The temperature might have dropped by a couple of degrees in Parliament today (September 2) during the exchange between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai.

This came after the slightly more animated exchanges between PM Lee and the Leader of Opposition Pritam Singh.

PM Lee had just delivered his speech which touched on, among other things, the future of Singapore politics, and Leong got up to pose a couple of clarifications after Singh.

Leong: Voters not going to sit by if government performance doesn't improve

Leong, who is from the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), opened by thanking the Speaker for the opportunity to pose his questions and PM Lee for his "touching presentation on the situation in Singapore today".

Leong said that voters are convinced that they can have both a strong government and strong opposition in Parliament because the ruling government controls over 90 per cent of the seats, leading to a "comfortable margin".

"So because of that margin, you can't prevent the voters from thinking that actually there's a margin of error I can afford. So as a result, I can have the best of both worlds. A strong government, and a strong opposition voice in Parliament."

The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 83 out of the 93 seats contested (89 per cent) in a 104-seat parliament (79 per cent).

The electorate wants the present government to continue, said Leong who added that his interactions on the ground last year showed him that the electorate "are really very, very smart" about such matters.

"But that doesn't mean, if going forward, the performance of the government does not improve, the electorate is going to sit by.....So I want to ask Mr. Prime Minister, to clarify whether what I say is something that is usable in the current political climate we have."

Leong's second point of clarification is that the opposition (more specifically, the Progress Singapore Party) is asking for a "rebalancing" on issues instead of a "revolution".

On the issue of social safety nets, Leong suggested using money from our national reserves to improve the lives of Singaporeans who are facing tough livelihoods right now and hence give them a bit of "leeway" to develop new capabilities to join the new economy.

"They're so hard to the extent that you...can't expect them to become entrepreneurs, because their financial security is not there. There's no long term plans that they can be comfortable [with]."

PM Lee: Leong didn't add anything new to the discussion

"I don't think I need to respond very elaborately to Mr Leong," PM Lee responded, adding that Leong's first point did not add anything new to the topic which had been discussed extensively.

PM Lee said that Leong's first point reinforced the problem of not voting for the party that can govern the country, noting that Pritam Singh made the same argument.

As for Leong's spiel on rebalancing, PM Lee said that while those are matters that are suitable for debate in Parliament, those are not the focus of his speech.

"I'm talking here about which way Singapore politics is going, what the risks are in going in this direction, what we must do in order to make it turn out right, and how it has worked out well for us in Singapore, and how we must try to continue to let this work for as long as we can to serve Singaporeans — a new generation, new desires, but the same high quality of service of government of commitment, in order that there can continue to be more reserves to argue about in the next Parliament."

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Top images via screengrabs from PM Lee Facebook page