Pm lee: Opposition wants to stir trouble, pap is on your side

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

PM LEE: OPPOSITION WANTS TO STIR TROUBLE, PAP IS ON YOUR SIDE

Post date:
1 May 2015 - 1:30pm








Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the bold claim today that the Singapore government has the strong and longest-lasting relationship in the world with its workers. He also made a snide remark and said that he is "aghast" that the opposition would lambast Singapore's tripartite system.

Mr Lee made these deluded comments at the at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) May Day Rally today.

"Our unions are equal partners with employers and the Government," Mr Lee said.

"No trade union congress anywhere else in the world has been as effective as NTUC in improving workers' lives," Mr Lee also said.

He said that he wanted this "precious legacy" of tripartite to be protected.

But Mr Lee's comments might take many by surprise. It has been a constant critic among Singaporeans that the Singapore government has controlled the labour unions, by first imprisoning hundreds of labour unionists which did not align themselves with the PAP from the 1960s to 1980s, and then by instilling its own minister to head the labour union.

As such, it is has been viewed that the labour union in Singapore is toothless and instead of protecting workers in Singapore, is more willing to pander to the business interests of the government instead.

Mr Lee then criticised the governments of other countries and said that those governments would say that they want to protect workers from competition and unscrupulous businesses, this has caused investors to be frightened off and damaged the economy. Mr Lee said that this caused jobs to be lost.

Mr Lee also said that some governments had wanted to weaken the influence of their unions and descend into a tit-for-tat conflict.

But what Mr Lee said cannot be more ironic and hypocritical, as it completely ignores how the PAP-run government had did the same from the 1960s to 1980s, and not only that, some of the labour unionists were imprisoned for decades without trial.







Mr Lee then took potshots at the opposition and said that he was "aghast" that opposition politicians had said that tripartism is obsolete.

It is uncertain as to where Mr Lee had gotten this impression from, but he did take a swipe at the opposition.

He then criticised the opposition for not understanding the importance of tripartism and insulted them, by saying that they are not interested in workers' welfare and only wanted to stir trouble.

Mr Lee then made the outrageous claim once again that, "this Government will always be on your side, on the side of workers".

Mr Lee also made the other countries in the ASEAN region look bad.

"If we just want to be as good as our neighbours, habis liao (die already)," he said.

Mr Lee's May Day Rally can best be described as not only out-of-touch with Singaporeans but also vastly in contradiction with the lived realities of Singaporeans.

He claimed that the PAP is protecting workers in Singapore and even maligned the opposition for wanting to exploit workers.

However, it is the PAP which has been exploiting the workers in Singapore. Singapore today has the least employment protection legislation among the OECD and Asia-Pacific countries, after the United States.
And not only that, Singapore is one of very few countries in the world which still do not have minimum wage and income protection for unemployed workers.

In fact, Singaporeans also earn one of the lowest wages among the highest-income countries.

It is thus completely disjointed where Mr Lee would shower praises on his own government when it is his government that has resulted in the lives of Singaporeans being compromised and exploited.
Where Mr Lee would dare lay the blame on the opposition, it is his very government that has hurt Singaporeans.

Mr Lee's May Day Rally can only be characterised as a desperate attempt to win back votes at the next general election but a very bad one at that.


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