By all accounts, Madam Halimah Yacob is a warm, compassionate and humble person, and a popular MP; she is well-loved by her constituents. Madam Halimah has also carried out her duties as Speaker of Parliament with dignity, as the first female Speaker of Parliament in Singapore’s history.
However, I feel she should not run for the office of Elected President.
Firstly, she has been elected not only as a Member of Parliament, but as the all-important minority candidate of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. She owes a duty to those who elected her to stay on and fulfil her responsibilities as MP. It would also call the whole raison d’être of the GRC into question, if it is left without a minority representative. The role of Speaker of Parliament is also a vey important one. It shouldn’t be resigned from lightly.
Secondly, although the position of Speaker is equivalent to a Minister in protocol, it surely isn’t in responsibility. One reason for raising the criteria for private sector candidates (chief executive role in a 500m company) was to benchmark it to the responsibilities of a Minister, who has to manage huge billion dollar budgets and hundreds to thousands of civil servants. The Speaker of Parliament has no such equivalent responsibility. It would thus detract from the credibility of recent changes to private sector eligibility criteria, if a former Speaker were deemed to have the necessary skill-sets to guard our financial reserves.
Madam Halimah is already a highly respected MP. She has already cemented her place in history as being the first female Speaker of Parliament. Her services are arguably more needed amongst the constituents she loves, and who love her in return.
I do hope Madam Halimah will seriously consider whether to run for EP, as she is doing, and decide eventually not to.
Remember the video about the man who got caught taking an upskirt video of a lady on the mrt? He is actually found to be Mr David James Chua a teacher at Xinmin Primary School with the help of internet savvy individuals. A representative from the school Mr Clement Lee has confirmed that David is the man caught on video and that he is also a “beginning teacher” at the said school.
If you didn’t know, the 2 minutes plus clip shows a man using his mobile phone on board a train and later placing the phone – with the camera facing up – at one end of his duffel bag. He then lowers the bag and briefly moves it close to the legs of a woman in a skirt standing behind him.
The incident happened along the Circle Line from MacPherson station to Paya Lebar station. A police report has been lodged and investigations are ongoing. PE teacher is also currently on leave from school.
Ape nak jadi ni siol? And now most people will have this question in their minds.. can we trust the teachers to guide our children in schools?
Ini jarang-jarang kita saksikan – iaitu Anggota Parlimen sama-sama menyertai operasi anti-dadah di lapangan. AP yang dimaksudkan ialah Setiausaha Parlimen Ehwal Dalam Negeri Amrin Amin, yang turun padang menyertai para pegawai Biro Narkotik Pusat (CNB) pada awal pagi Rabu (12 Jul) untuk melancarkan serbuan ke atas pesalah-pesalah dadah.
Serbuan tersebut dijalankan ke atas sebuah pusat hiburan malam di kawasan Orchard, dan dilakukan dari waktu tengah malam hingga 4.00 pagi dinihari tadi (12 Jul).
Seramai lima orang yang disyaki pesalah dadah dicekup semasa serbuan itu, dedah Encik Amrin, menerusi laman Facebook beliau.
Encik Amrin menyatakan: “Penguatkuasaan adalah teras utama bagi strategi anti-dadah kami. Para pegawai CNB kami bekerja keras, melancarkan serbuan kerap bagi memastikan kelab-kelab dan jalanan kami bebas dadah, di samping selalu mengutamakan negara sebelum diri mereka.”
CNB: BUKAN LUMRAH, AP SERTAI SERBUAN ANTI DADAH
BERITAMediacorp difahamkan bahawa bukan menjadi suatu kebiasaan bagi seseorang Anggota Parlimen untuk menyertai operasi serbuan seumpama itu.
“Encik Amrin menyertai serbuan tersebut untuk lebih memahami dengan lebih lanjut apa yang berlaku di sebalik suatu serbuan itu. Ini bukanlah suatu yang lumrah,” dedah seorang jurucakap CNB kepada BERITAMediacorp.
Dalam serbuan tersebut, Encik Amrin turut berkongsi beliau menyaksikan sendiri “dedikasi penuh” para pegawai CNB.
Ini termasuk merancang serbuan itu dengan “teliti”, menguji mereka yang disyaki menyalahgunakan dadah dan menguruskan individu-individu yang ditangkap.
“Saya berasa penuh yakin dan bangga dengan adanya para pegawai cekap seperti itu yang berkhidmat untuk Singapura. Terima kasih!” tulisnya lagi.
(Gambar-gambar: Amrin Amin/Facebook)
KEMPEN ANTI DADAH MASYARAKAT MELAYU/ISLAM
Antara usaha memerangi dadah di kalangan masyarakat Melayu/Islam, yang sudah dijalankan Encik Amrin selaku Setiausaha Parlimen MHA, ialah memperhebat kempen menangkis najis dadah.
Pada 30 April lalu, Encik Amrin turut melancarkan kempen “Dadah Itu Haram” demi meningkatkan kesedaran tentang gejala negatif dadah.
Satu pakatan masyarakat Melayu/Islam untuk memerangi masalah dadah turut didedahkan semasa pelancaran kempen itu.
Kempen itu dipimpin oleh golongan asatizah, iaitu Persatuan Ulama dan guru-guru Agama Islam (PERGAS) dan mesej kempen itu disebarkan oleh sekurang-kurangnya enam badan Melayu/Islam tempatan.
His is a classic tale of rags-to-riches Singapore citizenry.
It was more or less an open secret among those following the developments of folks in the Malay community who might stand for the presidency this year.
Last month, four men emailed the press to inform them that they would be picking up forms for a then-unidentified candidate from the Elections Department.
When they were interviewed, they were coy on who they collected the forms for, but it emerged soon after that the man they were there for is Farid Khan Bin Kalim Khan, currently chairman of marine multinational firm Bourbon Offshore‘s Asia Pacific branch.
His last-held executive position at the firm was Southeast Asian Regional Managing Director, which he stepped down from about two years ago, according to his campaign manager Borhan Saini.
Now, while his automatic qualification to stand for president in the upcoming reserved election is not completely clear, Farid has nonetheless lived a story we reckon quite a few Singaporeans can rally around quite easily.
A classic rags-to-riches Singaporean
Photo by Chiew Teng
The second of 10 children — his older brother passed away at a young age —, Farid, who will turn 62 in November, felt the need to step up to support his family after his father passed away just as he was entering his teenage years.
He dropped out of his second year at Bartley Secondary School when he was 14, working by day at a timber processing factory and by night washing cars at a petrol station.
Two years later, he got a job as an assistant mechanic at a workshop, and discovered he really enjoyed working on board ships for projects. He then spent a few years working at a shipyard, got his first passport after his 21st birthday, and sailed as a captain’s steward for 14 months.
Spurred by passion for maritime engineering, Farid then completed a diploma in marine engineering at Singapore Polytechnic during his breaks onshore, and was finally appointed as a junior engineer in 1983, at the age of 28.
From there, he worked at Neptune Orient Lines and other shipping firms based in Singapore and Jakarta, after which he started up the Asian branch of Bourbon Offshore in 2005 as a partner.
He spent a decade at its helm, first as managing director and eventually stepping down from the post of Regional Managing Director to assume chairmanship at the French MNC’s subsidiary.
And somewhere in the middle of that, Farid got married, and now has a daughter, 24, and a son, 18.
Fulfilling people’s wish and trust
Photo by Chiew Teng
Tuesday’s press conference was held at the far-flung Village Hotel Changi, followed by a fancy lunch event attended by almost 200 supporters of Farid’s — many of whom come from the maritime sector.
Not only was there much fanfare welcoming him, complete with a rally-style speech, making rounds to meet attendees and even getting garlanded on the way, it was also pretty evident that the people who were there are fans of his.
Speaking to media, Farid said he felt like it was time to step up and serve the nation after spending decades achieving his dreams and building a strong career in the maritime sector.
“You see, all my life, 48 years I have worked in this country which I love. I worked very hard for my family, I worked very hard for my community. And now I’m 62 years old, I can do two things: live comfortably, retire and walk away from all this, or whatever that I’ve learned from my 48 years of working in this country, use that experience and serve the nation, which is what I’m doing right now.”
At another point during the conference, when asked if he would run if this was not going to be a reserved election, he said he had been a workaholic through most of his life:
“Few years ago I was building companies, very busy building companies — career, you know… I’m one of the workaholics ah, you can call me that — those who worked with me will say this guy is a workaholic, 7 o’ clock in the morning until 10 o’ clock at night working.
So I build companies… so I’ve come to a point now where the companies are all stable, 62 years old, I wanted to spend more time with my family; I’m going into retirement mode actually now. But this opportunity came, and I feel that I can serve this country.”
“Malay” enough?
Photo by Chiew Teng
All this aside, however, this round’s new qualification criteria stand as two rather daunting hurdles for Farid — apart from the financial and professional criteria that he doesn’t clearly meet, there is also the issue of his ethnicity.
You see, Farid, who in the press conference showed great fluency in both English and Malay, is of Pakistani descent, and has “Pakistani” written on his identity card.
In his speech and during the press conference, Farid said he grew up in Geylang Serai and his family and relatives speak Malay and practice the Malay culture, and hence identifies as part of the larger Malay community.
“The thing is, in the Malay community you have all kinds of people, right, from Balinese, Javanese, all kinds of descent that are there. It’s difficult for me to call myself otherwise. I live in a society that I love very much. I went to the same school with them, I shared the same fears, I shared the same joys with the people around me in the Malay village.
So I consider myself a Malay or Pakistani, even tomorrow my daughter got married, Insyallah, it will be the same, the same ceremonial like the Malay. We’ve kind of accepted that we are here to stay, and we are Malay in the community, in the Malay community.”
So will Farid Khan qualify to run for the Singapore presidency? The Presidential Elections Committee will have to decide, and we’ll just have to see.
An entrepreneur of Pakistani descent yesterday announced his bid to become the next president.
Mr Farid Khan Kaim Khan, 62, the chairman of marine services provider Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific, said he intends to stand in the upcoming presidential election (PE) because he wants to “serve the nation” and feels “capable of doing so to the best of my knowledge and ability”.
This PE, due in September, has been reserved for Malay candidates after the Presidential Elections Act was amended to ensure the presidency is representative of the country’s multiracial society.
Speaking in English and Malay, Mr Farid told reporters at the Village Hotel Changi that his identity card indicates he is Pakistani but he was born in Geylang Serai and celebrates Hari Raya every year.
“I am of Pakistani descent and my wife is of Arabic descent. Yet our family and relatives speak Malay and practise the Malay culture. So I am part of the Malay community,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Farid outlined five areas of concern: the growing threat of radicalism, strengthening the trust among the people, helping the needy, enhancing Singapore’s prosperity and strengthening families.
He is the second candidate to throw his hat into the ring.
Second Chance Properties founder and chief executive officer Mohamed Salleh Marican, 67, said on May 31 that he planned to run for president.
Political analyst Mustafa Izzuddin told The New Paper that Mr Farid addressed his ethnicity head-on to clear the air in the hope of quelling any doubts about his candidacy.
“He did not want the question whether he is Malay to hijack other issues he wants to discuss, and probably anticipated it,” he said.
ELIGIBLE
Associate Professor Eugene Tan, a law don at the Singapore Management University, echoed Dr Mustafa’s observations, noting that Mr Farid wanted to reassure his stakeholders by “asserting his claim to be eligible”.
He said: “Certainly now that he has indicated he would make an application, there is the question of eligibility.”
Dr Mustafa said the decision whether Mr Farid is Malay lies with the Community Committee.
Prospective candidates must submit a form to the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) to get a certificate of eligibility, and another form to the Community Committee to declare that they are part of the Malay community to obtain a Community Certificate.
“I suspect the committee is going to stretch the definition to consider not just what you are born as, but what your experience is like, your environment, and whether or not the community sees you as Malay,” Dr Mustafa said.
Prof Tan also weighed in on another requisite – private sector candidates have to helm a company with at least $500 million in shareholder equity.
However, the PEC has the discretion to waive this requirement.
Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of a French multinational marine company, reportedly has shareholder equity of US$300 million (S$415 million), but Mr Farid said he is confident of qualifying.
Mr Farid, who is married to Madam Naeemah Shaikh Abu Bakar, 61, with a daughter, 23, and son, 18, has been with the company for more than 10 years.
It has about 800 workers in the region.
Said Prof Tan: “If it does not appear that he qualifies outright, then he will have to go under the discretionary route, and the PEC will have to decide.”
