Parliament passes amended WP motion on economy; Tan See Leng says growth must benefit all Singaporeans
A motion on Singapore's economic future filed by the Workers' Party (WP) MP Kenneth Tiong was amended and subsequently passed by the People's Action Party (PAP) majority on Wednesday (Aug 5) following more than eight hours of debate.The original motion stated that the House, notwithstanding the suggestions in the Economic Strategy Review on the future Singapore economy, believes in a more equal and inclusive economy.The WP's motion also said the House believes in an economic engine driven by dynamic local companies, healthy domestic demand, and Singaporeans and Singaporean capital venturing abroad.Holland-Bukit Timah MP Edward Chia, who spoke fourth in the debate, proposed to amend the motion by replacing the word «notwithstanding» to «in line with».He also proposed changing the phrase «economic engine driven» to «economic powered», inserting «global enterprises» after «local companies», and adding the words «and external» after the phrase «healthy domestic».Tiong said the WP cannot accept the first amendment of changing «notwithstanding» to «in line with», which «turns the sentence around».