The purpose of a Meet the People session is for the people of a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) to have a chance to raise their personal issues – or any issue, really – to their MP. It’s supposed to make the MP more accessible to the people, create a direct line between citizens and their government.

But that didn’t quite work out for one citizen, Mr Edward Foo, a volunteer from the online Ready4Repeal movement. Just to remind you, the Ready4Repeal movement is a petition to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality, specifically it criminalises sex between two mutually consenting adult men.

Mr Edward has turned up for the Meet the People Session at Yishun as he wanted to personally hand over the petition – containing 859 names of people within that specific GRC – to his MP, Er Dr Lee Bee Wah.

Mr Foo recounted that he had arrived at the session with a few friends and they had told the registrant that they were there to discuss a personal matter with the MP. The registrant has also asked to see his IC, place of residence, and confirmed that he was indeed a Singaporean.

Once inside, he was met with a letter writer – letter writers volunteers who were there to help people write letters to the relevant ministries about their issues. When asked what they were there to discuss, Mr Foo again said it was a personal matter and he wanted to speak to the MP directly.

The follow description of the encounter give off all kinds of hostile vibes:

The MP walks over, shakes our hands one by one, and immediately asks if we are related. The other resident of the GRC replies that we are not, but we have come together as we were there to discuss the same topic. The MP then immediately asked them to leave as she only wanted to talk to her residents. At this point the other resident of the GRC replies, telling the MP that she does live here, and is a resident of the GRC. The MP then asks her to leave as well, and take a seperate queue number. The MP then stated that “she thinks she knows what this is about”, as her other MPs have “mentioned this before”. She waited for all three of my friends to leave, and I was left alone. She then asked me to “say what I wanted to say”. I then said: “This is regarding section 377a, and I was wondering what your views on this matter are.” The MP then said: “I have other residents with real problems”, and exited the room.

Mr Foo was left there on his own now waiting for the letter writer to return, and she did after fifteen minutes. The letter writer had apparently ‘actively avoided’ Mr Foo the entire time, speaking to other residents around him instead. Eventually as the MP was walking away, Mr Foo has called out to her and said, “If you don’t want to talk to me, can I at least pass you this” while holding out the Ready4Repeal petition addressed to her. Instead of accepting it, she simply gestured her hand away and asked him to pass it to one of the volunteers instead.

The letter writer accepted the petition and assured Mr Foo that it would be delivered to the MP.

At first read and I’d argue at every subsequent read as well, the MP’s attitude towards Mr Foo and his companions were cold, dismissive and bordering on hostile. Mr Foo and his friends were there as members of that GRC to speak to their representative in Parliament to hand her a petition over an issue that they hold close to their heart. They weren’t aggressive or hostile. They simply wanted to hand deliver their petition to their MP directly but they were essentially shooed away.

That is not how any parliamentarian should behave toward their own constituency. Even if Dr Lee disagrees with the petition and what it calls for, she still should have been respectful of her own residents and be open to at least accepting the petition.

She didn’t even bother giving them time to lay out their case nor did she give them the courtesy of accepting the petition herself. There really is no other word for it than rude.

Wading through the rampant homophobic comments in the comments section of Mr Foo’s post, you will find many who are equally appalled at the MP’s dismissive attitude:

But some netizens reflected that perhaps the GRC wasn’t the best avenue to bring up such an issue since the GRC was reserved for issues of a more ‘personal’ and ‘individual’ nature:

While others disagreed:

Whether or not you agree with the petition, I think we can all agree that the MP’s attitude was inexcusable:

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Minister Amy Khor: Social enterprise management model brings “vibrancy” to hawker centres

In the midst of the public uproar over some of the extra…

逾2.7万住户受影响 许宝琨:初步调查指上月停电疑变电站设备故障

我国上月部分地区发生停电事故影响2万7000名住户,贸工部高级政务部长许宝琨医生指出,这是过去五年来第一起涉及电压互感器故障的停电事故,初步调查显示,电力中断可能和光明山站(Bright Hill)变电站的设备故障有关。 上月26日下午一点半,碧山、汤申、宏茂桥和新民一带突然停电,在工程师抢修下,电力供应在下午1点46分开始逐步恢复,直到当天下午2点58分时全面恢复。中断时间从16分钟到一个半小时不等。 工人党非选区议员贝理安(Leon Perera)针对此事在国会提问。许宝琨在答复时称,根据能源市场管理局(EMA)的初步调查,电力中断可能是由于光明山站变电站的设备故障造成,导因疑和变压器故障引发的火患有关。 “在检测到火灾后,保护装置立即启动,隔离故障区域,避免进一步损坏下游设备。” 他指出,新能源电网有限公司(SPPG)在故障发生后的30分钟就内,回顾80巴仙受影响用户的电力供应。 “我国电供系统仍可靠” 不过,他仍认为我国电供系统仍是全球最可靠的电供系统之一。加上近期发生的事故,过去六年,全国消费者每年遇到电力中断的平均时间,从12秒到4.2分钟不等。 相对下,大阪、香港、纽约和伦敦等大都会,在2017年财年的消费者平均电力中断时间,则达到5至21分钟。 当询及会采取哪些措施以减少类似停电故障发生,许宝琨则指出,能源市场管理局将彻查此案,并在必要时采取监管措施,而新能源公司也对发生故障的设备等进行更频繁的检查和优先更换特定零件等。 “当然,新能源电网有限公司也成立了内部调查委员会,来调查近期事故。同时,聘请有关设备制造商的专家,来检查是否涉及设计、材料缺陷导致电力中断。”…

扭转六年营亏 170员工受影响 莎莎关闭22狮城商店

莎莎国际控股有限公司宣布,将关闭国内所有22间商店,估计有170人的生计受到影响。 该公司于周一(12月2日)发出文告指出,当局是为了扭转连续六年所面对的营业亏损,才出此下策。 “为了改善新加坡市场的表现,集团近年来已经采取措施重组本地管理团队,并改善商店的陈列和产品结构,以推动销售。” “遗憾的是,有关的结果远不能令人满意。” 截止9月30日的李个月中,莎莎新加坡的业务营业额为9940万港元(约1730万新元),比去年下降了4.6巴仙。 莎莎表示将根据新加坡的《雇佣法令》,为170名员工提供全额薪酬。 这家化妆品零售商指出,目前的最新举措是当局针对香港核心市场战略的一部分,由于中国大陆的游客人数急剧下降,当地市场变得更加困难了。 当局指出,这也将让负责新加坡和马来西亚市场的管理团能专注于更具发展潜力的马国市场。 为了弥补新加坡市场和香港的亏损,莎莎将继续扩展中国大陆的营销,并加快电子商务的发展。 文告中,它指出目前营运资金仍足以维持营销行驶。 “预计终止新加坡的租约不会对集团的营运产生重大影响,因为集团本身总共营运了265家商店,新加坡只占了22家。” 该集团指出,截止9月30日,其现金和银行结余共有7.887亿港元(约1.38亿新元),足以满足其营运需求。

Unnecessary for Singapore to “send warships” to “chase” Johor Chief Minister “away”: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at Oxford Union dialogue

Singapore’s act of sending “warships” to “chase away” Johor’s Chief Minister Osman…