IN FULL: Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin formally welcomes Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition

Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin formally welcomed Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition (LO), today (30 Aug).

Pritam Singh was made Singapore’s very first LO a day after the watershed 2020 general election, in which the WP won an unprecedented 10 seats in Parliament in what was it’s first election under his leadership.

Read Mr Tan’s speech in full here:

Honourable Members, As Speaker, I would like to take this occasion to formally welcome Mr Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition in this 14th Parliament of Singapore.

The Leader of the House has just set out the duties and privileges accorded to the Leader of the Opposition. I discussed this with her and provided my feedback and inputs as guided by the Standing Orders and the established conventions of the House. I concur with the arrangements.

Where the existing practices and conventions allow, the Leader of the Opposition will have the right of first response among Members to pose lead questions to Ministers. Subject to the agreement of the House, he will also be granted longer speaking duration for speeches.

I therefore hope to see more thorough examination of policy proposals and for policy alternatives to be surfaced for all Members to consider, scrutinise and debate in this Chamber. The additional staff and resources provided to him would support the Leader of the Opposition in this endeavour.

I look forward to working with both the new Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition in ensuring productive and orderly conduct of parliamentary business and debates. I am also confident that under their capable leadership and cooperation across the aisle, the decorum, dignity and honour of the House will be upheld by all Members at all times. Thank you.