PSP on National Day: At 61, Singapore is mature & strong enough to debate different views openly

SINGAPORE: For Singapore’s 61st birthday, the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP) noted how far the country has come in such a short time and even recognised the Government’s leadership as well as how hard generations of Singaporeans have worked and sacrificed to get there.

Nevertheless, the party added that at this point in its history, “Singapore should also be confident enough to assess openly what we have done right — and what we may have done wrong.”

PSP listed the major problems facing Singapore, such as its fertility, environmental, and mental health challenges, adding that these are indicators of a need to have a more open conversation about the country’s future.

It asked Singaporeans to examine the kind of country that is being built and whether it is “the Singapore that future generations will want to call home.”

“Alternative and opposition parties have pushed for fresh ideas. The ruling party too has recognised the need for change through Forward Singapore and its new social compact,” the statement reads, adding that with increasing economic and social diversity, “even the ruling party will not have all the answers” and that “good ideas can come from anywhere.”

For the country to discover the solutions to address the challenges that lie ahead of Singapore, what is essential is a free contestation of ideas, wrote PSP, adding that different views should not be feared, because having reached its 61st year, Singapore is “mature and strong enough to debate them openly.”

“Let us build a Singapore that is not only prosperous, but also secure, fulfilling and sustainable — a Singapore where our young can look to the future with hope and confidence.

The next chapter of the Singapore story belongs to all of us,” wrote PSP Secretary-General Leong Mun Wai.

Indeed, the truth that the world has changed significantly in recent years, and not always for the better, has been acknowledged by Singapore’s leadership as well as by opposition figures. They have also recognised that fresh solutions are necessary to address new problems.

Over National Day weekend, PSP leaders were out and about. Like other politicians, they were giving out Singaporean flags, but according to Wendy Low, who heads PSP’s Women’s Wing, they were also campaigning to raise awareness of the proposed deforestation at Maju Forest and Gillman Barracks.

“Both online and offline, and across Choa Chu Kang, Tekka Market and Geylang Serai Market, we have engaged with Singaporeans from all walks and shared that there are alternative land use solutions to simply cutting down trees to provide affordable housing,” said Ms Low in an Aug 9 social media post. /TISG

Read also: ‘Nearly 1 in 5 marriages in Singapore today are inter-ethnic. Yet harmony isn’t something we can take for granted,’ says PSP