Political leaders must put integrity, honesty first: Xie Yao Quan

17/02/2023

By Xie Yao Quan, Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC

This letter was first published in Mandarin in Lianhe Zaobao on Feb 17, 2023.

Workers’ Party (WP) MP Louis Chua submitted a letter titled “The Workers’ Party did not call for stopping or reducing the construction of BTO flats” to the Lianhe Zaobao forum on Feb 14, 2023.

During last week’s Parliamentary debate, National Development Minister Desmond Lee pointed out that in 2019, the WP suggested that the Government should reduce the production of BTO flats to 9,000 units annually.

Mr Chua’s letter seemed to refute Minister Lee’s comments, but failed to come up with any effective counterarguments, which is confusing.

One of the main arguments by the WP in last week’s debate was that the Government did not build enough BTO flats, and it did not build them fast enough. This contradicts what the WP said four years ago.

At that time, WP believed that HDB faced the risk of an oversupply of flats, and suggested that the Government build less — just 9,000 flats a year would be enough.

In fact, the Government launched 16,000 BTO flats in 2018, 15,000 flats in 2019, and 17,000 flats in 2020, all of which were more than the 9,000 annual units proposed by WP.

If the Government had adopted the WP’s proposal, the current shortage of HDB flats would have been even more severe. Minister Lee’s point was to remind the WP that politics should be based on principles and that politicians should not behave inconsistently or capriciously.

Mr Chua said that Minister Lee quoted the report out of context. Having perused the WP 2019 report, I cannot see how Minister Lee took its meaning out of context.

Mr Chua basically raised three points:

  1. In 2019, WP did judge that there might be an oversupply of BTO flats;
  2. WP did not ask the Government to stop building BTO flats;
  3. If there’s an undersupply of BTO flats, the Government can use the WP’s suggested “Universal Sale-and-Buy-Back Scheme” to buy older flats from homeowners and sell them on the resale market.

Don’t Mr Chua’s first two points tally with the basic fact that the Workers’ Party suggested in 2019 that the Government build fewer BTO flats, and claimed that 9,000 flats would be enough?

As for the third point: Putting aside the pros and cons of the “Universal Sale-and-Buy-Back Scheme”, raising this point does not refute Minister Lee’s comments at all.

Mr Chua’s letter is a rebuttal for the sake of rebutting. It seems to speak with conviction but it is, in fact, empty at its core.

My opinion remains the same: Governing a country is not easy. As political leaders, we must put honesty and integrity first in order to live up to the people’s trust and continue helping Singapore to thrive and prosper.


政治领袖须以诚信为先

工人党议员蔡庆威在2月14日的《联合早报》交流版,发表题为《工人党没呼吁停止或减少建造预购组屋》的文章,看似反驳了国家发展部长李智陞在上周关于住房课题的国会辩论中,指出工人党曾在2019年建议政府应将预购组屋数量减至9000个单位,却又提不出任何有效的反驳论点,令人疑惑。

工人党在国会辩论中的基本论调之一,就是批评政府预购组屋建得不够多、不够快,这和工人党在四年前(也就是2019年)的论调本是自相矛盾的。当时工人党认为组屋面临供过于求的风险,建议政府少建一些,一年建9000个单位就够了。其实,政府在2018年推出1万6000个组屋单位,2019年推出1万5000个单位,2020年推出1万7000个单位,都比工人党建议的9000个单位多。

如果政府当时采取工人党的提议,那目前组屋供不应求的情况恐怕会更严峻。李部长指出这点,无非是提醒工人党,问政应该有原则,不能朝三暮四、反复无常。

蔡议员说李部长断章取义,我参考了工人党的工作报告原文,看不出李部长的发言有任何的断章取义。蔡议员基本上提出了三点:

一、工人党在2019年确实做出预购组屋供过于求的判断;二、工人党没有叫政府停建预购组屋单位;三、如果市场供不应求,那就采用由工人党建议的“全民售后回购计划”,让政府从人民手中收购较旧的组屋,再提供给转售市场。

前面两点,和“工人党曾在2019年建议政府少建一些组屋,建9000个单位就够了”的基本事实不是很契合吗?

至于第三点,我们且抛开这个“全民售后回购计划”的利与弊不谈,提出这点根本无法对李部长的发言起到任何反驳作用。蔡议员的文章是为了反驳而反驳,看似振振有词,实际上是空洞的。

我还是一句话:治国不易,作为政治领袖,我们须以诚信为先,才能不负人民所托,让国家继续繁荣昌盛。

谢曜全, 裕廊集选区议员

Top image credit: Xie Yao Quan/Facebook