Sense And Nonsense by Tan Bah Bah
Discounting the NCMPs who have no constituencies to look after, there are supposed to be 88 elected full-blown MPs in the Singapore Parliament. In fact, five have left. One other is non-functioning because he is under investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Board. If we agree that every MP in our Parliament is necessary for the efficiency of the system, voters are clearly being under-served. So is Singapore.
Let’s recount the MPs who have left their wards. Raeesah Khan from Sengkang GRC, Leon Perera from Aljunied GRC, Tan Chuan-Jin from Marine Parade GRC, Cheng Li Hui from Tampines GRC and newly-elected and appointed President Tharman Shanmugaratnam from Jurong GRC. S Iswaran is under probe. Two ministers and one Speaker of Parliament among the six, not a normal run-of-the-mill situation, surely.
We can accept that one vacancy or even two will not disrupt the flow of constituency life. Groundwork can be covered by others. For example, Ch’ng Jit Koon, a Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the PM’s Office, doubled up to make up for the absences of Lee Kuan Yew in Tanjong Pagar GRC. It was a duty that others like Chan Chun Sing and Indranee Rajah would later take up, with some measure of pride, for the founding PM.
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