“The money is staring at us”: Lim Tean on how PAR plans to fund free healthcare & education

As the 2025 General Election heats up, political parties across Singapore have unveiled their manifestos, each outlining plans to address pressing national concerns—and chief among them is the rising cost of living.

Among the boldest proposals so far is that of the opposition coalition, the People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR)—Secretary-General Lim Tean pledged that, if elected, PAR would introduce free education, free school meals, and universal healthcare for all Singaporean children.

“It is disgraceful that a so-called First World nation cannot afford free education and free healthcare for its people,” he said in a recent rally.

But how exactly does the party intend to fund such ambitious policies, if they hypothetically were to form the next government? In a live stream with The Daily Ketchup last Friday, Lim addressed these questions.

Working with the budget

PAR Secretary-General Lim Tean on The Daily Ketchup./ Image Credit: Screengrab from The Daily Ketchup

According to Lim, Singapore will not have to “tax people further” and “dip into the reserves” to provide free education, school meals, and universal healthcare for all Singaporeans.

“If you know how to count, if you know how to add and subtract, then you can work with the budget,” he said. “The money is staring at us.”

So, where would the funds come from? Lim points to CPF returns.

Lim explained that while the government reportedly earns around 6% on CPF investments, it pays citizens a maximum of 4%. “You have something like, S$13.5 billion between what they earn and what they pay out,” he claimed.

He also added that the government allocates large sums—such as the S$25 billion in the last budget—to endowment and special funds meant for future spending, which could instead be redirected to meet the needs of today’s citizens and potentially fund free education and healthcare for Singaporeans.

“Singapore is the only OECD country that does accounting this way… and I see that as a bad thing,” he said.

They say every generation must be responsible for its own expenses. Then why are you taking the monies earned in this generation and storing it away for future generations, and thereby depriving this generation of what they can enjoy?

Moreover, Lim added that many Singaporeans are growing “increasingly unhappy” as the country’s vast reserves are being saved for a future they may not be part of.

“Our total fertility rate (TFR) is a disastrous 0.97%—so who are we keeping the reserves for? Basically, for new citizens, aren’t we?” he said, pointing out that the foreign and locally born populations are now close to equal in number.

Ideas are one thing, but execution is another

The idea of free education and healthcare is undeniably appealing—but executing such policies is a different ballgame altogether.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Take the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), for example. The NHS offers free healthcare to all citizens, yet it also grapples with well-documented challenges: long waiting times, staff shortages, and strained resources are just a few of the systemic issues that have plagued the service for years.

When asked how PAR planned to overcome similar challenges if the party manages to implement its policies, Lim did not go into specifics.

However, he claimed that Singapore, with its smaller population compared to the UK, can navigate these issues more effectively.

Singapore can certainly do better than [the NHS]. Don’t forget—Britain has 70 million people, [and] Singapore has six. So I think Singapore will do a lot better than Britain.

That said, Singapore—which already heavily subsidises healthcare (though Lim argues it’s far from sufficient)—is itself grappling with hospital bed shortages, a lack of healthcare professionals, and increasingly long waiting times in recent years, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hit its shores.

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Lim is contesting Potong Pasir SMC, and is in a three-way fight against the PAP’s Alex Yeo and Williiamson Lee from the Singapore People’s Party.

In the live stream with The Daily Ketchup, you can find out more about his personal journey and what led Lim to enter politics, among other topics. Watch the full video here:

Check out our GE2025 microsite for the latest election-related news, find out which constituency you belong to, and who’s running where on the election battleground here.

Featured Image Credit: Screengrab from The Daily Ketchup