ELSON: The government has made it clear that the Israel-Hamas conflict must not be allowed to cause division and disrupt peace in Singapore.
If this is the case, then it should shackle Vivian Balakrishnan.
What an embarrassment for a Foreign Minister to pick on petty details in order to score political points and stoke more political division.
Vivian took issue with the WP not using the word “terrorism” to describe the latest Hamas attacks in Israel.
He said that the WP members who spoke on the issue were “unable” to use the word “terrorism”.
Claiming that this “left room for ambiguity”, he insisted that the WP MPs call the attack an act of terrorism “for the sake of Singapore and Singaporeans.”
The motion on the Israel-Hamas conflict was passed without any opposition – all Workers’ Party MPs voted for it as well.
Outside of parliament, the WP has also condemned the attack on Israel.
Fortunately, WP MPs were not baited into a lengthy argument with Vivian, and handled his childish word attacks in a responsible manner.
Otherwise, there could have been more racial and religious division amongst Singaporeans, not just political division.
It is shameful of a Foreign Minister to take advantage of a tragedy in a far-off land to posture and virtue signal in parliament for personal political gain.
