Photo from Rice Media
In a clip that surfaced from a parliamentary sitting on 17 April 2023, Mr Tan Chuan Jin, speaker of Parliament, can be overheard muttering the words “f**king populist.” In reference to Opposition Member of Parliament Associate Professor Jamus Lim’s speech.
It’s okay, this is the part where you can admit that you had to Google what populist meant. We’ll save you the trouble. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a populist is defined as “a person, especially a politician, who strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.”
It would do well to note that prior to his position as Speaker of Parliament, Mr Tan had been the Minister for Social and Family Development between 2015 and 2017.
This statement, or ‘private thought’, so Speaker Tan claims, comes on the heels of Asst Prof Jamus Lim’s impassioned speech on establishing a poverty line in Singapore. His speech highlights something that many policymakers in Singapore tend to overlook when it comes to implementing assistance for the poor in Singapore. Between the lens of policymakers and the economically vulnerable, many of the things required to level the playing field get overlooked as unnecessary expenditures. For example, Asst Prof Lim highlights that basic needs in this day and age go beyond just having meals, shelter and the bills paid. Things like smartphones, holidays and cultural gifts can help the poor in Singapore not feel so othered and marginalised. He hopes that an established poverty line in Singapore can help poor Singaporeans find assistance that goes beyond the bare minimum, that elevates the standard of living for the Singaporean poor to be more than just surviving.
Perhaps it is because we think that poverty is temporary, and many of us might come from a place where we think that those who are poor can simply ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’ like those who have come before them. The school of thought that also believes that ‘handouts’ or assistance in the monetary form is a privilege and not a right.
However, studies have shown that living in survival mode, the mode that many of the poor in Singapore are forced into when assistance only covers the bare minimum puts undue stress on a person emotionally and mentally. When you’re worrying about how to stretch your cheque to the end of the month, it leaves little room for future planning. Things like upskilling and better job prospects get put on the back burner when you’re worrying about how to keep the lights on and the water running.
As a first-world nation, we certainly have the resources and opportunity to do more to support and elevate our poor. With that in mind, perhaps it is strange to consider a standpoint that focuses on elevating the standard of living and assistance beyond the bare minimum to be a populist mindset.
