WP calls for overhaul of grassroots organisations

SINGAPORE — The blurring of lines between grassroots organisations and the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has placed opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) on an uneven playing field, said Workers’ Party candidates yesterday.

At the party’s rally in Punggol East, Ms Sylvia Lim, Mr Pritam Singh and Ms Lee Li Lian called for a “radical overhaul” of the People’s Association (PA) and Citizens’ Consultative Committees (CCCs), so as not to cripple the development of an inclusive society.

Reiterating the party’s stand that the PA should come under the President’s purview, Mr Singh said this would allow Singaporeans to protect themselves “from any political party that uses grassroots organisations to unfairly benefit itself”.

Recounting his experience as MP for the Eunos division of Aljunied GRC, Mr Singh said he was denied use of PA-managed facilities in his ward: “This is the simple reality of the PA in opposition wards — an organisation that supposedly exists to encourage greater communal harmony.”

The structure of grassroots organisations here has rendered the PAP’s calls for an inclusive Singapore a “hollow and insincere” one, he said.

He also accused CCCs of “doing the PAP’s political bidding”, as opposition supporters are told to leave the committees. Community groups under opposition parties do not receive funds from the PA, he added.

CCCs, which come under the PA’s purview and are funded by it, oversee the other grassroots organisations in each ward. According to the PA website, CCCs plan major grassroots activities within the constituency, oversee local assistance programmes and organise fund-raising projects and national campaigns.

“If you think grassroots equals to PAP grassroots only, that’s an insult to our democracy,” said Mr Singh, who claimed that residents in opposition wards are sidelined when it comes to estate upgrading.

While the former PAP-run Aljunied Town Council received about S$4 million per year between 2009 and 2011, the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) received none between 2012 and this year, he added.

And while 17 out of 50 improvement projects proposed by AHPETC have been approved “after 18 months of trying”, Mr Singh said work has not started on any of them.

“Unsurprisingly, an elected opposition MP has no say (in) prioritising projects in the constituency ... All (the proposed projects) are very practical requests,” he said.

CCC chairmen are “indifferent” to helping Opposition-run wards, he added, because the infrastructure enhancements would be built on “highly visible” town council property.

“Should such (facilities) be built, residents will realise that living in an opposition (ward) is no different from living in a PAP ward. In the PAP’s world, this cannot be so, even if it means short-changing and punishing residents,” he said.

Ms Lim, the WP chairman, and Ms Lee, the incumbent in Punggol East, also questioned whether state organs such as the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) were the PAP’s political tools.

Ms Lim recounted an instance when Ms Lee was not invited to an HDB-planned welcome party for Rivervale Arc residents. Instead, the guests were grassroots adviser Mayor Teo Ser Luck and Dr Koh Poh Koon, who was the PAP candidate in the 2013 Punggol East by-election.

“How did this happen? Is HDB, a government department, helping PAP campaign against a WP MP? HDB even had the cheek to ask AHPETC to ‘stand-by’ its cleaners to clean up after the event,” said Ms Lim.

“The odds are greatly stacked against you (as a WP candidate) ... We don’t have huge political affiliates like the (labour movement) to secure us jobs. We don’t have the luxury of being reshuffled into safe seats under the coat-tails of a heavyweight minister,” she added.

Ms Lee, who rounded off the three-hour rally, said that her efforts to lobby for more basic amenities for Punggol East have come to naught with the MND.

She said that despite an impending population growth in the constituency, the MND had “no plans” to include more markets and food centres, as there were “adequate food and beverage facilities nearby”.

“Residents of Punggol East, you know the situation more than anyone else. Are these enough? Is it right that basic facilities are not being provided for you despite the area getting more and more crowded?” she asked the crowd.

Yesterday, Ms Lee also shared about national policies she hopes to change if elected for a second term, such as having two Certificate of Entitlement (COE) categories for motorcycles, depending on their engine capacity.

This would spare low-income despatch drivers from competition for COEs with owners of more expensive motorcycles, she said.