Remember Leong Sze Hian, the poet of our generation?
After clearing his dues to the Prime Minister for defamation thanks to a stunningly effective crowdfunding campaign, he and some high-level opposition politicians have met up for lunch to celebrate, and to discuss issues facing Singapore.
The lunch was hosted by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), and joined by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)’s chairman Paul Tambyah, Lim Tean of Peoples Voice (PV), and PV’s shadow Health Minister Cheang Kok Ming.
Most of what we know came from a Facebook post by Lim Tean dated 10 April.
Lim, who was also Leong Sze Hian’s lawyer, described the lunch as discourse over “an alliance of issues”, and characterised the crowdfunding campaign as “the most significant political transformation in our Nation in recent times”. He also noted the successful effort by Roy Ngerng to crowdfund for a similar purpose, which raised $45,000 in just two days.
But come on, I’m sure crowdfunding isn’t the greatest upheaval to Singaporean politics in recent years… our politics aren’t so stale just yet.
After a brief praise of Leong Mun Wai for being “one of the most effective Parliamentarians”, Lim moved to one of his typical polemics, this time on the government’s proposed GST hike to 9%.
In his criticism, he labelled the GST a “most regressive form of taxation which hurts the middle class and lower income groups the hardest”, in line with his election bid last year.
He also used Leong Sze Hian’s speculation that Singapore has S$1.48 trillion in reserves to suggest the government can amass over S$70 billion in income every year without having to increase the tax. The proposed GST hike is thus, in his words, apparently “immoral” and “inexcusable”.
Props to the man for his dramatic flair, even if nobody really knows how much reserves we have. If you are nostalgic for last year’s political rallies, reading his Facebook post in full below might satisfy you.
Who is Lim Tean?
In case you slept through July last year, here’s a quick refresher of Lim Tean and his party, courtesy of People Pill.
A lawyer by training who rose to the senior position of an equity partner at the prestigious firm Rajah and Tann, Lim entered politics first as the Secretary-General of the National Solidarity Party. He entered the contest for Tampines GRC in 2015 with a week to go before the election, and managed to receive 24.9% of all votes.
After negotiations broke down for an alliance of opposition parties, Lim founded Peoples Voice (did heforget the apostrophe?) in 2018 to contest in the 2020 elections.
Leong Sze Hian, the blogger recently in the spotlight, has been its shadow Finance Minister. They are also the only party with a shadow cabinet, despite not having seats in Parliament.
His manifesto, according to The Straits Times, included proposals such as reducing the GST to 5% and slashing it completely for essential items like food and medical services. This would explain his, well, passionate opposition to the GST hike.
The PV received 34.6% of the votes against the PAP in Jalan Besar. Guess we aren’t hearing the people sing just yet.
Feature Image: Facebook (Lim Tean)
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