Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

In his maiden speech during the debate on the President’s Address on Sept. 3, Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament Jamus Lim called for the Singapore government to adopt a posture of compassion while designing its policies.

This, he said, involved increased awareness of how national policies impact different groups, "especially those at the margins of society," he added.

"The hard truth is, inasmuch as we have indeed progressed over the past few decades, the gains from this progress have not been equally shared across society."

Efficiency vs Equity

The representative for Sengkang GRC posited that Singapore had historically prioritised efficiency in the deployment of resources at the expense of equity — or the inherent fairness in the resulting policy — in its charge towards becoming a First World nation.

While Lim acknowledged that this trade-off had found success over the past three generations, the economist argued that a change of course was needed.

"Because we are no longer a Third World nation, we cannot continue to operate as if we are blind to the consequences that tough-nosed policies carry for our people."

Lim later explained that prioritising compassion would mean becoming "more willing to err on the side of equity".

"This means a willingness to accept that it may be better to allow for a policy where one or two out of every hundred individuals may end up exploiting or abusing the policy, but at the same time, the others clearly benefit from being supported by the expanded social safety net."

The root of these challenges

According to Lim, Singapore's current policy balance was "so skewed" that significant gains to equity could potentially be made with minimal losses from forgone efficiency.

"All we need is the courage of our convictions," he said.

However, for these purposes, the government's tendency towards incremental change — out of fear of breaking the system — would prove ineffective, argued Lim who listed several instances where he believed policy had fallen short.

This included:

• The Progressive Wage Model, which Lim said was vulnerable to loopholes and instead should be universal
• A negative income tax, via Workfare, which required the elderly to "continue working into their sunset years"
• Rigid requirements and restrictions surrounding the use of one's CPF
• A general stubbornness towards redistributive policies

"May I humbly suggest that the root of these challenges is insufficient compassion in our policymaking process," said the freshman MP.

He cited ComCare and the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme as examples of policies that demonstrated compassion, contending that Singapore was "certainly able to do more".

Implementing compassion in the crisis

Precluding doubters who might suggest that the current economic climate was not favourable to such shifts in policy, Lim stated his belief that Singaporeans were "more than willing to come together to do so".

The government would also need to assure Singaporeans that such a sacrifice would truly add to the greater good.

Addressing the rise in anti-foreigner sentiment, Lim said that improving social protections would blunt such "populist, nationalist pressure".

"What has inspired recent resistance to foreigners is concern about unmitigated population expansion, a sense that they are not getting a fair shake, of feeling discriminated against in their own country."

"Let us commit to the principles of compassionate policymaking now, and set out plans in the moment," Lim said.

"And when the crisis has blown over, we will be prepared to implement the policies we commit to today."

Related story:

Top photo from Jamus Lim's Facebook page

Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here