On Saturday (7 September), Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen stated that potential candidates for the upcoming general election should walk the ground early so they know what it feels like to be a Member of Parliament.
While speaking to a group of reporters at the official opening of drainage improvement project ABC Waters @ Kallang River, Dr Ng noted that it’s crucial for new candidates to be on the ground in order for them to be accepted and understand residents’ problems.
This is because understanding certain issues at a community level is time consuming, especially for those who have never been part of grassroots activities before, explained Defence Minister.
Dr Ng is the first Minister to comment on the upcoming election, after the sudden announcement of the formation of the Electoral Boundary Review Committee (EBRC) was made by the Elections Department on Wednesday (4 September). The formations of the EBRC is usually a sign that elections are looming as the GE has to be held by April 2021.
When questioned on when the new candidates for People’s Action Party will be introduced, Dr Ng said that it all depends on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
“But I think the assumption must be that if you’re a potential candidate, you won’t wait till then. You would already be speaking to residents and understanding their problems, so I think you should be doing your groundwork,” he noted.
When the reporters asked if his constituency, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, would be redrawn and a Single Member Constituency hived off, Dr Ng noted that it was the right of the EBRC to decide.
“But as the Prime Minister has already announced that he wanted smaller sized constituencies, my advice to my PAP branch members is that we must assume that every constituency can be single member constituencies,” said Dr Ng, who is also a member of the ruling PAP’s Central Executive Committee.
He added, “We must be prepared to contest the elections on that basis..if it does happen to any of the five current divisions of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, we are prepared.”
The EBRC, which was convened in August and chaired by Secretary to the Prime Minister Tan Kee Yong, has been assigned to decrease the average size of group representation constituencies (GRCs) and design more single-member constituencies (SMCs). In 2016, PM Lee promised to have “smaller GRCs and more SMCs”.
Bilveer Singh, who is a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, told The Star that, “We always talk about ‘one man, one vote’, but in Singapore, because of the GRC system, we have got a ‘one man, one team’ system. If there are more SMCs brought in, this means a return to the ‘one man, one vote’ principle, which is very precious. It means that the man voted into parliament was really voted in by the people in the area.”
The GRC system was first introduced in 1988 to have at least one Malay, Indian, or a minority race in a constituency. This is done to make sure minorities are represented, but critics opined that it is making it harder for the opposition to break PAP’s dominance.

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

陈振声:选举局不能过早宣布来届选举规则

日前,工人党质问,有鉴于当前冠状病毒19疫情还未消退,具体在疫情下如何竞选活动到细节和详情,迄今仍待厘清。 对此,贸工部长陈振声表示,选举局不能“过早”宣布与下一次大选有关的规则和规定,因为这些可能会因局势而转变。 在今日(30日)的媒体简报会上,陈振声表示选举局理解竞选需求,也会尽早把必要信息提供给政党和候选人,让他们能去做准备。 他表示已他要求选举局模拟各种情景以探讨是否能与政党和候选人,分享有关规章条例,让他们有充足时间做准备,同时确保这些规章不会因不断变动的局势失效。 陈振声表示,阻断措施结束后的第一、第二和第三阶段,都需要不同的对应措施。 他强调一切取决于总理何时宣布选举,选举局需确保所有措施,能符合当时的情况。

People’s Voice will delay resumption of community visits for a week due to uncertainty of COVID-19 situation

People’s Voice (PV) will not resume house-to-house or community visits for at…

Single mother arrested and held in lock-up for 10 hours over unpaid S&CC bills amounting to S$2,150

A single mother with a 16-year-old son was arrested for unpaid service…