I was unveiled by the leaders at Singapore People’s Party as their candidate for Hong Kah North today. In introducing me as the candidate, Mrs Lina Chiam said, “the party has fielded a very strong candidate to contest Hong Kah North against the PAP.” I am humbled by the confidence the Party has in me.
The journey here had not been an easy one for me. I come from a disadvantaged family and went to work after completing my GCE ‘O’ Level, at the age of 16, despite qualifying for higher education. I worked as a store-hand making just $300 so that I can help my mother. With an absent father in my life, my mother was my hero, and being the eldest child, my sense of duty compelled and pushed me into the adult world.
Even then, I knew that education was the great leveller. I pushed myself and completed the GCE ‘A’ Level and other diploma courses while working. Today I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Management) from Heriot-Watt University.
The Singapore back then, the political leaders and policies back then, provided various opportunities for me and allowed me to dream. With hard work and perseverance, I rose from being a store-hand to be the Director of a welfare agency.
Our children and their children must not lose this ability to dream. Our leaders today are telling them that they don’t need a degree, that you can be a hawker, or a crane operator – that good qualifications no longer guarantee a good job. While saying all these, they are granting S-Passes, employment passes and permanent residency to foreigners with degrees.
With this being the situation now, what is the kind of a future that awaits our children? Will there be enough opportunities for them in their own country? Or will they be subordinate to better-qualified foreigners?
The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew feared that an incompetent Government will mean that, among other things, our people will become foreign workers and maids in other people’s countries. Today our Government – while acknowledging that working overseas may not be comfortable given that pay or living environment will not be as good as in Singapore – still tells us to go overseas.
Are we losing our ability to dream?
Singapore must continue to be a land of opportunities for our own children. It is this conviction which has made me to step forward to challenge the PAP.
I am not a General who makes hundreds of thousands of dollars every year, and so may have substantial savings to fall back on in case he resigns. But still, I have paid a heavy price by resigning my job to contest in this election.
I face an uphill battle in Hong Kah North, but by taking this little step forward, I hope to inspire Singaporeans.
That together we can dream of a better Singapore.
Mr Philemon is Singapore People’s Party’s candidate for Hong Kah North SMC, he is also a former Chief editor of The Online Citizen in 2011/2.
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on Saturday (Aug 22) opened its new office at Ang Mo Kio Street 62, saying that it is “good and ready to go” for the election. The political party was previously based in Jalan Gelenggeng.
The election, which is widely expected to be called in the next few weeks, will be the first time Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan will be contesting after being discharged of bankruptcy in 2012. He was barred from contesting in the previous two general elections (2006 and 2011) due to the charge.
“I cannot wait to stand,” he said, “To get up on stage and connect with Singaporeans again.” He said his message to voters was that Singapore “can be much better than we are today”.
Dr Chee said the party will be announcing its line-up “very soon”, saying that the SDP is eyeing five constituencies: Holland-Bukit Timah and Marsiling-Yew Tee, both four-member GRCs, and the single seat wards of Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang and Yuhua. Party leaders said they have continued to walk the ground since after the 2011 election, on top of publishing alternative policy proposals on issues such as housing, healthcare and education.
Referring to the People’s Action Party (PAP) suite of infrastructural plans announced at the unveiling of its Holland-Bukit Timah slate on Saturday morning, Dr Chee said, “It just sounds very much what you would expect them to do before an election … What is lacking in every PAP-run constituency is that it’s very brick-and-mortar, steel. But where is that X-factor where we can involve the people, not just to upgrade their quality of life, their well-being? And I think all that is missing from Holland-Bukit Timah.”
On giving up Sembawang GRC to the National Solidarity Party in order to avoid a multi-party fight with the incumbent People’s Action Party, Dr Chee said it was “the most difficult decision we had to make”, and that Sembawang “is very dear to us”. He added that giving way to the NSP on the matter of Sembawang had “released some pressure” in the horse-trading discussions, and that this did not mean that the party was giving up the GRC. “We look forward to the day when we shall return”, said Dr Chee.
Menteri di Pejabat Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kedua Ehwal Luar dan Dalam Negeri, Masagos Zulkifli berkata beliau akan terus memberi tumpuan untuk memenuhi kepentingan budaya dan agama para penduduk.
Beliau juga yakin para penduduk Melayu/Islam akan memilih kepimpinan yang dapat menyatukan serta memajukan masyarakat dengan negara.
Semasa sidang media bagi mengumumkan barisan calon PAP untuk GRC Tampines hari ini (22 Ogos), Encik Masagos turut berkongsi tiga isu yang perlu diberi penekanan oleh para pemimpin Melayu/Islam.
KEKALKAN SIFAT TOLERANSI DI KALANGAN MASYARAKAT MELAYU/ISLAM
Pertama – bagaimana untuk mengekalkan sifat toleransi di kalangan masyarakat Melayu/Islam supaya tidak mudah terhasut dengan anasir yang boleh menggoyahkan perpaduan masyarakat setempat.
Menurutnya, konteks kehidupan di Singapura begitu unik di mana kepentingan kaum minoriti tidak diketepikan.
Maka itu, beliau menggesa agar sifat toleransi dan kesederhanaan terus diwujudkan dalam masyarakat Melayu/Islam supaya kepentingan bersama dapat dijaga.
“Kita harus terus mewujudkan sifat toleransi, moderat dalam menghadapi segala isu yang cuba ditimbulkan untuk menghairahkan masyarakat kita supaya menekankan lagi keistimewaan mereka dari segi agama atau bangsa. Itu baik tapi kita harus ambil kira juga bahawa kita hidup dengan warga yang lain dan perlu menjaga kepentingan negara bersama,” katanya.
Dua isu lain yang diutarakan adalah – usaha memastikan golongan Melayu/Islam yang sudah berjaya terus menyumbang kepada masyarakat, serta mengurangkan lagi kadar jenayah atau masalah dadah di kalangan masyarakat tersebut.
PENDUDUK MELAYU/ISLAM TAMPINES BERI SAMBUTAN BAIK KEPADA PAP
Bila ditanya pula oleh BERITAMediaCorp mengenai sentimen para penduduk Melayu/Islam di Tampines, yang membentuk sekitar 25% bilangan pengundi di GRC Tampines terhadap PAP, Encik Masagos menjawab, sambutan yang diterimanya setakat ini agak memberangsangkan.
“Orang Melayu, mereka selalu mesra. Kalau bertemu dengan pemimpin, siapa saja, mereka membuka pagar dan sering mengajak kami masuk untuk bukan hanya menyampaikan isu-isu perumahan, tapi kadang-kadang, hanya untuk beramah tamah,” katanya.
Mengulas pula mengenai usaha menarik sokongan para penduduk Melayu/Islam di Tampines, Encik Masagos menyuarakan keyakinan terhadap kemampuan masyarakat itu dalam menilai dan memilih barisan pemimpin mereka.
“Saya yakin orang Melayu/Islam itu, mereka tahu kepentingan mereka supaya kepimpinan yang mereka pilih itu dapat menyatukan kami terus progresif bersama negara, tidak melupakan agama dan bangsa,” kata Encik Masagos.
National Solidarity Party’s member, Mr Steve Chia has announced via his personal facebook account that he would not be contesting in MacPherson Single Member Constituency (SMC) and also would not be contesting in the upcoming General Election.
While Mr Chia did not clearly attributed the reason for his withdrawal from the election, but the content of the post suggests that the negativity surrounding NSP’s flip-flopping on the withdrawal from MacPherson SMC might have affected him much.
The former non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) wrote in his post, “The Trolls have won”, followed with hashtags of #MyReputationIsGone, #PeopleOnlyRemembersTheBad, #NotWorthIt.
He also attached a hyperlink to a website created that contains information of his past as a politician. He clarified that the site is not set up by him and that some of the information in it are not correctly written.
Mr Chia went on to state his personal wish that Workers’ Party would send a strong candidate and take down MacPherson SMC.
Earlier this week, former Secretary General, Hazel Poa resigned from NSP due to the party’s decision to go back on its earlier decision to contest MacPherson SMC, going into a three-corner fight with Workers’ Party and People’s Action Party. Mr Chia is said to be the candidate that the party was going to field for the SMC.
“Your MP is not the Chief Social Worker. He’s supposed to raise issues and make laws.”
That was the headline of an article by the Straits Times’ Opinion Editor, Chua Mui Hoong, on Saturday, 22 August.
Briefly, Ms Chua – who was at the People’s Action Party (PAP) press scrum for the introduction of its candidates for Jurong GRC – was rather perturbed by all the niceties being spewed by the candidates.
“One by one, each candidate spoke about their wish to build a more caring community in Jurong GRC,” Ms Chua wrote.
The would-be parliamentarians rattled off some of the (community) programmes they would introduce if elected.
Straits Times
“I started wondering: Were they standing as Members of Parliament, or angling for posts as Chief Social Worker in Jurong GRC?” Ms Chua said.
Indeed, are our MPs mere do-gooders or santa clauses who are on duty all year round, to be called on to grant whatever wish we have?
And it is not just the PAP Jurong election team which has presented themselves as potential town managers and social workers.
Almost every PAP press conference or media scrum to introduce its candidates is accompanied by promises of upgrading programmes, or new amenities, for the estate.
It has become such that questions have been raised not only about the roles of the MPs, but also if the candidates are not appropriating the work of public servants (such as those in the Urban Redevelopment Authority or the Housing and Development Board) as their own.
This itself would be rather dishonest – to pass someone else’s work off as one’s own.
Did the PAP candidates sit down with these public servants, prior to being announced as the party’s candidates, to discuss these estate plans and programmes?
Or were they just simply regurgitating what the URA or the HDB had already planned for each of their estates?
Another question which has risen is how the PAP itself seems to have u-turned on its own principle, espoused by its chairman just last year.
TODAY, 2014
“National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan today warned against turning elections into an auction between political parties promising voters as much ‘goodies’ as they can, with as low taxes as possible,” the TODAY newspaper reported Mr Khaw as having said in June 2014.
Mr Khaw was quoted as saying:
“In all honesty, we must acknowledge most of our people would always want more, but would never want to pay more in taxes, and it’s incumbent upon our part to be honest with our voters, because if every election is a mere auction between political parties to give as much goodies as they can with as little taxes they need to pay, I think democracy of that manner must lead to insolvency and eventually, political cynicism.”
Indeed, cynicism has crept in, with regard to the way the PAP has politicised public amenities and programmes.
Here is a look at some of the headlines in the news on the various PAP press conferences to announce its candidates for the elections thus far – with goodies being dished out in abundance (or some may say, with abandon):
And despite what he himself said last year, goodies were announced by Mr Khaw at his introduction of candidates press conference in Sembawang:
“Your MP isn’t your social worker, although doing social work is a good way to win hearts and minds – and votes,” Ms Chua said in her article. “These programmes also make a genuine, often lasting impact on people’s lives. They are wonderful.
“But your MP should also be your representative in Parliament, championing issues you believe in.”
This is a position taken by most of the opposition parties who say that the fundamental role of an elected parliamentarian is to be just that – a parliamentarian involved in the debate and even the crafting of policies which affect the large majority of people, and also perform its role of making sure policies are enforced fairly, especially with regard to those who may be in the minority.
“We are talking about electing people into parliament who can not only run town councils but more importantly make important decisions on matters which affect our daily lives,” Dr Paul Tambyah said last week at the 35th anniversary celebrationsof the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
“How we live and pay for our homes, how we educate our children, how we pay for healthcare when we get sick, whether we can be assured of a minimum wage or unemployment insurance and whether there will be a level playing field for all workers – local and foreign,” he added.
Dr Paul is widely expected to be a SDP candidate in the upcoming elections.
The PAP, however, insists the opposite – that the primary role of an MP is to take care of the town.
This insistence, of course, is borne out of political expediency – the PAP having charge of most of the constituencies in Singapore and such an emphasis gives it an advantage over the opposition parties.
The PAP has been in control of virtually all constituencies for 50 years.
But the truth is that an MP – even by his very title – is a parliamentarian, and voters should first and foremost regard him as such, and decide if he or she can fulfil this role above all else.
“In the next few weeks before the polls, every candidate aspiring to enter Parliament will stress his willingness to serve and maintain she has a heart for the people,” Ms Chua said. “In many cases, this will be true. But it is not enough.
“Candidates must also articulate their positions on policies, and say what they wish to retain, adapt or see changed.”
We want to look for leaders – and MPs are also leaders in their own way – who have clear vision, who can articulate that vision and inspire the populace, MPs who are brave and forward-looking, who can say, “This way, this is the direction we need to go.”
We do not want yes-men or women who simply regurgitate existing policy positions, which does not lead to new ideas, or progress.
In short, we do not want dead wood in Parliament.
“What do the future leaders of Singapore, whether from the PAP or the opposition, stand for?” Ms Chua asked.
“Or are they all for the status quo? In which case, Singapore’s future is dim indeed.”
So, the next time you see a candidate who is trying to sell you some municipal estate upgrading programme, do not be afraid to ask his or her views on national policies instead, and decide your vote based on her or his response.
For that is the role of an MP – to lead by having clear ideas of what he or she believes in.
Otherwise, why would you vote for him or her to be in Parliament?
They could work as private town managers or social workers on hire – and save us the hassle of going through the whole electoral process, wasting taxpayers’ time and money.
So, Ms Chua is right – your MP is not a social worker.
He is a lawmaker – and that is his fundamental and most important role.
