Nicole Seah Instagram – Another active weekend for the WP East Coast team and @fooseckguan.sg at 216 and 85 markets, while @abdulshariff.sg led a BlueCycle donation to a rental flat recipient. Spoke to a number of millennials during the 216 market visits and had good discussions on inflation, cost of living and education. On education, resident A had spent a good number of years overseas with a successful career in a top management consulting firm. However when he came back to Singapore and tried applying to a few government-linked positions, he was questioned on his weak math scores in secondary school. We agreed that there should be multiple pathways to success and Singaporeans who have thrived in spite of the rigidity of the system should not be penalised or faulted for past failures. Such mechanisms have a tendency to trickle down into our social mores as well, where a general segment of the populace might deem individuals unworthy if they do not meet “brand-name” paper qualifications and credentials, in spite of richer life experiences and career success otherwise. On inflation, we communicated to residents that a lot of the factors resulting in price hikes are out of the government’s control, and it is not right for us to blame the upper power echelons as it were. However, there are certain measures that the WP has continued to champion and that includes slowing the rate of growth of the reserves and the timing of the GST hike, as well as calls to recognise the burden such price hikes and increased taxation (such as carbon taxes for example) would enforce on the middle class. I maintain that we are committed to being a responsible opposition party that does not have the intention of being anti-government, rather we will raise important issues of the day and strive for balanced views on the policies that affect us. Blk 216 Bedok Hawker Centre