People’s Voice (PV) introduced their candidates through videos on Facebook this morning (1 July). In its second episode, it featured Vigneswari Ramachandran, a pre-school teacher for 12 years who is contesting at Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.
Starting off with her manifesto, she expressed that a Member of Parliament (MP) “must have a genuine heart” that cares for the people.
“An MP must have a genuine heart. He or she must feel for the people and be caring.”
Ms Ramachandran described that she was born and raised in Singapore and that she had gone through Singaporean education from kindergarten to university. To her, the Singaporean educational system is “stressful” and it is also a system that Singaporeans would like to change “for the better”.
“I am a Singaporean. I was born here and I grew up here all my life. I’ve been through the Singaporean educational system from kindergarten to university. It is a stressful system, and one that we would like to change for the better.”
As a pre-school teacher, she pointed out that the environment is often “undervalued” and “underappreciated”.
“I’ve been a pre-school teacher for 12 years. It is a vibrant environment, but oftentimes undervalued and underappreciated. Now, parents can see for themselves [about] how stressed their children feel in pre-schools, let alone the stress placed on teachers.”
Ms Ramachandran believed that if she was elected as an MP in Parliament, she pledged to speak up for the people on the costly childcare fees as well as the rising cost of living.
“If I am elected as your MP in Parliament, I will fight for you and I will speak up for you. I will speak up on the costly childcare fees and the rising cost of living. I’ll help you with your issues with the best of my ability.”
She further pointed out how the People’s Action Party (PAP) could not understand the struggles and difficulties the ordinary Singaporeans are encountering because they have the “tendency to be elitist”. With this happening, the challenges and difficulties faced by Singaporeans had gone “unnoticed and unanswered”.
“Challenges and difficulties that we face every day gone unnoticed and unanswered by them. When we have alternative voices in Parliament, we will have more social justice and accountability to various issues in society.”
