Grace Fu demands apology from WP's Sylvia Lim for GST ‘test balloons’ allegation

SINGAPORE — Leader of the House Grace Fu on Tuesday (March 6) called on Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Lim to apologise to the House before Thursday, and withdraw her allegation that the Government had floated “test balloons” on the need to raise revenues within this term and had intended to raise the goods and services tax (GST) immediately.

Speaking in Parliament before the start of the day’s Committee of Supply (COS) debate, Ms Fu, who is also the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, read out a statement which set out the facts and reiterated that Ms Lim’s allegation was without basis.

Her statement came four days after Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat had asked last Friday if she was ready to withdraw her allegation — which was made in Parliament the previous day — after having had an opportunity to check the facts.

Ms Lim, who is the chairman of the Workers’ Party, was not present in Parliament when Ms Fu made the statement.

Responding to TODAY's query, WP media team chair and Non-Constituency MP Daniel Goh said Ms Lim had written to Parliament Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin on Monday night indicating her wish to make a statement in the House, perhaps at the conclusion of the COS debate, to clarify the matter.

Ms Lim was not informed that Ms Fu was making a statement on Tuesday morning, Assoc Prof Goh said.

Ms Fu said: “The Minister for Finance issued a statement, setting out the facts again and asking Ms Lim now that she had had an opportunity to check the records, if she would withdraw her allegation as an honourable MP should and apologise to the House. Ms Lim has not answered.”

She noted that when presented with the facts by Mr Heng and Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam last Thursday, Ms Lim said her allegations were based on suspicions, not facts. Ms Lim admitted she was not certain of the facts herself but would check on them later. However, Ms Lim did not withdraw her allegations.

Ms Lim also cited parliamentary privilege, to which Ms Fu pointed out: “Parliamentary privilege does not entitle MPs to knowingly to maintain allegations that have been shown to have no factual basis.”

She added: “I’m speaking to put these facts on record. Now that Ms Lim has been apprised of the facts, I request that she withdraws her allegation…  and apologise to this House before the end of the sitting of Parliament on Thursday, March 8, 2018. Mr Speaker, I noted that Honourable Member Sylvia Lim is not this House, I will extend a copy of my statement to her.”

Mr Heng had earlier stressed that MPs are entitled to raise suspicions in Parliament if they honestly believe them, Ms Fu noted. “But honest belief requires factual basis, and when clear factual replies have been given, an honourable MP should either refute them with further facts or acknowledge them and withdraw their allegations, especially if the allegations had insinuated lack of candour or wrongdoing on the part of the Government,” she added.

She pointed out that Ms Lim was suggesting that the Government would have raised the GST immediately if not for the adverse public reaction when it floated the suggestion late last year, and if it had not been stuck with the previous statement it had enough money for the decade.

“Ms Lim was in fact accusing the Government of being untruthful when it says that it had planned ahead and that its proposal to raise the GST between 2021 and 2025 was the result of such planning,” she said.

Ms Fu reiterated that the first mention of the need for the tax increase was in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech in 2013, more than four years ago. “The Minister for Finance reiterated this in his 2017 Budget statement, and again at a constituency function a few months later. The Prime Minister spoke again of the likelihood of a tax increase late last November, and had expressly referred to the Finance Minister’s earlier statement,” Ms Fu said.

"Indeed, in the previous term of Government, Deputy Prime Tharman (Shanmugaratnam) had said in the 2014 Budget statement and in the 2015 Budget statement that while the Government had taken steps to ensure it has sufficient revenue to meet spending needs until the end of the decade, ‘we will run into structural deficits if we did not raise revenue in the next decade’.”

Ms Fu added: “As the Minister for Finance told Ms Lim in this House last Thursday, what DPM Tharman said in 2014 and 2015 remains true today. The Government has enough money to the end of this decade but beyond it will have to raise taxes to meet rising expenditure needs, especially in healthcare.” The Government “never floated test balloons on this matter”, she said.

“It has been deliberate and consistent in all the statements since August 2013. When presented with the facts, Ms Lim said that her allegations were based on suspicions, not fact.  She admitted she was not certain of the facts herself but would check on them later. But she did not withdraw her allegations,” she added.  

“With the clarifications that have been given to her by the Ministers both in this House and elsewhere, Ms Lim cannot contend that her suspicion remains reasonable and honestly held. Her allegations have been refuted, the facts she cited have been shown to be inaccurate, and she has not raised any further facts to substantiate her suspicion.”