The Workers' Party (WP) launched its manifesto ahead of the 2015 General Election on Saturday 29 August at its party headquarters.

The 48-page booklet contains 130 policy proposals and spans six chapters. In their foreword, the WP hopes to "empower a dynamic and confident people", and said that the manifesto is focused on Singaporeans with policies and laws that protect and advance the interest of the people.

The foreword also noted that Singapore's Parliament is ready for different political voices to engage the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, and that a Parliament "monopolised by one party fails the test of rigorous debate and voting in forging sound policies."

If you have only 60 seconds to spare, the booklet in its overview highlighted some key proposals that are discussed within the six chapters:

1. Increase workers’ incomes by increasing the cash payout portion of Workfare, instituting a national minimum wage and pegging it to the Average Household Expenditure on Basic Needs, and introducing an Employment Security Fund to provide for unemployment insurance.

2. Enhance retirement adequacy by allowing CPF members to start receiving monthly CPF payouts earlier, linking CPF LIFE and Silver Support payouts to inflation, and paying special dividends to CPF members in years of good return on investment of CPF monies.

3. Implement a more holistic and equitable education system by reducing class sizes, moving away from high-stakes examinations, offering a 10-Year Through Train School Programme from Primary 1 to Secondary 4, and introducing a Career and Life Skills Programme to raise awareness of less mainstream professions where students can realise their potential.

4. Improve healthcare affordability and outcomes by enhancing subsidies for preventive and primary care, improving health literacy among the population, increasing the utilisation of healthcare technologies, and setting clear performance targets for health and social care providers.

5. Improve public transport quality and affordability by having a government-owned National Transport Corporation own and manage rail and bus assets, audit public transport operators’ performance standards, and set fares in consultation with stakeholders, with fares linked to operators’ performance, service quality and reliability.

6. Make public housing more affordable and accessible to lower and middle income Singaporeans by pegging HDB BTO flat prices to median monthly household income of applicants, enabling them to pay off their mortgage within 20 years, and by facilitating the elderly who wish to sublet their flats to increase their retirement income.

The full WP manifesto can be viewed and downloaded here. If you are deciding between voting the PAP or the WP, the PAP's manifesto is here.

Do your due diligence as a voter and read them through. No media/news outlet can ever provide an objective summary of both manifestos without leaving out some detail.

Related article:

Everything you need to know about the People’s Action Party Manifesto 2015 in 60 seconds

Top photograph by Christopher Wong.