Wong faults Workers’ Party for shifts on housing, foreign labor
Why it matters: The clash sharpens a core election-era argument over whether Singapore should favor flexibility or long-term policy trade-offs.
Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong criticized the opposition Workers’ Party on Oct. 25, arguing that its positions on housing and foreign manpower have changed with public sentiment rather than following a consistent policy line. Speaking to People’s Action Party cadres at the party’s biennial conference at Singapore Expo, Wong said the PAP, as the governing party, must weigh trade-offs and longer-term consequences. He pointed to the Workers’ Party’s 2019 call to build fewer new flats when resale prices were falling, then its later criticism that the government had not built enough homes after Covid-19 disrupted construction. He also cited what he described as shifting positions on foreign worker rules, from calls for flexibility to proposals for zero growth and later easing quotas for small businesses.