplementary budgets are anything but supplementary. For the moment they are a comprehensive response that will save businesses and jobs and help low- and middle-income households tide over the difficult short-term effects of the global economic shutdown,” Mr Singh said.

Through the Resilience Budget, Singapore will now have temporary “taxpayer-funded unemployment insurance, income support for low-income families, food vouchers for the poor, and protection for the self-employed”, he noted.

He was referring to schemes such as the Temporary Relief Fund, which gives a one-off S$500 cash aid to eligible Singapore residents who have lost their job or part of their income, and the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme, which grants a total of S$9,000 over nine months to freelancers and contract workers impacted by the crisis.

Mr Singh asked if the measures in the various schemes would represent a “new normal” for Singapore, especially after the nine months that several schemes in the Resilience Budget covers.

“Will these schemes represent a new normal akin to a multi-year ‘New Deal’ to help Singaporeans cope and bounce back from economic hardship? For Singaporeans who will continue to see disruption and technology reducing their job prospects, can we expect continued support for them in the nine months after this package expires, particularly for training and wage support?” the secretary-general of the opposition party asked.

The New Deal is an economic support package by the late American president Franklin Roosevelt to provide relief in the aftermath of the Great Depression from 1933 to 1939, and was arguably a temporary approach to help the United States recover.

But it became a defining moment in American politics that cemented the US as a “welfare state with a strong federal government and a perennial national debt problem”, Mr Singh said.

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown up some useful lessons, he added.

For instance, the crisis has exposed sectors, such as the cleaning industry, that could be manned by more Singaporean workers “for better resilience and national outcomes”. 

Here, it will be appropriate and timely to have a thorough review into what constitutes a living wage for a Singaporean in such critical infrastructure occupations, he said.

“What about our army of cleaners, both local and foreign, and the local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and cleaning companies that operate in this space?

“Singapore owes them a debt of gratitude in this difficult period, and it is time our workers who keep Singapore clean are paid far more respectable wages.”

He urged the Government to turn its attention “more acutely than ever” to Singaporean workers and their families, who may face the reality of inequality and job competition.

Mr Singh said: “It is the respect all of us must extend to (essential workers), and all those who earn an honest living, that matters so much in shaping the type of progressive society we aspire to be. Only then can we say we are people who leave no one behind.”

Later, WP chairman Sylvia Lim pointed out how the Jobs Support Scheme, for example, provides wage offsets to the employers rather than the employees directly. The scheme provides substantial government subsidy to businesses to help them pay the wages of their staff members in a bid to help them retain workers.

However, Ms Lim said that many employers have already initiated cost management schemes by asking employees to take salary cuts, such as airline companies. 

Retail employers, hard hit by the pandemic, have also asked their staff members to work reduced hours, while other employers in non-essential services have told employees that their job situation was not assured due to the stay-home measures, Ms Lim added.

“To be sure, employers without revenue have to make tough choices, and I understand that. To that end, I know Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat’s speech included a hope that those who receive support will use the resources wisely and responsibly, and that the Government will not hesitate to take action against any abuse.”

Ms Lim asked Mr Heng to clarify what would be a form of abuse by employers under the Jobs Support Scheme.

BALANCING THE ACCOUNTS

Mr Singh also questioned the ability for the next term of government to balance the books, considering that the economic aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic could last up to five years.

“We are nearing the end of the term of government and the accumulated surpluses have come in handy to meet public needs. Even so, we are now needing to draw the reserves and I support this.

“But if resilience is going to be a longer-term issue… and a major restructuring of the economy and society is required, how is the Government going to balance the budget in the next term? Would we need to adopt belt-tightening austerity measures to balance the budget?” he asked.

He also noted that a government drawing on past reserves in the first year of a new term would be unprecedented, but it is likely to be the case considering that more support may be needed in the coming months.

The Government is proposing to draw a total of S$21 billion from past reserves to fund the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets. President Halimah Yaacob has given in-principle approval for the drawdown.

Mr Singh said: “Rather than focus on the timing of the General Election, I think the public debate will be better focused on the choices before us, whether the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets are the shape of a New Deal for Singapore, a new social compact for Singapore.

“After we defeat Covid-19, and defeat it we will, we must address the long-term needs of our people in a sustainable and equitable manner. 

“To this end, our reserves, and the prospect of taxes should continue to be robustly debated and considered in a detailed manner. The WP will play its role in these debates,” he said.