Budget Debate Speech – 27th February 2024 Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap Sir, in my time as a Member of Parliament representing Kaki Bukit Division of Aljunied GRC, I have had many interactions with Singaporean individuals and families from low-income households. These households have been most affected by the rising costs of living in Singapore and the issues they face are multifaceted. When Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong delivered the Budget statement earlier this month, I was heartened that there was significant attention given to this segment of our country’s population. Today, I will ..read more

Budget Debate Speech – 27th February 2024 Sylvia Lim Swee Lian In this Budget, I and others born in or before 1973 have been called “young seniors”.  These days, when younger commuters give their seats up to me on the MRT, I no longer feel insulted but accept with grace.  That said, with better life expectancy and health, 60 is the new 40.  We still have much to contribute as citizens.  Today, I wish to focus my speech on older workers and how we should be tapped on as a resource for the good of the nation. What can older people contribute? A lot.  Last week, veteran H ..read more

Budget Debate Speech – 27th February 2024 A/P Jamus Jerome Lim Chee Wui Preparing Our Businesses, Workers, and Students for the AI Revolution In his Budget Statement delivered two Fridays ago, DPM Wong spoke about artificial intelligence (AI) as a general-purpose technology, like “electricity, the internal combustion engine, the computer, or the Internet.” As such a, AI indeed has the potential to touch every aspect of our lives. Like DPM Wong, I firmly believe in the transformative power of AI for the future of our shared economy. In an earlier speech on amendments to the National Productivit ..read more

Budget Debate Speech – 27th February 2024 He Ting Ru Mr Speaker The title of this year’s budget statement, “Building our shared future together”, is one which all of us should strive for. In the Workers’ Party 2020 manifesto, “A Singapore For All”, we outlined our vision for a Singapore which has a place for each and every one of us. It is a positive development that we have agreement across the aisle for ideas such as supporting involuntarily redundant workers financially through a difficult period as they look to find their feet again. As a nation, we should be proud to see such good policie ..read more

Budget Debate Speech – 26th February 2024 Pritam Singh Mr Speaker, it is not mere coincidence that the slogan of Forward Singapore is “Building Our Shared Future”, while that of Budget 2024 is the substantially similar “Building Our Shared Future Together”. The Government intends for Budget 2024 to be a step towards Forward Singapore. The Forward Singapore exercise has three major goals for the decade and the next. Singapore must: first, have a strong and growing economy; second, develop a fairer society; and third, deepen our sense of unity. In doing so, the shared future that was distilled f ..read more

Budget Speech – 26th February 2024 Dennis Tan Lip Fong Mr Speaker, for my Budget Debate speech, I would first like to speak on certain issues relating to the support for our seniors, followed by the issue of support for adults with disabilities and finally, like in my previous years’ Budget Debate Speech, I will continue with the issue of Green Transition. Support for Our Seniors Age Well SG Mr Speaker, DPM and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in his Budget speech that preventive care is especially important for seniors, that loneliness can do great harm to a senior. They need to stay activ ..read more

Budget Debate Speech – 26th February 2024 Gerald Giam Yean Song Mr Speaker, Fair Competition Singaporean workers aspire towards making a good living and engaging in meaningful work that uplifts not only their own families, but also their communities, their nation and the world. One inescapable reality of work is competition. We have always had a very competitive culture in Singapore. This has served us well in many ways, from the excellent performance of our students in schools to our efforts to top the global rankings in everything from corruption perceptions to business friendliness. However ..read more

Introduction Mr Speaker, I will make three points concerning Singapore’s reserves and then I will set out the Workers’ Party’s (WP) five principles on the reserves. My first point is that the Government should be more open about our reserves and reveal figures not for their own sake, but so as to facilitate mature conversations on the reserves to take place. My second point is that the Government should not rule out using more than the current 50% of the Net Income Returns Contribution (NIRC) or what is known as the investment returns from the reserves to lessen the taxation burden on Singapor ..read more

Mr Speaker, Living in Singapore, it can sometimes seem that climate change is a concept that is remote to us and our daily lives.  After all, it is not something that you immediately see or feel when you look out the window. Unless you were outside in Ang Mo Kio on 13 May last year, where Singapore’s daily temperature hit 37 degrees celsius for the first time in 40 years. It would also not escape our attention that we now have gone from daily torrential downpours suddenly being replaced by dry and hot weather.  And when I speak to older constituents, one thing that often comes up is ..read more

Mr Speaker, In our quest to safeguard the Singapore dollar, especially from the volatilities of currency crises, it is important for a country to hold sufficient Official Foreign Reserves (OFR). We’ve seen the dire consequences of not having enough in the tank during Thailand’s ordeal in 1997. The country’s struggle, stemming in part from currency speculation, led to a severe depletion of its OFR. This forced it to float its currency, triggering an economic crisis which affected the whole region, including Singapore. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has assessed that the “optimal” amo ..read more