Ravi Philemon
The reply of Mr Chee Keng Chye, Deputy Director (Upgrading Programmes Management) Housing and Development Board (HDB) and Mr Sanjay Devmurari, Deputy Director (Corporate Communications), People’s Association(PA), in response to Mr Muhammad Yusuf Osman’s letter is baffling.
Their reply said that it is the “Government’s practice to implement its national programmes for residents through advisers to grassroots organisations who are appointed by the Government to gather feedback from residents”. The issue they skirted around was that 82 of the 84 appointed grassroots advisers are elected Members of Parliament (MP) who belong to the People’s Action Party.
If it is indeed government practice to implement national programmes for residents through advisers to grassroots organisations, then they should change their policy to appoint elected MPs as grassroots advisers (even if they are opposition MPs), or hold separate elections for the proper election of grassroots advisers by residents.
To suggest that all grassroots advisers “regularly engage the local residents to understand their needs and concerns” is almost tantamount to the HDB and the People’s Association campaigning for the PAP’s Mr Eric Low and Mr Sitoh Yi Pin.
Mr Low slapped a fee on his previously free health-screening programme, stopped his Meet-The-People sessions and the free breakfast service for the needy immediately after losing the last general elections; while Mr Sitoh’s right hand man, when commenting on the lack of community outreach events after the last general elections said, “So far, there’s been nothing. There is also nothing planned”.
Both Mr Low’s and Mr Sitoh’s reactions immediately after the elections does seem vengeful, if not at least bitter; and certainly not one of understanding the needs and concerns of the residents.
What is even more baffling is the deafening silence of the opposition MPs in the two wards, Mr Low Thia Khiang and Mr Chiam See Tong. How do they feel about being identified merely as Town Council chairmen? Are they displeased that the announcement was not made to them first and/or through them to their constituents? They cannot continue to hide behind a theory that the media is biased against them, for the media of today is diverse and include not just the mainstream media but also the many bloggers whose reach is growing day by day online.
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Read also Gerald Giam’s blog entry titled, “How PAP uses taxpayer-funded grassroots for political gain”.
Excerpt:
Not many Singaporeans are aware of how much the taxpayer-funded grassroots have been used by the PAP for political gain.
Here’s a quick run down:
The People’s Association (PA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, was set up in 1960 to counter the influence of Chinese clan associations and unions on working class Singaporeans.
Like all other stat boards, it receives a yearly grant from the government to run its programmes and cover operational costs. In FY2008, PA received $280 million from taxpayers, and another $23 million in “operating income”. It spent a total of $320 million last year.
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Related posts:
- End efforts to silence opposition – HRW
- WP’s Sylvia Lim rebuts ministry’s reply on lift upgrading
- Silence is not always golden
- In between the silence
- President breaks silence on unlocking reserves
LUP is a political pork barrel policy used to the extreme and ugliest
It denies all singaporean’s right to be treated with respect,
It shows the pap’s ugly face using vote to blackmail old and physically handicaps
It shows that after winning effective votes of 36.63% ( 66.67% in 55% of all contested constitunecies ), PAP is again strangling us as it pleases
It shows that if pap can’t win by persuasion and argument, they are talking DOWN to the people
It shows that their governing regime is more important to Singaporean’s esteem and needs
This is a shameless govt that claimed to be world class
I switched my support away from PAP for last 2 GE, absolutely happier !
people by now have known the relation of politician invlovement. everything happened had it caused and reason. i strongly believe the coming election is time for change of political arena in singapore as people are matured, knowledgeable, learned, hungry for survival and daring engouh to question the authority.
i am curious to see whether i am right this time in singapore political situation. history has shown no one is perpetual in ruling a country.
TOC, as usual, your writer bash all parties without giving some thoughts.
While you are justified in criticising the actions of PAP members, your criticism of opposition actions is unwarranted.
Firstly, opposition members do not have the vast resources like PAP members do. LTK has a constituency to manage. Anecdotal stories revealed he is willing to listen to any woes, however trivial, of any residents in his ward.
Also, it takes time to compose a reply to just indignation done to MP, without falling into the trap of being sued by PAP for libel. The hasty words cause troubles, as is evident in the fate of so many opposition members.
Also, LTK did finally reply. You need to update your article to acknowledge this. Please see Low Thia Khiang’s reply in full here.
http://www.wp.sg/wordpress/2009/10/no-basis-for-mp-not-to-announce-lift-upgrading/
And here is ST’s editted copy of LTK’s reply.
http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_440388.html
Notice how ST has taken some thunder of LTK.
And you are saying opposition members should not distrust mainstream media?
As for bloggers, firstly, how many blogs can have the reach of the mainstream media? And how many of THOSE are pro-opposition or at least not hostile to them?
It is right the opposition cannot trust any media, mainstream or otherwise for now, given that the so-called balanced newsite like TOC can criticise the opposition when the wrong lies squarely on PAP and its members in this case.
blackfeline@3: I am not a member of PAP nor any opposition party. I am just your ordinary Singaporean who wants a better tomorrow for my children and the generations which comes after them. If I eventually decide to join any political party, I have the guts to come out and announce publicly that I have done so. I also am brave enough not to hide behind pseudonimity when asking questions but to append my real name to the issues and opinions that I believe in. Now, do you?
Ravi, someone whom you have spoken to, told me you are helping out in PAP MPS and happily serving. Tell me this not true ? I don’t know what party you are in. But you are in opposition and you are also in pappy. How to believe someone’s views when he has no position at all ? Especially when you want o serve in pappy, please don’t come and tell us you are neutral. You do not compromise your own principles by going to two parties. Either you are too free or you double time. I believed you are busy man, so what other assumptions left ?
38) Adam
“Although I have a lot of misgivings about the way things are run these recent years, I believ there is a small group of MPs who are genuinely into their jobs and really concerned about their constituents. For some reasons, they have to toe the party’s line and that means being powerless against the whole machinery. So is that a sell out against yr constituents or selling yr soul to the devil? What I really want is more engaging MPs to their own party and not necesarily more opposition MPs.”
If the small group of MPs you mentioned really cared about their constituents, they wouldn’t be in the PAP in the first place.
35) open debate on October 10th, 2009 8.27 pm
The current PAP is only a bunch of cowards who have no guts facing up challenges for public debate of issues.
They are still afraid of the recent acid throwing incident lah. Maybe acid is hard to get now, but dog shits are still available leh!
blackfeline@54: Since you are asking matters which are private in nature which do not relate to the topic at hand here, you may email me with your queries stating your real name, including details about who is this person who told you this, and we can take this discussion there. My personal email is ravi@raviphilemon.net.
Hi Ravi,
I just want to know if you are going to correct your statement saying opposition is silence given that now Low Thia Khiang has made a formal reply (and given that it is heavily censored by ST)
Is TOC going to update the end of this article and point to their other article on LTK’s reply?
btan@60: Please see my blog: http://www.raviphilemon.net/2009/10/that-baffling-reply-and-oppositions.html, where I noted that Mr Low “has since given a robust reply to HDB and PA on this issue”.
Mr Chiam however, has maintained his deafening silence and hence I think the comments on this post are still valid, presuming that Mr Low does not speak for Mr Chiam as well, that is.
Hi Ravi,
However, this article and headline is still inaccurate. I think TOC needs to update their article based on current news. It’s a “news” site, isn’t it? Not “olds” site.
As for Mr Chiam, what does he need to say that LTK has not already said?
Besides, Mr Chiam is old and just recently recovered from a stroke. And he has been fighting for Singaporeans and PP residents for 10-20 years already. He deserve a break. If you have been following his news, he had been clamouring for upgrades since the initial inception.
This was his latest speech in parliament on the issue.
http://www.spp.org.sg/tos/20080121.php
Another reason, pure speculation on my part, is that since he had succeeded in his request, he did not care who gets the credit as long as PP residents are served. This shows the nobility of the opposition member if true.
If the LUP are announced by the PAP grassroot adviser of PA and the polling for the LUPs are going to be conducted by these PAP grassroot, I sincerely urge the courageous residents who have survived so long without these LUP should boycott this poll to show their support for their respective elected MPs. They should wait till the Oppositions become our next morally upright government coming this election.