WP welcomes key shifts but urges further policy changes to address longstanding concerns.
SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party (WP), Singapore’s largest opposition party, responded positively to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 18), applauding the policy changes announced and noting their alignment with WP’s past proposals. However, the party also called for deeper and more comprehensive reforms.
The WP highlighted three key announcements: the new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme, the extension of shared parental leave, and the inclusion of singles in Build-to-Order (BTO) flat priority schemes.
The new SkillsFuture scheme, aimed at providing temporary financial support up to S$6,000 for lower- and middle-income workers who lose their jobs, was a focal point. WP expressed agreement with the Prime Minister’s assessment that job loss can destabilize families. The party reminded that in 2016, it had proposed the introduction of a Redundancy Insurance scheme, a call reiterated during the 2020 General Election and again in the 2023 Budget debate.
In regard to shared parental leave, WP welcomed the decision to extend the leave by 10 additional weeks starting in 2025. However, the WP pointed out that in 2020, it proposed a minimum of 12 weeks of leave for mothers and four weeks for fathers, with a maximum of 24 weeks of government-paid leave. Sengkang GRC MPs Louis Chua and Jamus Lim had repeated this proposal two years later, emphasizing the importance of equal parenting roles.
Sengkang GRC MP He Ting Ru also commented on the outdated notion that childcare is primarily the mother’s responsibility. She had called for more equitable parenting policies, pointing out the necessity of a more inclusive approach in encouraging equal parenting roles, beyond the existing four-week paternal leave.
On the issue of housing, WP also welcomed the announcement that singles and their parents would be given priority in the application for BTO flats, effective mid-2025. The WP has long advocated for lowering the eligibility age for singles to apply for a BTO flat, from the current 35 years to 28. This proposal was first made in the WP’s 2020 Manifesto and reiterated in Parliament in 2022.
The WP expressed hope that the government would expedite this reform, stating, “We urge the government to make this deeper policy reform sooner than later to more comprehensively address the concerns of singles regarding housing access.”
