Straits Times: Workers' Party slams proposal to raise GST

The Workers' Party (WP) has slammed the proposal to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, saying that this will hit the poor hardest and is merely a means to ensure that the Government has a steady source of revenue.

While Mr Low Thia Khiang, the party's chief, noted that the proposal would help offset the revenue lost through proposed cuts in personal income and corporate taxes, he also asked: "Is the loss in revenue from the cuts so significant that GST must be increased?"

"And should this be done at a time when people are already facing hardship?"

The Economic Review Committee, which suggested the hike in GST, has suggested bringing the corporate tax rate, now at 24.5 per cent, and top marginal income tax rate, now at 26 per cent, down to 20 per cent within three years.

This is to make Singapore more attractive as a place to do business and work, and create more jobs.

But Mr Low noted yesterday that with tax rebates of 15 per cent, the effective top marginal tax rate has already been cut to 22.1 per cent in the last calender year.

The cuts in corporate and personal income tax benefit only businesses and high-income earners, not the two-thirds of workers in Singapore who do not pay these direct taxes, he said.

While rebates to cushion the impact of the increased GST have been promised, they are only temporary measures, he argued.

He suggested that the Government look at other ways to reduce costs. One way would be by reviewing its own expenditure on projects and buildings, which are sometimes "even more posh than five-star facilities".

He also asked if the Government's objective in raising the GST was to ensure a steady income for itself, to make up for the loss in revenue caused by lower corporate and income taxes, regardless of the state of the economy.

"The GST is therefore a tax instrument to ensure that the Government will continue to have a source of income from the people regardless of whether the economy is doing well or badly; it is a weapon which does not bother with whether our people are facing hardship or not."

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of State (Trade and Industry, and Education), who announced the tax proposals on Thursday, described the WP statement as "not unexpected" last night.

"We need to ask ourselves why we are proposing to cut taxes, why we are proposing to raise the GST. Why would we want to do something unless it was in the interest of Singaporeans?"

Singapore needed bold action or jobs will go and wages decline, hurting the lower-income most, he said. "We've got to address the issue forthrightly, not shrink from it or get caught up in a divisive argument of whether this is to benefit one group more than the other."

As for the WP's claim that the GST increase was a merely a tool to ensure a "steady income" for the Government, he said: "It is a predictable response and ignores the very grave situation we are in, and the grave responsibility that we have in getting Singapore going again."

Straits Times: Hougang voters wanted me, and upgrading: Low

THE MORNING AFTER

They handed him a victory, but at a smaller margin because they want to see their flats upgraded as the PM promised, says WP chief

By AHMAD OSMAN

MANY voters in Hougang wanted to have the "best of both worlds".

They wanted to have Workers' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang as their MP and enjoy upgrading at the same time.

That is why they trimmed his winning margin from 58 to 55 per cent, Mr Low told reporters yesterday after his victory parade in Hougang.

On Saturday, he was re-elected as MP for the ward for the third time, beating Mr Eric Low of the People's Action Party.

Before Polling Day, the Prime Minister had asked voters to cut overall support for the WP in Hougang from 58 to 52 per cent.

Mr Goh Chok Tong had said that if 45 per cent of the voters in any Hougang precinct voted for the PAP, he would consider that precinct for upgrading.

"The ball is in the PM's court now. The voters in Hougang have responded to his request. Is he going to keep his promise?" asked the WP secretary-general.

He said that he did not know if bookies taking bets on the outcome of the polls had helped to swing votes against him.

But he made it plain that the polling results would not hurt the WP's efforts to recruit younger Singaporeans who believe an opposition must be part of Singapore's political landscape.

The issue of whether Singaporeans want an opposition was not settled conclusively in this election because there had been other factors at play, he argued.

The economic downturn, for example, had made people more uncertain about voting for opposition candidates, he said.

And before the polls, he noted, his party had been bogged down by defamation suits against its former chief, Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam, and had not been able to begin working the ground as early as it should have.

During the hustings, the PAP tried to tie him down in Hougang and reduce the time he could spend helping Dr Poh Lee-Guan, the WP assistant secretary-general, who was defeated by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee in Nee Soon East.

But he said that the voters in Hougang knew he did his best to serve them and was not the type to carry out a last-minute door-to-door campaign "to beg for votes" during an election.

"I don't do that," Mr Low said, adding: "I do my regular things and leave it to the people to decide in an election."

Mr Low said Dr Poh, who got 26 per cent of the valid votes, was new to politics and had had only nine days to campaign.

But the latter had to face the firepower of all the PAP's big guns, including Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, he said, adding: "Why is there a need for all the big guns, including SM, to... go down to the ground?"

Dr Poh, who accompanied Mr Low on his victory parade yesterday, said he was happy with the result in the new single-seat ward of Nee Soon East, where his party had performed "pretty well" despite the challenges it had faced.

Asked whether he was prepared to stand with Mr Low in a group representation constituency in the next election, he replied: "We really have to ask the question again: What do the people of Singapore want?"

"We will see what we can do, add value to and contribute. The rules of engagement will remain the same. We will be responsible and constructive."

Streats: No media ban, but...

GE 2001
HotTalk

SINCE Nomination Day, the Workers' Party has shunned media attention.

No press conferences. No alerts about walkabouts. Only "no comment" when WP candidates are approached at rallies.

Is there a blanket ban on the media?

"Not that we know of," said council member James Gomez at a party rally last night at Nee Soon East.

"We have not talked to the media because we have nothing to say to them.

"The media has been trying to fish for information. And when they can't get a reply, they are quick to show their frustrations." Mr Gomez also attacked the standard of journalism in Singapore.

"The quality of analysis of so-called senior journalists, reporters and correspondents remains to be seen."- Adam Hashidy

New Paper: WP's Dr Poh: Got money, give money. Got energy, give energy

GENERAL ELECTION

BY TANYA FONG



A SELF-PROCLAIMED "Nee Soon boy", Workers' Party's Dr Poh Lee-Guan, 40, insists you call him "Ah Poh".

He said he spent his youth in Nee Soon.

Indeed, some people at the Workers' Party rallies can be heard shouting for "Ah Poh! Ah Poh!"

Dr Poh was made the assistant secretary-general of the WP in May this year, almost as soon as he joined the party.

He himself admitted that his grassroots experience is "very limited". This is his first foray into politics.

On Oct 26, a day after Nomination Day, Dr Poh went for a walkabout in Hougang with enthusiasm. Shaking hands with fishmongers and the elderly, he appeared to be at ease with the residents.

His reasoning: "I am the man-on-the-street. They are my elders and my peers, and I am one of them."

He reaches out to the coffeeshop and market folk with his fluent Hokkien.

His oft-repeated belief is: "The country and constituency is ours. There is only one Singapore between us. Got money, give money. Got energy, give energy."

Then there are the three Hokkien maxims his father, 60, a retired lorry driver, had taught him since he was a boy.

First: Ai lun (must tolerate).

Second: Mai luan gong (don't talk without discretion).

Third: Si mi dai zi buay ching chu, meng lao da, lim kopi, keng keng (when in doubt, consult your elders, have coffee, and talk).

Maybe this is why he shies away from giving any comments about his competitor in the single-seat ward Nee Soon East, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee.

"He is a friendly competitor," that's all he said.

Dr Poh obtained his Business Administration doctorate from the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) in May this year.

He feels his specialty in "knowledge management and creation" would "effectively contribute to the development of policies to strengthen our economic competitiveness". He said he decided to join the WP because he and Mr Low Thia Khiang, the party secretary-general, whom he has known for almost five years, "share the same values".

He said: "I am very comfortable with his rules of engagement - responsible and constructive politics."

Dr Poh is married, and has a 4 1/2-year-old son. The family lives in an HDB flat in Woodlands.

---

NEW FACE

BIODATA

Name: Dr Poh Lee-Guan, assistant secretary-general, Workers' Party

Age: 40

Occupation: Training consultant

Seat contested: Nee Soon East, a single ward

TODAY: It's no joke

Elections 2001

WP's James Gomez falls at the first hurdle

by Zackaria Abdul Rahim and Francis Kan



WHEN he first said he was contesting the elections, it turned out to be an April Fool's joke.

But, it seemed that political activist James Gomez (picture) was serious this time around when he was announced as a new candidate of the Workers' Party.

And, the word was that he would help to realise his party's dream of winning a GRC.

He had also coined the catchy phrase "New Poor" which was set to be his campaign platform.

All this came to an end yesterday, when the nomination papers that he and his fellow candidates who were vying for the Aljunied GRC were rejected on technical grounds. It was the only team the Opposition had fielded for a GRC that was rejected.

Explaining this, Returning Officer Tan Boon Huat of the Elections Department said the papers were invalid because when delivered, they contained blanks where the candidates were required to state the electoral division they were qualified to stand in.

WP's secretary-general, Mr Low Thia Khiang, called it "an oversight" and took "full responsibility" for it.

Mr Gomez told reporters how they had tried to remedy the situation by writing in the electoral division that they were standing in. But, this was rejected because they had to be reaffirmed before a Commissioner of Oaths. Mr Gomez criticised the stringent electoral process.

"We wanted to remedy on the spot ... we called a lawyer who is a Commissioner of Oaths to rush down," said Mr Gomez.

But, he said, it was already 12.20pm and the Returning Officer declined his request to extend the deadline.

Mr Tan said: "Everyone knows that they have 11 to 12 o'clock to file the proper documents, there's no leeway for extension," he said.

Mr Gomez said "the whole process of recourse was absent".

Here again, the law is clear. Mr Tan said that returning officers, by law, cannot advise candidates on how to fill out their nomination forms.

When TODAY pointed out that if the candidates were serious enough, they should also double-check that their papers are in order, Mr Low said: "We do ... nevertheless, this is an oversight."

And, that seems to be the mystery of it all. If the nomination papers for WP candidates in Nee Soon East and Hougang - Dr Poh Lee Guan and Mr Low - were in order, why then were these five nomination papers for Aljunied GRC defective?

"We have done our best but we are not perfect," said Mr Low who had sent a letter of appeal to the Elections Department.

On this, Mr Tan said: "I (had) replied saying that I had no powers to entertain any appeal."

Besides Aljunied GRC, the Workers' Party had also indicated interest in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

So, was it a last-minute decision to contest in Aljunied, thereby explaining the blank space in the declaration form?

"It is not a last-minute decision at all," said Mr Low, and raising his voice, he added: "Certainly it was not made this morning."

When asked for his comment at a separate press conference, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said: "I don't know the whole story but I found the whole team was disqualified. I don't know if it's another of those April Fool's jokes."

TODAY: Gomez rejected

Elections 2001

TODAY PHOTOS



WORKERS' Party candidate James Gomez (picture) and his team turned up to file nomination papers for the Aljunied GRC but ended up conceding a walkover to the PAP.

WP chief Low Thia Khiang said his party had to pull out because of a technicality - the candidates had not entered the name of the electoral division on their nomination forms.

According to an elections department official, the nomination papers submitted by the WP were not delivered in compliance with the law.

TODAY: What the political parties promise ...

Elections 2001

Workers' Party
Power to the People and New Poor
Power to the People: giving people the power to vote

New Poor

1. People who have to contend with increasing high costs of living and are relatively poor.

2. These people include the unemployed, people in low-paid or part-time employment, struggling local entrepreneurs, the sick and disabled, older people and a sizeable portion of the middle-class

3. They face rising costs in areas like school and tuition fees, public transport, food prices, health care, utility charges, office rentals and telecommunication costs.

4. Young and elderly Singaporeans will have to contend with foreign workers in the job market. WP chief Low Thia Khiang calls for a more stringent foreign talent policy

5. Companies suffering from poor business have to down size and relocate to lower cost places like China and Third World countries.

TODAY: Chiku politics: Ripe for the picking?

Elections 2001

Hougang

In 1991, Mr Low Thia Khiang, then 35, wrested Hougang from Mr Tang Guan Seng with a 52.8 per cent win. The Teochew speaker won again in 1997, with an increase in support to 58 per cent.

TODAY: The debate on foreign talent

Elections 2001

Hot Issue

We are not against foreign talent but the question is what kind of foreign talent ... It is the responsibility of the government to review its policy, at least to help Singaporeans

- WP chief Low Thia Khiang

Streats: Hammer in the works

GE 2001
Face of the past

by WINSTON CHONG


Pic: Francis Lee

WITH Nomination Day around the corner, Mr JB Jeyaretnam yesterday threw a spanner, or in this case, a hammer, in the works.

The veteran opposition politician, along with 10 other Workers' Party members, announced they were quitting the party.

Mr Jeyaretnam said he had submitted his resignation on Monday.

He accused the party leadership of not helping him fight a bankruptcy case which disqualified him from the election.

While he had no intention of destroying the party's chances in the polls, he said he had to tell the truth.

"I have always taken the view that the electorate comes above the party. My duty is to the electorate of Singapore and not to the party."

The 10 others are leaving because of "differences with the new leadership of party secretary-general Low Thia Khiang", who has said the party will be the voice of the "New Poor", said cadre member Goh Yew Chye.

"I don't understand what is the 'New Poor'. What happened to the old poor? Isn't the 'New Poor' the formerly rich?

"I thought the party is supposed to help the poor get their concerns voiced in Parliament. Even when Mr Low was asked by Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong what the 'New Poor' was, he couldn't answer."

He added, however, that he will help Dr Christopher Neo, a 38-year-old candidate who is running under the Singapore Democratic Alliance banner.

Mr Low said he was not surprised by Mr Jeyaretnam's resignation.

Mr Low "did not have the time" to persuade his 76-year-old predecessor to change his mind.

But he acknowledged the lawyer's contribution.

"No matter how I think, Jeyaretnam has made political history. He has made contributions to the party. He was the one who broke the PAP's hegemony."