Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh has strongly refuted allegations by former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng that the party adopted a more pronounced pro-Palestine stance to attract support prior to the 2025 General Election, which concluded on 3 May 2025.
The online exchange took place on 28 August 2025 after Cheng published a Facebook post accusing the WP of political opportunism.
Cheng wrote that the party had “cynically” intensified its position on Palestine “just before the elections” to appeal to “certain pro-Palestinian communities” in targeted constituencies.
He claimed the WP had deliberately adopted a policy that Singapore should recognise Palestine “even before any negotiated two-state solution is agreed to” and “fielded candidates” likely to resonate with voters upset by the Gaza conflict.
“This is just politics,” Cheng stated. “In every election in other countries, politicians did this.”
He added: “The difference in Singapore is that because racial/religious politics is taboo (and rightly so), the WP dresses it up as being ‘pro humanity’, and denies using these tactics. Nobody should fall for this.”
Pritam Singh responded in the comments section of Cheng’s post, disputing both the logic and intent of the accusation.
“I can understand why you would want to perpetuate this narrative given your political persuasions, even if the opinion is wrong in my view,” Singh wrote.
“Quite simply, the demographic numbers don’t add up to secure ‘victory’, and thinking they would, from my perspective, is reckless.”
He added: “Occam’s razor can be unhelpful when used thoughtlessly.”
Singh argued that the WP’s position had been consistent and should have been “predictable”, pointing to parliamentary speeches in November 2023, when WP MPs voiced their support for a “negotiated two-state solution” and highlighted the importance of humanitarian law in the conduct of war.
To reinforce his point, Singh included a link to a Methodist Message article discussing the humanitarian implications of the Israel-Gaza conflict, and noted that “on the ground, the humanity-focused concerns are realer than you think.”
Cheng responded by challenging Singh’s demographic claim: “They do add up buddy. A 15–20% voting bloc is enough to swing any constituency.”
He acknowledged that humanitarian concerns are “real” but questioned whether such general sentiments, in the absence of religious or ethnic affinity, are strong enough to sway elections.
“But agree to disagree,” Cheng concluded.
The clash comes just days after Singh appeared on the Yah Lah But podcast, where he argued that political parties have the right to take positions on foreign policy matters.
Singh said the WP views the Palestine issue “through the lenses of humanity as Singaporeans” rather than race or religion.
He added: “I’m not going to fetter the right of the party to have an opinion on these things… If people think that the WP is using this to appeal to certain communities, I think that’s a very mistaken view.”
Cheng initially agreed with Singh’s podcast remarks, saying that political parties “absolutely” have a right to express views on foreign affairs. However, he insisted that the WP had still exploited the issue for political benefit.
This latest confrontation has also revived scrutiny of Cheng’s own public remarks related to Gaza.
On 13 March 2024, Cheng published a Facebook post suggesting that a group of women critical of Israel be “sponsored to Gaza” and expressed hope that they “never come back.”
The post triggered widespread backlash, particularly from Singapore’s Malay/Muslim community.
On 6 April, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (PERGAS) released a statement labelling Cheng’s comments “deeply troubling”, and called on authorities to take action in defence of Singapore’s social cohesion.
Several ministers publicly condemned Cheng’s remarks, and figures such as Jufrie Mahmood and Kenneth Jeyaretnam accused him of engaging in anti-Islam rhetoric and inciting racial hostility — allegations for which Cheng later initiated defamation lawsuits against them.
Facing mounting pressure, Cheng acknowledged that his words had “caused hurt and anger” and admitted he “should have been more sensitive.”
Rather than continuing to engage publicly, Cheng vanished from political discourse in the lead-up to GE2025, re-emerging only after the People’s Action Party secured a decisive victory.
Recently, Jufrie Mahmood retracted his earlier statements about Cheng, accepting that Cheng was neither racist nor Islamophobic. Both parties reportedly resolved their dispute amicably, and the associated legal case was concluded.
In contrast to Cheng’s framing of the Palestine issue as politically driven, several Singaporean and international figures have grounded their concerns in humanitarian principles.
Former Singapore President Halimah Yacob has been among the most outspoken local figures on the Palestinian crisis.
In a Facebook post on 24 August 2025, she condemned what she described as Israel’s “weaponisation of starvation” in Gaza, citing the United Nations’ formal declaration of famine.
“This cruelty and gross inhumanity, made deliberately more humiliating to Palestinians by Israel’s continued denial that it exists, has persisted with impunity as the world looked on,” she wrote.
Comparing Israel’s use of starvation to Nazi-era war tactics, Halimah condemned the erosion of humanitarian principles and international law. “Time to stand up for humanity,” she wrote.
Her remarks came just two days after the United Nations formally declared a famine in Gaza on 22 August, with over 514,000 Palestinians facing catastrophic hunger — a number projected to rise to 641,000 by the end of September.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the situation as a “man-made disaster” and a “moral indictment,” stating: “Famine is not only about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the declaration, calling it “an outright lie.”
However, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, supported by more than 100 aid organisations, found overwhelming evidence of famine-like conditions across Gaza.
UN officials have attributed the crisis to the systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid — concluding that the famine is not accidental, but a preventable and deliberate collapse, in breach of international humanitarian law.
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