In its Facebook post, WP pulled out examples of their policy proposals in the areas of unemployment benefits, housing, healthcare, scams, as well as the country’s justice system and energy needs, among others.
When it came to unemployment insurance, WP said that it had made this call in its previous manifestos, including publishing a policy paper outlining details of its proposed scheme.
At last year’s National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong introduced a new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme to help lower- and middle-income workers who have lost their jobs.
Those who apply successfully under the scheme – the first of its kind in Singapore – will receive payouts capped at a maximum of S$6,000 (US$4,500) over six months.
WP also said that it called for shared parental leave of 24 weeks in its 2020 manifesto and repeated the call to promote equal parenting roles that year and later in 2022.
In its 2020 manifesto, the party said there was a direct link between paid increased parental leave and a child’s psychological well being, and proposed a scheme that entitled parents to 24 weeks of government-paid leave, to be shared between mothers and fathers.
The party suggested that a minimum of 12 weeks be granted to the mother and four weeks to the father.
In its post, the party pointed out that in the National Day Rally last year Mr Wong announced that parents will get an additional 10 weeks of shared leave to care for their infants through a scheme which would be fully implemented in 2026.
On protecting scam victims, the party said it had proposed for banks to bear greater responsibility in preventing scams and compensating victims during an adjournment motion in 2023.
Then, party chair Sylvia Lim had called for banks to take the lead in tackling scams. She also urged the government to mandate banks to bear full responsibility in reimbursing scam victim’s losses, but her proposal was “shot down” by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan who said that it would not be fair or desirable.
In 2024, the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC) raised its adjudicating award limit to S$150,000, marking “a step towards fairer treatment of scam victims”, the party said.
The FIDReC’s adjudication process is a final stage in resolving disputes between financial institutions and consumers, and its previous limit was S$100,000 per claim.
Assoc Prof Tan said that the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) would “certainly disagree” with WP’s assertions.
“Correlation is not causality,” he said.
“Just because a party made a proposal does not mean that a subsequent policy change must be attributed to the party.”
He said that often it is a “question of when rather than whether” certain proposals can be adopted, pointing to the matter of the wearing a tudung, or headscarf, in healthcare settings as an example.
The party said in its Facebook post that it spoke against the ban on wearing tudungs in nursing and uniformed services in 2017 and repeated the call in 2021 during the Budget debate.
In late 2021, the government revised its policy to allow Muslim public healthcare workers to wear the tudung at work.
“It’s arguable that the change adopted can be wholly attributed to the WP,” said Assoc Prof Tan. “It is also the case that policy options are clear but there is a need to find the resources to implement the changes.”
He added that in the election period, parties are expected to make “over-exuberant claims and assertions”.
Independent political analyst Felix Tan said the WP is hoping to show voters that “they have performed their role as an alternative voice in parliament, to check on the government and also to enhance certain policies”.
The post also reflects how the opposition party has been positioning itself as one that is “predicated on being rational, logical, rather than being emotional”.
“So, this is just to reinforce the idea that the Workers’ Party is a party that that can be very measured in its approach to policies and suggestions,” he said.
CNA has reached out to the PAP for comment.
