S'poreans' welfare during Covid-19 a priority for Govt; opposition 'getting ahead of themselves': Chan

SINGAPORE — The Government’s current priority is to manage the Covid-19 outbreak and ensure the lives and livelihoods of Singaporeans are well taken care of. 

Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said this on Saturday (March 14) in response to criticism by opposition parties that the Government was acting irresponsibly if it chose to hold the next General Election (GE) amid the Covid-19 outbreak. 

“Now we are entirely focused on the lives and livelihood of fellow Singaporeans. We are all in this together. We will spare no effort to make sure that Singapore comes through this (outbreak) much better than before,” said Mr Chan.

He said that opposition parties may be “getting ahead of themselves” and that the release of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee’s (EBRC) report on Friday “was related but not correlated” to when elections will be called. 

“This is the EBRC report. It makes no comment on when the elections will be held,” said Mr Chan who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to the Singapore Zoo to learn about their precautionary measures for Covid-19. 

The release of the report — about seven months after the committee was formed — marks the penultimate step before Parliament can be dissolved for the GE and is therefore always seen as the surest indicator that an election will be called soon. 

In the past four GEs, it took between one and three months from the release of the report to polling day.

The next GE must be called by April next year and the prerogative of when to call for one lies with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said Mr Chan. 

“Prior to the release of the EBRC report, many people have been asking us when the report will be released and so when the report is released, people react in a very strange way and perhaps getting ahead of themselves,” he added. 

During a media interview on the same day, Dr Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, questioned the timing to calling a GE soon, and said that the ruling Government is doing this for their own political advantage. Mr Steve Chia, chairman of Singapore People’s Party, also echoed his sentiments. 

When asked when the second stimulus package to help businesses and workers hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak would be rolled out, Mr Chan said it would “come out soon”.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat revealed earlier this week that the Government is working on a second stimulus package.

Mr Chan was also asked by reporters whether the timing of this second package would be tied to GE as the Government may require a strong mandate from voters to dip into Singapore’s past reserves to fund this second package. 

Once again, he reiterated that Singaporeans should not get ahead of themselves as there is no indication when the next GE will be held. 

“At this point in time, all the ministries and agencies are working hard to make sure that if and when there is a second package, we will have to take care of our fellow Singaporeans and their livelihoods,” he added.