Rilek1Corner

Tag: GRC

  • Zaqy Disambut Baik Penduduk Marsiling

    Zaqy Disambut Baik Penduduk Marsiling

    PENASIHAT akar umbi baru di GRC Marsiling-Yew Tee Encik Zaqy Mohamad melawat beberapa penduduk di rumah mereka semalam, kali pertama beliau berbuat demikian, sejak diumumkan sebagai pengganti Cik Halimah Yacob di sana. Encik Zaqy menghadiahkan beg berisi makanan kepada beberapa penduduk rumah sewa di Blok 3 Marsiling Road. Ia sebahagian program kebajikan tahunan Bringing Cheer @ Marsiling yang dianjurkan oleh kesatuan pekerja Lembaga Pembangunan dan Perumahan (HDB).

    Encik Zaqy, yang juga Anggota Parlimen GRC Chua Chu Kang, dilantik sebagai penasihat Pertubuhan Akar Umbi (GRO) di sana bagi menggantikan Cik Halimah yang mengundur diri dari semua jawatan politik selepas  mengumumkan hasratnya bertanding di Pilihan Raya Presiden bulan depan. Bercakap kepada penduduk Marsiling di acara yang diadakan sempena Hari Kebangsaan baru-baru ini, Encik Zaqy berkata beliau bertekad meneruskan beberapa projek yang telah dimulakan Cik Halimah, seperti pembinaan pusat penjaja makanan baru, pusat dialisis dan memperkukuh khidmat bas awam di kawasan itu.

    Dalam pada itu, Encik Zaqy, yang berpengalaman 11 tahun menjadi AP akan terus berkhidmat sebagai penasihat akar umbi di GRC Chua Chu Kang. Sebelum ini, Menteri Pembangunan Negara (MND) EnciK Lawrence Wong, yang juga mewakili penduduk Marsiling-Yew Tee, berkata penduduk tidak  harus bimbang bahawa perhatian AP di kawasan undi itu akan berubah, kerana pasukan AP di sana, termasuk Encik Ong Teng Koon dan Encik Alex Yam, akan bekerjasama untuk memastikan program kawasan undi dan Sesi Bertemu Penduduk (MPS) akan dijalankan seperti biasa.

     

    Source: Berita Harian

  • No By-Elections; Strong Indication Of PAP’s Inability To Honour Championing Of Minority Representation

    No By-Elections; Strong Indication Of PAP’s Inability To Honour Championing Of Minority Representation

    Halimah Yacob resigned today from her seat of Marsiling (red) and as the 7th Speaker of Parliament.

    Thanks to a question raised by WP MP Pritam Singh in Parliament, we now know that the Prime Minister will not call for a by-election in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC (shaded below).

    This is very worrying on two fronts.

    Firstly, this 4-member GRC is, by law, one of the GRCs reserved for Malay minority candidates presumably because of its higher Malay population. With Halimah’s departure, the GRC will have no minority MPs at all. Many of us may not agree with the mechanics or even the basis of the GRC system and may wish to see it reformed. Nonetheless, not calling for a by-election to reinstate a minority Member would speak volumes about the PAP’s commitment to playing by its own rules in its own game that is the much-vaunted GRC system.

    Secondly, the PM’s intention to appoint a Grassroots Advisor in Marsiling ward, instead of calling for a by-election, raises very unsettling questions about how the Government recognises the legitimacy and authority of elected MPs. Does this mean that Government agencies will now accord Grassroots Advisors with as much recognition as elected MPs when residents attend Meet-the-People Sessions seeking help? Does this mean that these unelected Grassroots Advisors can take on other roles that presumably only MPs can undertake? If the answer to these questions is no, then without a by-election, Marsiling-Yew Tee residents are being short-changed. If the answer is yes, it would be even worse, for this would be an admission that the Government can appoint a PAP member to be the Grassroots Advisor for Marsiling with inordinate power and authority, without a single vote having been cast for that person by Singaporeans living there. This would be unsurprising given that PAP candidates who lose in Opposition wards are immediately appointed as the Grassroots Advisors for these wards after each General Election.

    Unsurprising, but inherently unfair to voters.

    Given that we are less than half-way through the term of the present Parliament, not calling for a by-election in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC would be an affront to parliamentary democracy in Singapore, and would be a strong indication of the PAP’s inability to honour its own supposed status of being a champion of minority representation.

    Instead, we are faced with a reserved Presidential Election which harms our social fabric more than it purports to help it, because it may just entrench the idea in people’s minds that minorities are unelectable by way of their own merits alone. How does this advance our progress as a nation?

    (To find out more about how the ward-level layer was made, visit my blog at: https://mappedmusings.wordpress.com/…/mapping-our-home-mapp…. Designed with Map Box.)

     

    Source: Yudhishthra Nathan

  • Damanhuri Abas: If There Is No By-Election In MYT GRC, The Malays Are Triple Short-Changed

    Damanhuri Abas: If There Is No By-Election In MYT GRC, The Malays Are Triple Short-Changed

    If there is no By-Election in MYT GRC, the Malays are triple short-changed.

    1. Our race used for EP reserved justification when in reality it don’t matter to us as we were never honestly asked for nor about it. It is all about preventing Dr TCB his last shot not about us lah (jangan shiok sendrik). We are used BIG time guys.

    2. End up now we probably will get a genetically bad-deal, you know what i mean. I know of someone who could have made it (the re-EP) at least all worth while (true blue Malay, my takraw buddy in campus, me NUS and he NTU, very good man) but it was not meant to be i guess.

    3. Race card evoked and the PAP got a 2 year free-Malay (minority) ride for a GRC with a substantial number of Malays in Marsiling. This proves once again this Minority representation thingey is but a convenient bogeyman wagged on command to serve political ends.

    Kudos to us the Malays. 52 years on. We got it made bro.

    Fortunately there is God and HIS justice!!! There ain’t No free ride up there bros. Patient i am and in God i put my trust and whose help i seek, for this country and the truly multi-racial people in it that we love and want to see.

    Happy National Day my fellow Singaporeans.

     

    Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

  • No By-Election If Mdm President Halimah Yacob (Minority MP) Leaves GRC, Explained Chan Chun Sing

    No By-Election If Mdm President Halimah Yacob (Minority MP) Leaves GRC, Explained Chan Chun Sing

    If a minority candidate leaves his group representation constituency (GRC), a by-election will not be called, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing said in February 2017.

    That was the response he gave to the opposition Workers’ Party’s Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC), who wanted to know what would happen if a minority member of a GRC were to step down to run for presidency.

    Mr Singh specifically used Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob as an example in his question.

    As most Singaporeans have known, Madam Halimah, the minority member of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, has been tipped as a potential candidate for the upcoming election, which is reserved for Malays since months ago.

    Mr Chan said that when Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong explained the GRC system in Parliament decades back, he said its intent was to achieve two purposes:

    One, to ensure enough minority members in the House. This, Mr Chan said, had been achieved over the years.

    Two, to ensure no political campaign on issues of race and religion, “that we will all, regardless of party lines, campaign on the basis that we are all Singaporeans, that we will not use race, language or religion for political reasons”, Mr Chan said.

    Elected members are also expected to serve all residents, regardless of race, language and religion.

    These key goals would not be affected if one member of the GRC left, Mr Chan added.

     

    Source: http://www.straitstimes.com

  • Why Have GRCs If Minority MPs Can’t Speak Up On Minority Issues?

    Why Have GRCs If Minority MPs Can’t Speak Up On Minority Issues?

    This week, when WP MP Muhammad Faisal spoke up against the ban on the wearing of tudung in certain occupations here, PAP Minister Masagos Zulkifli rebuked him for “subtly and frequently needling” the Malay community with this issue.

    Minister Masagos said that Parliament is not the the platform to discuss such issues. He further implied that MP Faisal is sowing discord and disrupting Singapore’s racial and religious harmony.

    According to the Election Dept, which comes directly under the purview of PM Lee, the GRC system was “established in 1988 to ensure that the minority racial communities in Singapore will always be represented in Parliament”.

    WP MP Faisal was the minority GRC candidate elected by Aljunied residents to ensure that their Malay community will be represented in Parliament.

    So, when MP Faisal is talking about issues related to the Malay community, how is he sowing discord? And why can’t he bring minority issues up in Parliament?

    How is he supposed to “represent” minority racial communities in Parliament? By keeping his mouth shut and not talking about any minority issues in Parliament?

    That being the case, why are we having GRCs in the first place?

     

    Source: www.theindependent.sg