SDP MOBILE LIBRARY KENA INVESTIGATED BY NEA OFFICERS AFTER COMPLAINT

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and its secretary-general Chee Soon Juan are at the receiving end of a National Environment Agency (NEA) complaint over its Mobile Library initiative.

The SDP is part of the party’s efforts to encourage Singaporeans, especially the younger generation, to read more widely. To do this, they have been operating a mobile library where they lend out books to Singaporean children for their reading pleasure.

Chee wrote: “Just got back from our mobile library session at Ghim Moh. Visited by the NEA who told us that they had received a complaint. “Are you selling books?” they wanted to know. “No, we’re lending them out,” we said.

Isn’t it sad that a simple initiative to encourage reading in Singapore especially among our children (most of our borrowers are kids and students) attracts the attention of environment officers? How do we face a future of disruption, spontaneity and creativity when the govt – with hammer in hand – sees everything as nail?”