Netizen says Lawrence Wong has “lost touch with people on the street”

The Government will bring forward Budget measures to help Singapore households amid the global rise in prices, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong  said on Monday (Apr 4).

Responding to this, quite a few netizens seem to think that Mr Wong has “lost touch with people on the street”, as one of them put it.

In a post on Facebook on Tuesday (Apr 5), netizen Patrick Lean asked if Mr Wong was the future Prime Minister we want.

Mr Wong had said in Parliament on Monday (Apr 4) that despite the sharp price increases in petrol prices, it would be counter-productive to reduce or suspend fuel duties or to provide road tax rebates.

He reasoned that such subsidies for private transport would only benefit a relatively small and generally better-off group, since fewer than four in 10 households own cars. For households in the lowest 20 per cent incomes bracket, only about one in 10 own cars.

Over the last five years, the Government has collected fuel duties averaging S$920 million a year, he said, and it should “think carefully” before giving up such sources of revenue, particularly when Singapore is facing “considerable revenue changes already”.

In his post, Patrick Lean said of Mr Wong:  “It seems he lost touch with people on the street. What about people who drive taxis, phv [private hire vehicle drivers] or deliveries (sic) drivers? Are they better off group? These people have lost daily taking of $50 or more after petrol price gone up. On top of this, daily food price have (sic) also gone up”.

He said it was “heartless” to the middle- and lower-income groups who were making an honest living to support their families.

“Those no way out without a job have started to fight on the streets almost everyday never seen before in Singapore”, Mr Patrick wrote.

Along with his post, he shared the receipt from Srisun Express a prata shop in Tampines. He had an egg prata, a plaster prata, a plate of mutton cutty and a cup of ginger tea for $18.60. The meal was taken in a coffee shop, not in a popular mall such as Nex or even an air-conditioned location, and yet the bill was expensive.

Netizens who commented on Mr Patrick’s post agreed with him and also shared their own feelings about the high cost of living.

Here’s what they said:

Netizens call for “better & more convincing ministers” after Lawrence Wong says reducing/suspending fuel duties would only benefit small better-off group