Former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) and Workers’ Party (WP) politician Yee Jenn Jong says it is “ridiculous” for un-elected candidates to be given the power to approve community projects suggested by elected MPs.
“It is ridiculous and a mockery of our democracy for un-elected and losing candidates of GE [General Election] to be approving community projects (funded by taxpayers) initiated by elected members of parliament, and delaying or ignoring chasers because it is simply playing dirty and inconveniencing residents who may badly need these facilities,” Me Yee said in a Facebook post on Friday (25 October).

He was referring to the People’s Association’s (PA) grassroots adviser, Chua Eng Leong, for his latest online dispute with WP’s chief Pritam Singh over the delay in completion of a barrier-free-access (BFA) ramp.
It all started when Mr Singh revealed in a Facebook post on 15 October that a BFA ramp at Blk 108 Bedok Reservoir Road was finally opened to the public, seven years after it was proposed. The opposition MP also noted that in order for community improvement projects at Town Councils to be funded, MPs have to raise them to the Grassroots Advisers for considerations, which can be challenging as the losing PAP candidate are appointed as Grassroots advisers in opposition wards like Aljunied and Hougang.
As such, Mr Singh asserted that the PAP is “divisive” and have “double standard” when it comes to how certain process operate in opposition party.
He also pointed out that the project took years to complete when it should have only taken months.
“How many senior citizens, immobile, and yet others recovering from episodes such as debilitating strokes could have benefited from this facility earlier, but for how the PAP determines the People’s Association operates in opposition wards. Other proposals by opposition MPs for the community are commonly ignored by the People’s Association,” Mr Singh lamented.
Mr Singh’s post irked Mr Chua, causing the latter to take to his Facebook to hit back at WP’s chief. Mr Chua said that Mr Singh’s comments were “unsubstantiated” and “politically divisive and inaccurate”.
Mr Chua – who was part of the People’s Action Party (PAP) team that lost to WP in Aljunied GRC during the 2015 General Election – said that Mr Singh’s allegation that the completion of the BFA ramp was deliberately delayed as it was mooted by the opposition was “unjustifiable” since the project was also proposed by the Eunos CCC.
Additionally, Mr Chua also revealed that the funding for the ramp and other community improvement projects were secured in September 2016, and the construction for the ramp commenced in December 2018 and it was handed over to Town Council this month.
In response to this, Mr Singh said in a separate post, that he was glad that the “CCC finally engage this issue, albeit only after things have to go to public”. He also noted “repeated emails, requests for answers have gone unanswered and ignored, over many years”.
He also stated that now he understands that the BFA ramp was “concurrently proposed”. Hence he asked “why was there a delay” given that the funding was secured in 2016.
“If funding was already secured in 2016 (putting aside the fact that it oddly took 3-4 years to secure funding, especially since the MND allocated about $40m each year for CIPC projects), I cannot find a substantive reason for the delay in Mr Chua’s long post below,” he said.

Mr Yee’s view on the matter

In Mr Yee’s post, he said that he lost in the 2011 General Election by 1%, about the same margin as Mr Chua in the 2015 General Election. However, Mr Yee noted that he “had no access to the PA and no ability to use facilities in Joo Chiat SMC for any political activities”.
“I certainly could not approve projects like what Mr Chua can,” he wrote.
Despite not having “access and powers that Mr Chua and other losing PAP candidates now have”, Mr Yee stated that his party still managed to do their political outreach in the most capable manner as they could.
“And Joo Chiat SMC was wiped off the electoral boundaries in 2015 and then the General Elections was swiftly called,” he said.
Recently, the Straits Times’ Opinion Editor Chua Mui Hoong wrote an opinion piece warning the PAP of a possible backlash if they continue to be overly domineering. The article referred to a leading 4G leader who attacked Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa’at over the cancellation of Yale-NUS controversial module on dissent.
Citing this as an example, Mr Yee said he thinks “the same principle applies here and in some other cases where the politics of dominance has gone too far that it alienates the people”.
“Singapore belongs to Singaporeans and not to the PAP. No doubt many Singaporeans, myself included are grateful that the first generation leaders got us onto the right track for good economic development. That does not mean that we approve of undemocratic methods to entrench themselves in power, Mr Yee wrote.
He added, “If the people chooses to let PAP continue to be the vastly dominant ruling party, that will be their choice but it should not be because of threats over their own well-being.”
“We should not allow dominance to be the passport to hold Singaporeans hostage through unjustifiable and undemocratic methods.”

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

Election Dept: Presidential Elections Committee did not select President

Two weeks ago (13 Oct), Straits Times Opinion Editor Chua Mui Hoong…

鄞义林力挺遭抹黑的独媒与维权人士,吁对“事实”再三推敲确认

针对早前《网络公民》与自由新闻工作者韩俐颖被点名指出,接受外资、或聘雇外国人撰写负面新闻,企图分裂新加坡一事,博客兼维权人士鄞义林(Roy Ngerng),力挺独立媒体与本地维权人士,表示对于被政客抹黑的感同身受。 鄞义林于昨日(26日)在脸书上发文表示,身为曾被抹黑的受害者的他而言,他最初亦认为新加坡是个民主法治的社会,不料在他受到迫害后,他发现国家掌控了媒体的报道,将所有言论指向支持政府,当时他的想法因而产生了变化。 “当我看到主流媒体以某种方式刻画我的形象时,我就知道这些所谓的新闻,其实应该称之为政府宣传片,都是政府事先规划或者准许发放的消息,以控制人民的思想”,鄞义林说道。 在不断看见主流媒体对他的批评和报道负面新闻后,鄞义林表示,他曾试过反驳他们但却不得要领。他也澄清,很多人认为,他会有一群支持者或其他独立媒体会支持他,但事实上,当时他唯一抗辩的管道,就只有自己的博客和脸书。 消息来源必须再三推敲,检测新闻真实性 至此之后,当他看见部长正抹黑其他维权人士与媒体时,他说他必须先再三推敲确认部长的消息来源。他也解释他如何检测新闻的真实性。 “我的经验告诉我,我了解必须反复搜索消息来源,找出消息最初的来源之地,所以我会设法到放置部长所说的演讲或消息的官网上查看是否与记者或维权人士相符。然后,如果有任何标明是“真相或事实”的消息,我会查看各种不同政府来源、国际报告、学术研究、或其他值得信赖的消息网站,以作证实说法。而你,也应该如此。” 他强调,如果不反复推敲确认消息来源,他不能站在判断的角度去看待,因此他说,若选择接受部长的意见或抹黑韩俐颖与许渊臣,如同形成压迫,因为不愿意去查看消息,并在缺乏依据下做出判断,并不属于中立,是一种政治上的偏见。 鄞义林:只有实事求是的报导,才会获读者支持 另外,鄞义林也强调独立媒体的立场,有别于财力雄厚的主流媒体,独立媒体并不会轻易报道,因为他们承受不起失去读者的信任与声誉,在主流媒体的主导下,独立媒体只能靠着报道事实来维持营运。 “因此,新加坡独立媒体没有那个“本事”,他们要么报道事实,要么失去工作。”他说。…

Trump and the strongmen: how US leader fell for autocrats

by Pierre Donadieu He “fell in love” with Kim Jong Un, praises Vladimir…

ACRES calls for probe on cruelty to RWS dolphins

By Howard Lee Dolphins and fireworks don’t mix. That was the message…