GE2025: Income-Allianz deal made in good faith, NTUC will do better, says Ng Chee Meng (2025)

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SINGAPORE – The sale of NTUC’s Income Insurance to German insurerAllianz was proposed in good faith and seen to be reasonable, said labour chief Ng Chee Meng on April 27, in response to criticism that the labour movement had not spoken up against the deal.

Speaking at the PAP rally for Jalan Kayu SMC, the single seat that he is running in, he said: “We thought in the labour movement that it was a reasonable deal.”

Noting that Income’s market share had fallen from 20 per cent to 6 per cent in the past 10 years, Mr Ng said: “The proposed deal could strengthen Income and, most importantly, protect the interest of Income’s policyholders.”

A stronger Income would also enable the National Trades Union Congress to continue its social mission in areas besides insurance, he said.

However, the proposed $2.2 billion deal came under public scrutiny after questions were raised about Income’s ability to continue its social mission after the sale, and the Government eventually put a stop to it in October 2024.

A Bill was also passed in the same month to amend the Insurance Actso that the Monetary Authority of Singapore would have to consider the views of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth when an application for regulatory approval involves an insurer that is either a cooperative or linked to one.

“NTUC couldn’t have known (that) the law would be changed. But we sincerely respected the Government’s view and accept it,” said Mr Ng.

He added: “(We) humbly acknowledged the public feedback that we have received. I’ve initiated a review in NTUC Enterprise so that we can learn the right lessons.

“In NTUC, we will do our best, and sometimes, I’m sorry that it is not good enough, but... we will do better.”

Mr Ng, who led the PAP team that lost to the Workers’ Party in Sengkang GRC at the 2020 General Election, is campaigning to get back into Parliament by winning in Jalan Kayu, where he faces the WP’s Mr Andre Low.

In recent days, the WP has questioned NTUC’s support for the Allianz deal.

At a rally in Tampines on April 26, WP chief Pritam Singh noted that not one of the labour MPs had asked questions about the deal in Parliament, and called the labour movement a “guaranteed trampoline” for losing PAP candidates.

In response, Mr Ng said there is “no safe harbour”, adding that he had to stand for re-election in 2023 to continue as NTUC secretary-general, a role he was elected to in 2018.

“I stand before you because I want to serve, not with any safety net. As ironic as it sounds, when I stand to fight and champion workers’ interests to anchor job security, I am, interestingly, the only one without real job security,” he said.

Mr Ng said he knew “it would be a hard fight” coming into the 2025 General Election. “I know the opposition would drag these issues up, just as it’s happening now,” he said.

On losing in Sengkang GRC in 2020, he said: “The loss had a big personal impact not only on me, but also on my family, my union brothers and sisters, and the PAP. I had to ask myself in that time, ‘What should I do?’ Some have asked me to ‘jiayou’ (‘press on’ in Mandarin) and carry on, others say it is time to move on.”

But he added that he could not walk away from helping workers, who were losing their livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I understood then, what it meant to stand in the gap between desperation and hope. I’m just glad that the NTUC, together with our employers, partners and the Government, we were able to bridge the gap and... emerge stronger,” he said.

Besides Mr Ng, the PAP candidates for Ang Mo Kio GRC as well as Kebun Baru and Yio Chu Kang SMCs also spoke at the rally at Fern Green Primary School.

At around 9pm, Mr Ng had to pause his speech to call for paramedics after a woman in the audience fainted.

“Make space, give the person some air, please,” he said.

She was conscious when stretchered off and received medical attention in an ambulance at the rally site.

The last speaker of the night, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is leading the PAP team in Ang Mo Kio GRC, endorsed Mr Ng in his speech.

Mr Ng had the “grit and sense of responsibility” to continue serving as labour chief, he said, and “proved himself reliable, trustworthy, committed” during the Covid-19 crisis.

Calling the proposed Income-Allianz deal “a serious matter”, SM Lee said the labour movement had deemed the sale reasonable and that the Government had also initially supported it because it met regulations.

But the Government later changed its mind after looking further into the matter, he said, and changed the law to block the deal.

“NTUC cannot do that. The Government has to do that. But it shows we are brothers with them – a symbiotic relationship. You make a decision. I look at it impartially, objectively, afresh. There is no groupthink,” he said.

SM Lee noted that while the labour MPs did not ask questions about the deal in Parliament, six PAP MPs and one WP MP did.

He added that the WP had abstained from voting when it came to the legislation to block the deal.

Mr Abdul Samad Abdul Wahab, an NTUC vice-president and a union leader, also spoke up for Mr Ng at the rally.

He said Mr Ng had helped to get pay rises for workers who go for training, better pay for lower-wage workers, laws to protect taxi drivers and private-hire drivers, as well as flexible work arrangements, among other things.

“These are real actions, real outcomes for workers that make a difference (to the) lives of workers,” he said. “Imagine if he gets into Parliament, he can do even more.”

• Sue-Ann Tan is a business correspondent at The Straits Times covering capital markets and sustainable finance.

• Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing.

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