SINGAPORE – For the first time in more than two decades, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and four Opposition parties have engaged in a lively pre-General Election television forum. Organised by Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the one-hour programme in English entitled A Political Forum on Singapore’s Future – to be broadcast unedited on Saturday and again on Sunday and Monday – saw the five political parties discuss a variety of immediate and long-term challenges facing Singapore. The PAP was represented at the forum, which was recorded yesterday, by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Josephine Teo; the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) by its assistant secretary-general Mohamed Nazem Suki; the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) by assistant treasurer Vincent Wijeysingha; the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) by second vice-chairwoman Lina Chiam; and the Workers’ Party (WP) by assistant webmaster Gerald Giam. The forum saw the participants squaring off on issues such as the Republic’s economic growth, educating the next generation, as well as Singapore’s social and healthcare needs. Apart from allotted time for them to state their party’s position and plans on these issues, there were also free-flowing segments during which the politicians locked horns on the rising cost of living and the influx of foreign workers – issues that are widely expected to be hot-button topics during the coming General Election. Half the time of the forum was …
