Tag Archives: parliament

Dormitories, dormitories, dormitories. Something that I have plenty of bones to pick with over and OVER again. Here are some numbers that Josephine Teo should actually cry over instead of whatever it was she used to pander to people.

As I listened to the President’s address to Parliament at its opening on Monday, I can’t help but was drawn to the part where she mentioned that Singaporeans “desire for more diverse voices to be heard, and stronger checks and balances”. Until and when both the President and Speaker of Parliament are prepared to walk their motherhood talks and Opposition MPs are able to muster enough courage to thump through contentious issues without fear or favour, the next 4-5 years will be a replica of post-2011 where the PAP will rebuild its lost momentum.

Reader got a little curious as to how can Parliament hold your party leaders accountable when 83 of 93 seats, including yours are subjected to party whipping while the following list of sticking questions from the previous session of Parliament remain unresolved.

In a sudden national broadcast, PM Lee Hsien Loong announced on 23 June 4pm that he had advised President Halimah Yacob to dissolve Parliament. He gave excuses why the GE2020 should be called before April 2021, citing reasons like Covid19 and the threat of external uncertainties. This paves way for Singapore to see GE2020 Polling Day to be on 10 July. Given how political parties and candidates only had 5 days between 18 June and 23 June when Parliament is dissolved, it seems the PAP thinks that having a preparation time of less than a week is "sufficient".

Mr Perera questioned the Finance Minister on whether the Reserves should always go up and up at the same rate now as was in previous years, especially since 2008, where during the global financial crisis, Singapore had to use a tiny fraction of the Reserves. For comparison, DPM Heng said that Singapore's Reserves need not be dipped into during this period, as businesses and Singaporeans are hit hard by the COVID-19 situation.

It should also be noted that the EBRC had been tasked to reduce the size of the GRC already existing, and to increase the the number of Single wards. Mr Pritam Singh is also set to ask whether the EBRC can explain how they draw up the boundaries, and their reasons for creating GRC and absorbing of Single wards into a GRC.

However, the Minister Ong's statement that he felt this should be reviewed is simply him trying to get onside with the Singaporean public once again, to show that the government listens to the ground, especially as Singapore is nearing the election period. And just to buy himself and the MOE more time, he said that he will only address this in Parliament next year. Why not just address this now? Trying to earn more goodwill from the voting public next year?

But if this was a less a conclusion than an affirmation that the PAP MPs care more in their ultimate drive to fix the opposition and ensure they get their cushy Parliamentary seats in the next elections, rather than s desire to improve the lives and welfare of Singaporeans. After all, for this motion, almost all PAP MPs were present, but when debates were done on other pertinent issues, Parliament would often see a majority of empty seats.

Pritam said the motion was carried out hurriedly and and was premature, and indicated that the timing is highly "unusual for a legal system that places an exacting premium on the rule of law as a defining characteristic of the country". He then urged the PAP to come clean and explain to Singaporeans why they hurriedly file the motion before the case is concluded. Pritam also revealed that AHTC's auditors had submitted an unqualified financial statement this year and it has been sent to the Ministry of National Development, which oversees town councils.

For two GE in a row, the PAP team in Aljunied GRC have failed to defeat their WP counterparts. So, the next best way to defeat them is via the courts. Unable to sue them until their pants drop for any 'malicious" comments they might have met, the WP MPs instead got sued for alleged mismanagement of Town Council. Of course, the WP MPs lost their battle in court, no one expected otherwise. But this case highlighted the step by step way to fix your opponents by making them look bad, and you look good.