Worker's Party member, Yee Jenn Jong, urged Singaporeans to have the courage to embrace change, highlighting that there are credible alternatives to the choice provided by the incumbeent PAP.
Yee shared this opinion after a frank exchange with an elderly resident during a community event.
The elderly man was grateful for the community work that the WP had carried out for the less privilege in the Marine Terrace area. He however, like many other Singaporeans, felt conflicted and was unsure about the potential implications of voting an opposition party into power at both the constituency and government level. While he felt that something needed to be done, he could not dismiss the track record of the first and even second generation PAP members.
According to Yee, this sentiment is not uncommon among the people he has come across during his political work. According to Yee, he himself had the same reservations - he felt that PAP had performed reasonably well till the 2000s. By then, Yee had concerns on the PAP's policices related to, amongst others, healthcare, education, and public housing.
The risk-averse mentality that developed among policymakers and government through the years of stellar success also became a bugbear for Yee. In this, he saw a need for the emergence of a credible alternative so that Singapore can be steered towards further success in the next stages of its growth.
Yee called on Singaporeans like the elderly residents to escape from the hegemonic influence of the PAP brought about by the politics of fear. To do so, they need to embrace change.
They should not worry that their estates will turn into a slum and be left in a state of disrepair.
Yee then reminded Singaporeans that the reason why Singapore succeeded in the past was because we were bold and innovative. They need to find that daring, can-do spirit again so that Singapore can change for the better.
This is a very relatable opinion from Yee. It is true. We were once bold. The PAP itself began as an opposition party. There is no reason to to fear voting a credible alternative into parliament.
