Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, who was representing the People’s Action Party (PAP) during a live roundtable discussion on April 27, had been responding to a question on balancing local and foreign hires in Singapore.
Minister Chee took part in the roundtable discussion, along with representatives from four other political parties - namely Workers' Party, Red Dot United, People's Alliance for Reform, and Progress Singapore Party.
Minister Chee took part in the roundtable discussion, along with representatives from four other political parties - namely Workers' Party, Red Dot United, People's Alliance for Reform, and Progress Singapore Party.
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00:00Our unions are already independent, so I think what the Workers' Party is really calling
00:07for is a more confrontational relationship between the unions and the government.
00:12I would like to ask why would that be good for Singapore if we have that outcome?
00:17How would that affect our reputation and our economy if we have that outcome?
00:22Our policies are pro-Singapore and pro-Singaporeans, but we must avoid a zero-sum mentality.
00:28It is not about locals versus foreigners.
00:31It is about how we can work to grow the economic pie, to enlarge the economic pie so that there's
00:36more that we can share with Singaporeans, more and better job opportunities, better wages.
00:42Now, we will certainly want to help our businesses too, help them to transform.
00:46They need the workers too, as Mr. Tung mentioned.
00:50We need them to improve their productivity.
00:52We need to help them to expand overseas, including our SMEs.
00:55So this is something that we want to do, is pro-business and pro-workers.
00:59Now, in this more turbulent and uncertain world, we will need unity and stability.
01:05And we need to forge our own way forward.
01:08Not welfare, but workfare.
01:10Not one minimum wage, but multiple wage and skills letters for different industries.
01:16And certainly not zero-sum, but looking at how we can enlarge the pie for all Singaporeans.
01:22And when we have economic growth, it is very important to ensure that the growth can benefit
01:28as many segments of our population as possible.
01:31So that everyone can feel that there's an uplift from a rising tide.
01:36And this is the PAP's way of doing things.
01:38Through strong tripartism, sound policies that achieve good outcomes in a sustainable way,
01:43we enable all Singaporeans to be able to share the fruits of our sustainable economic progress.