WP chief says PAP candidates with NTUC ties can still help workers even if not elected

Pritam also hits out at the ruling party's manifesto for a lack of substance and details

- Kok Yufeng

Labour chief Ng Chee Meng and NTUC assistant secretary-general Desmond Choo, who are contesting single seats at the general election, can continue helping workers even if they are not elected, WP chief Pritam Singh said on April 26.

Taking aim at NTUC's close relationship with the PAP, Mr Singh urged voters to vote for WP's Jalan Kayu candidate Andre Low and its Tampines Changkat candidate Kenneth Foo instead.

Mr Low will square off against the PAP's Mr Ng in Jalan Kayu at the May 3 polls, while Mr Foo will go up against Mr Choo from the ruling party in Tampines Changkat.

Mr Singh said at WP's second election rally, held at Temasek Junior College in Tampines, that Mr Ng and Mr Choo will probably continue working in the labour movement if they do not get elected.

If so, the two PAP candidates will continue serving workers with the help of "rank-and-file unionists and workers who are truly the backbone of NTUC".

Calling the labour movement a "guaranteed trampoline" for losing PAP candidates, the Leader of the Opposition said Mr Ng and Mr Choo can still lobby the Government because of the "symbiotic relationship" between NTUC and the PAP.

"It is the safest trampoline for a politician anywhere in Singapore, and maybe anywhere in the world, but you must be a PAP candidate to earn the right to bounce on it," said Mr Singh in a speech rounding off the rally, which lasted nearly three hours.

Union work is not easy, he added, and rank-and-file unionists push hard for better workers' rights because of their passion for workers.