Crowds thronged to Yusof Ishak Secondary School on the evening of Apr. 28, 2025, for the Workers' Party's (WP) Punggol GRC rally.
As early as 7pm, the field was packed with people armed with yellow inflatable hammers and flags to listen to the WP candidates deliver their rally speeches.
Cost of living issues, including rising transport fares, took centre stage at the rally. Some of the speakers fired shots at the People's Action Party's (PAP) Punggol GRC team, and the decision to field Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Gan Kim Yong there.
The Income-Allianz issue, and WP's stance on the matter in Parliament, was also addressed.
WP candidate Ong Lue Ping was the emcee for the rally, while speeches were given by Punggol GRC candidates Jackson Au, Alexis Dang, Harpreet Singh and Siti Alia, as well as Abdul Muhaimin, Jamus Lim, Andre Low, Sylvia Lim, Kenneth Tiong, Pritam Singh and He Ting Ru.
"Say no to using key government figures as political pawns": Alexis Dang
Dang, referring to remarks made by Minister of State Sun Xueling at the PAP's Punggol GRC rally on Apr. 27, fired the first salvo regarding the decision to field DPM Gan to Punggol GRC:
"Miss Sun Xueling said, we do not need strangers to come to Punggol. May I ask: is she referring to DPM Gan Kim Yong too? Or is he exempted because he's a good friend of PM Lawrence Wong?"
DPM Gan had previously referred to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong as a "good friend" during the PAP's Punggol GRC rally.
Dang said that while she has a "deep respect" for Singapore's leaders, statements like "I will talk to my good friend" reflect a "troubling reality about our politics today."
She asked:
“Is this the kind of leadership that we want to endorse? Is this the political culture we want to pass on to our children, where success isn't about fairness, but about connections?”
Dang also said that DPM Heng had been "parachuted" into East Coast GRC in GE2020, forcing voters there into a "difficult choice between more balanced politics and keeping a future PM".
Dang rounded off her speech with three "nos":
"So I urge all of you to say no to using key government figures as political pawns.
Say no to being forced into difficult choices when all we want is progress.
Say no to falling for the same trick twice because we deserve better."
Harpreet Singh takes aim at DPM Gan
During his rally speech, Harpreet also took aim at the three political office holders in the PAP's Punggol GRC team, and suggested that voting them out would save residents "not one, not two, but three ministerial salaries."
"You will get the calibre of our team without having to pay one cent in ministerial salaries," Harpreet said.
Harpreet also questioned the fielding of DPM Gan to Punggol GRC, a constituency that he called "unsafe":
"I like DPM Gan. We have met on the ground several times during this campaign, and he's a very pleasant person, but the question to ask is: Who put DPM at risk in Punggol GRC?"
"Don't mess with Punggol": Pritam Singh
WP chief Pritam Singh criticised the PAP for GST increases and cost of living issues.
Singh said that "political pressure" that it faces from elected WP MPs is "not enough for now", and that had allowed the PAP to "get away" with increasing GST "at such a bad time".
Singh explained that WP "asks the questions that Singaporeans want to ask", which in turn forces the PAP to justify its decisions and actions in Parliament.
"The Workers' Party is not naive, nor are we populist. We are a party that does its homework," he said.
He added that while government expenditures will rise in the future, it should not be the PAP on its own that decides how it is funded, but Singaporeans at large:
"If you give us your vote, the Workers' Party will debate with the PAP on this and represent you faithfully."
Singh also criticised changes made to the Electoral Boundaries as "harming the WP's chances of building a more balanced political system". He then exhorted the residents of Punggol to "send a strong message to the PAP".
"You can change some electoral boundaries every year, but don't mess with Punggol."
Like his fellow WP candidates, Singh echoed similar sentiments about DPM Gan's move to Punggol.
He highlighted that DPM Gan had not been elected into the PAP's central executive committee in 2024, which he said was "very strange" for a DPM.
Singh then queried if DPM Gan was then "ready to retire" and did not plan to run in GE2025. He went on to add:
"If so, can he be so critical to the PM's plans? You mean the PM has no one else in his cabinet that can negotiate with the United States on tariffs?"
Echoing Dang's speech, Pritam compared DPM Gan's move to Punggol GRC, to DPM Heng's move to East Coast GRC back during GE2020.
Pritam said that DPM Heng had "abandoned" Tampines GRC at the last minute.
Noting that DPM Gan is older than DPM Heng, who has now retired from politics, Singh said that in his view, if elected, DPM Gan would be a one-term MP.
Pritam also took a jab at DPM Gan's remarks about being good friends with PM Wong:
"I am sorry, Punggol, but I cannot say that the Prime Minister and I are friends. But do I need to be his friend for taxpayer funding to be allocated to Punggol?
No, as a Singaporean, I expect fair allocation of taxpayer resources to all our people, and the civil service will allocate funds and projects fairly."
Top photo from Swarnabho Sarkar & Sulaiman Daud
