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Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Workers’ Party (WP) MP Jamus Lim recently exchanged views on Singapore’s certificate of entitlement (COE) scheme for car ownership.

The hot topic of COE came up during a dialogue at the Economic Society of Singapore’s (ESS) annual dinner on 15 July. ESS president Euston Quah had asked SM Lee about calls to let some groups pay less for COEs.

The Senior Minister said there were many “good arguments” for why certain groups are more deserving of a car but he felt if the government were “to design a scheme which worries about all those things, it will fail.” You can read the full transcript of SM Lee’s response on COE and other topics, here.

Professor Lim, who was also at the ESS dinner, penned his thoughts on Lee’s comments in a Facebook post the following day (16 July) saying that what is “sorely missing” in the current COE system is “how those with genuine needs may not have the purchasing power to meet those needs, even if their needs may have more merit.” You can read professor Lim’s full FB post on COE, here.

Lee, in the comment section of Lim’s post, later clarified that he had “also made the point that rather than complicate the COE scheme”, the government has ensured “that everyone has access to affordable and efficient transport options, though not necessarily to own a car” and directly helped “the groups who need more help, e.g. increasing the grants to families with young children, so that if they want they can use it to help pay for a COE.”

“Therefore where we disagree is not over who cares more for our fellow Singaporeans, but what is the best way to meet people’s needs and take care of them,” wrote Lee.

Lim has since responded to SM Lee’s “additional elaborations” and closed his reply by saying: “I should also add that I did not mean to suggest that you do not care for Singaporeans, or that one of us somehow cares more. The disagreement, as you state, is the manner by which this is done. And that, in turn, hinges on our differing beliefs about the behaviour of people, and the efficacy of markets.”

You can read both of their replies in full in the comment section of Jamus Lim’s original post.