‘Can we get a breakdown on those numbers?’ asks PSP’s Kumaran Pillai

Singapore — Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Kumaran Pillai took to Facebook on Monday (Mar 1) to clarify his party’s position. He made it clear the PSP did not want to close the Singapore economy but wanted a breakdown of the number of foreigners and locals getting the new jobs.

His remarks followed the Government’s response to a proposal by the PSP’s Non-constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai.

During the Budget debate between Feb 24 and Feb 26, Mr Leong proposed a $1,200 monthly levy on Employment Passes (EPs).

In response, Ministers Gan Siow Huang and Ong Ye Kung claimed the PSP wanted to close up Singapore’s economy.

According to straitstimes.com, Mr Gan even said that “Mr Leong and PSP do not believe that Singapore should be an open city connected to the world… He wants Singapore to close up, for the top jobs to be given to Singaporeans only.” The two ministers also elaborated on how imposing a levy on EPs would make our enterprises less competitive on the global stage.

Mr Pillai denied that in his Facebook post.

“Firstly, we did not say that Singapore needs to close up the economy. It is a misinterpretation of what was said in Parliament by my colleague Mun Wai,” he wrote.

“A complete shutdown is not tenable given our interdependency to the regional and global economy/marketplace,” he explained.

He added: “My question is, when our people lose their jobs in the tourism sector, for example, and more jobs are created in the digital economy, who gets these jobs? Locals or foreigners?

“Can we get a breakdown on these numbers? The devil is in the details and the government needs to release these numbers to us so that we can analyse better.”

Denise Teh is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG