SDP to address Budget 2013 "shortcomings" in its own "Shadow Budget"

SINGAPORE: The opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said it’ll address the "shortcomings" of the government’s Budget 2013 and propose a more efficient way of prioritising Singapore’s expenditure estimates in its own "Shadow Budget".

The party said on Tuesday that the measures in Budget 2013 have failed to address Singapore’s long—term needs.

It said while the Budget attempts to address systemic problems, it still falls short of addressing what Singapore really needs.

The SDP welcomes Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s effort to tackle the problem of income disparity through the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS).

However, it felt that the WCS will not be an effective remedy if the root cause of the income gap is not addressed.

The root cause, the SDP said, is the continued downward pressure on wages brought about by the importation of lower—wage foreign labour.

The SDP welcomed the move to raise the foreign worker levy for 2014 and 2015 but urged the government to rethink its policy of importing more foreign workers and to introduce minimum wage.

Turning to healthcare, the SDP said it is heartening to note that the Budget will increase funding of Eldercare, a programme which it supports.

However, it wants the 3M—system of Medisave, Medishield and Medifund replaced by a single—payer system, as well as government healthcare expenditure raised from the current 30 per cent to the international norm of about 70 per cent.

— CNA/ck