Friday, 27 May 2011

More residents have been turning up at meet-the-people sessions

One can understand the interest surrounding Aljunied GRC's Meet-the-People's Sessions (MPS).
For the first time in history, an Opposition Party has managed to win a GRC.
So it's a momentous occasion and a small step forward for democracy.

PAP on the other hand, have almost 100% dominated Parliment for decades.
You should expect that their MPs will be so used to MPS by now.

Apparently not. Why?

It's because for the past 46 years since independence, there were hardly any opposition voice in the political process and their share of the popular vote has been unwavering.

Now, they've seen a dramatic rise in the number of disgruntled citizens spurred on by the wealth of alternative information supplied by social media.
And of course, they finally lost a GRC!

Never before did PAP MPs expect to work for votes! Never before has PAP MPS sessions ended past midnight.
Never before in the last five years has Goh Chok Tong made a single appearance at Marine Parade GRC's MPS!

But it's early days and we don't know if this is just "wayang" or for real.
If it's "wayang", Singaporeans must take away a few more GRCs to make sure the spurs stick to their hides.



SINGAPORE: More residents have been turning up at meet-the-people sessions (MPS), after the recent General Election.

Members of Parliament (MPs) whom Channel NewsAsia spoke to said there has been a surge in the number of cases, with the increase being at least 30 per cent.

They said most of the new cases concern housing and financial assistance.

MP for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Tan Chuan-Jin, who oversees the Kampong Ubi-Kembangan ward, said he saw 213 cases at his last MPS.

Writing on Facebook page, Brigadier-General Tan described it as the "mother of all MPSes", which only ended around midnight.

In comments later, BG Tan said he saw the majority of the cases, but has to look at the "internal triage in terms of prioritising time."

He said better IT support can help boost efficiency.

MP for Marine Parade GRC Seah Kian Peng said: "(BG Tan) covers a very big area -- in terms of the coverage and the number of residents, (his area) is very huge.

"Indeed, 213 cases was a shock to me. It may be a record, really a record in any constituency.

"We know that in every GE, there is a surge in the number of cases, partly also to catch up on those that we were not able to conduct in the course of the hustings.

"But I think after this GE, all of us have seen a bigger surge in MPS cases".

MP for Jurong GRC David Ong, who oversees the Bukit Batok ward, said he saw a doubling of cases - something he described as "a natural response".

From the usual 40 cases before the election, it has now jumped to about 80 to 90 cases.

"After the election, they... want to see what the MP can do for them," Mr Ong said.

"They want an MP who can listen, (want to know) what they stand for and (if they) can make a difference for them.

"As an MP myself, now is (the time) for us to make sure that we also deliver as much as I can for our residents.

"We do see a fair bit of financial assistance cases where they need help to just cope -- some are more temporary, some are more permanent.

"We do see more requests for rental flats -- some are downgrading, and we are also seeing people who are trying to get new flats.

Meanwhile, Mr Seah said he too, has seen a 30 per cent spike in cases for his Braddell Heights ward.

Some cases concern those looking for interim housing such as rental flats.

Most MPs say a 30 per cent rise in cases after the GE is normal.

MP for Moulmein-Kallang GRC Denise Phua said her "new clients" are "a lot more politically aware".

MP for Aljunied GRC Faisal Abdul Manap said most of the 50 cases at his first session were about housing matters.

He said he expects cases to go up at least for the next two months.

"Of course, I cannot work alone, and I believe we are going to start a grassroots made up of local communities and we do have a list of names already, and we do have more and more people coming forward," Mr Faisal said.

The rise in number of cases comes at a time when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has pledged for the government to serve the widest possible spread of society.

-CNA/wk

No comments:

Post a Comment