Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made a pitch to the voters of Sengkang GRC on July 4, asking them to choose the "real thing" instead of settling for "PAP-lite".

Appearing on a Facebook live stream together with the People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting Sengkang GRC, PM Lee gave his views of the Workers' Party manifesto and plans, noting that they were similar to the PAP's:

"If you look at the other opposition parties, they all say they want to help workers. I mean they have to say that, but they have no plan to deal with a crisis.

And if you look at what is in their manifesto, like the Workers' Party manifesto, Workers' Party is standing in Sengkang. What do they do? They take the PAP's plan, they say 'very good', and here are a few holes, please patch the holes, here are a few places where you can add more money, make it cheaper, do more, work harder. I also can!"

PM Lee: Show Ng Chee Meng and his team your support

PM Lee also asked the residents of Sengkang GRC to show the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Ng Chee Meng their "full support":

"As Vivian said on the TV debate a few days ago, this is PAP-lite. But I tell you, why do you want to settle for PAP-lite? The real thing is much better. And here in Sengkang, you have the real thing with the four members of our PAP team.

And I would ask Sengkang voters very seriously, show Chee Meng and his team their full support. I know the team are ready and raring to go and will give it their all to serve the Sengkang residents well."

PM Lee: Ng Chee Meng has led NTUC response to Covid-19

PM Lee was referring to the political debate on July 1, in which Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan remarked that the Workers' Party manifesto could have been written by the PAP:

"And that's why people have called the Workers' Party PAP-lite, or PAP-like. Whatever line or stand PAP has taken, you basically use that as your reference point, and take a half step to the left."

Earlier in the chat, PM Lee also gave credit to Ng for leading the NTUC's response in the middle of the crisis, and establishing the NTUC's Job Security Council to match jobs to workers.

Since February 2020, it has already matched 12,000 jobs, most of them older PMETs working in affected industries.

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Top image from Sengkang GRC/FB