Lawyer aims to help the needy and the elderly
By Amresh Gunasingham
HE IS a high-flying litigator who now wants to ground himself in the nitty-gritty of local politics - the business of helping people pay their utility bills or secure a housing loan.
Mr Edwin Tong is 41 and a partner at law firm Allen & Gledhill.
His curriculum vitae is peppered with honours that he won in law school and citations in leading legal publications of his 'excellent' work.
He is also on the panel of lawyers for the Legal Aid Bureau and regularly offers pro bono legal services to those who cannot afford to pay for their own lawyer.
Yet the father of three found PAP Meet-the-People Sessions an 'eye-opener', and a key factor in his decision to step forward as a political candidate.
It was Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, whom Mr Tong considers his mentor, who invited him to his first Meet-the-People Session in 2007. While both of them were at Allen & Gledhill, they had worked together on high-profile legal cases such as the National Kidney Foundation's suit against its former board, which included then chief executive T.T. Durai.
Yesterday, Mr Tong said of the Meet-The-People sessions he had attended: 'It's all too easy to be dismissive or cynical about the help that is being given at these sessions, but in my experience and through my time spent there, I could see that this was a system that worked well, and that important and meaningful contributions were being made by a set of tireless volunteers for the residents.
'Serious problems were solved. I could see for myself that the work of these volunteers helped to put many residents back on their feet.'
Mr Tong shadowed Jalan Besar MP Lee Boon Yang from 2008 and is expected to take over from the retiring MP at the coming polls. In Parliament, he intends to champion the needy and elderly families, who form a high proportion of the residents in Dr Lee's Jalan Besar ward.
While he agrees with the PAP's core principles and believes they have served Singapore well, he is of the view that the Government can do more to reach out to the younger generation of Singaporeans. They are better-educated and feel entitled to have a greater say in the political process, he said.
'If you look around, people are genuinely more interested in what happens around them, in the people that make decisions for them.'
He points to the proliferation of blogs and websites that discuss local political issues as evidence. These indicate that the youth of today want to 'express themselves, be included and not just told what to do', he said.
He hopes more effective channels will be created to engage the electorate and seek their views when planning significant policy changes, for example.
He also wants more to be done to harness the views of younger voters.
'I think these views can be organised, collated and to the extent they are not agreed with, (they) should be explained.'
He added: 'That is the degree of engagement that the Government should be prepared to do for the youths.'
During yesterday's press conference, Mr Tong was asked about possibly becoming an office holder.
Q: I understand you've been working with Mr Shanmugam closely in the past. If given a chance, would you like to take up a political appointment as well in the future?
A: 'I worked with minister Shanmugam for many years. Sixteen, to be precise, when he was still in legal practice. As to whether or not I will follow in his footsteps and take the plunge that he has, to be a full-time Cabinet minister, I think it is very early to say.
'I am completely new in the political arena, apart from my grassroots work. If I do get elected, this will be very different from what I've been used to doing. So give me some time to make sure that I can serve my residents. Local politics is often as important as national politics.'
By Amresh Gunasingham
HE IS a high-flying litigator who now wants to ground himself in the nitty-gritty of local politics - the business of helping people pay their utility bills or secure a housing loan.
Mr Edwin Tong is 41 and a partner at law firm Allen & Gledhill.
His curriculum vitae is peppered with honours that he won in law school and citations in leading legal publications of his 'excellent' work.
He is also on the panel of lawyers for the Legal Aid Bureau and regularly offers pro bono legal services to those who cannot afford to pay for their own lawyer.
Yet the father of three found PAP Meet-the-People Sessions an 'eye-opener', and a key factor in his decision to step forward as a political candidate.
It was Minister for Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, whom Mr Tong considers his mentor, who invited him to his first Meet-the-People Session in 2007. While both of them were at Allen & Gledhill, they had worked together on high-profile legal cases such as the National Kidney Foundation's suit against its former board, which included then chief executive T.T. Durai.
Yesterday, Mr Tong said of the Meet-The-People sessions he had attended: 'It's all too easy to be dismissive or cynical about the help that is being given at these sessions, but in my experience and through my time spent there, I could see that this was a system that worked well, and that important and meaningful contributions were being made by a set of tireless volunteers for the residents.
'Serious problems were solved. I could see for myself that the work of these volunteers helped to put many residents back on their feet.'
Mr Tong shadowed Jalan Besar MP Lee Boon Yang from 2008 and is expected to take over from the retiring MP at the coming polls. In Parliament, he intends to champion the needy and elderly families, who form a high proportion of the residents in Dr Lee's Jalan Besar ward.
While he agrees with the PAP's core principles and believes they have served Singapore well, he is of the view that the Government can do more to reach out to the younger generation of Singaporeans. They are better-educated and feel entitled to have a greater say in the political process, he said.
'If you look around, people are genuinely more interested in what happens around them, in the people that make decisions for them.'
He points to the proliferation of blogs and websites that discuss local political issues as evidence. These indicate that the youth of today want to 'express themselves, be included and not just told what to do', he said.
He hopes more effective channels will be created to engage the electorate and seek their views when planning significant policy changes, for example.
He also wants more to be done to harness the views of younger voters.
'I think these views can be organised, collated and to the extent they are not agreed with, (they) should be explained.'
He added: 'That is the degree of engagement that the Government should be prepared to do for the youths.'
During yesterday's press conference, Mr Tong was asked about possibly becoming an office holder.
Q: I understand you've been working with Mr Shanmugam closely in the past. If given a chance, would you like to take up a political appointment as well in the future?
A: 'I worked with minister Shanmugam for many years. Sixteen, to be precise, when he was still in legal practice. As to whether or not I will follow in his footsteps and take the plunge that he has, to be a full-time Cabinet minister, I think it is very early to say.
'I am completely new in the political arena, apart from my grassroots work. If I do get elected, this will be very different from what I've been used to doing. So give me some time to make sure that I can serve my residents. Local politics is often as important as national politics.'
