PAP rich pay $18K but NSP poor pay $5K. Think Thank

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These are also qualities the Opposition parties will need. Will they now be able to attract more candidates, given the higher chance of being heard in Parliament, though possibly in a limited capacity as a Non-Constituency MP?

National Solidarity Party president Sebastian Teo said “we certainly hope that it will”. “Maybe more will feel that their efforts (in contesting) could bear results,” he said.

He does not think the Opposition’s election strategies will change much, though, as the GRC system is still in place and the sizes not significantly reduced.

“What is going to affect us more is the uncertainty (about changes to electoral boundaries),” said Mr Teo.

Among voters, there may be a sentiment that there is no need to vote for the Opposition if they will enter Parliament anyway as NCMPs, said Institute of South-east Asian Studies fellow Terence Chong. “This would mean a drop in popular votes for the opposition,” he said.

SINGAPORE : The opposition National Solidarity Party (NSP) has welcomed the proposed amendments to the electoral system, calling them "long overdue".

But the NSP described them as "half-hearted" attempts.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said his government will shrink the size of Group Representation Constituencies (GRC); ensure a minimum of nine opposition MPs in the House; and make Nominated MPs a permanent feature of the parliamentary system.

These, according to Mr Lee, are aimed at better reflecting the "aspirations of Singaporeans", and to encourage more diverse views in the House.

But in a statement to the media on Friday, the NSP called for the government to have just three members in each GRC.

It also said that single-member constituencies should form at least one-third of seats, as this would stretch their capabilities better.

It also suggested that the sum of electoral deposits be reduced "to a more affordable sum" of S$5,000 for each candidate.

This, it said, will encourage "greater participation from the interested public".

The NSP also called for electoral boundaries to be made public at least six months before elections to "dispel any charge of gerrymandering". - CNA /ls

 

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Minority Win

East Coast (116,653)

WP 37,873 36.14%

Abdul Rahim B Abdul R
Chia Ti Lik
Siow Wei-Min Brandon
Tan Heng Chong Eric
Tong Tzee Kwang Perry

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Lead by PAP Dr Jaya 66,931 63.86%

Abdullah Tarmugi
Lee Yi Shyan
Lim Siang Keat Raymond
S Jayakumar
Tan Soon Neo Jessica

 

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Jalan Besar (93,025)

SDA 26,151 30.74%

Cheo Chai Chen
Fong Chin Leong
Muhamad Ali Aman
Teo Kway Huang Sebastian
Yeo Boon Keng Vincent

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PAP 58,913 69.26%

Lead by Dr Yaacob

Heng Chee How
Lee Boon Yang
Lily Tirtasana Neo
Phua Lay Peng Denise
Yaacob Ibrahim

 

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The policy is good for Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Toh Chin Chye, Lim Chin Siong, Goh Keng Swee, Goh Chok Tong, Rajaratnam Sinnathamby, Othman Bin Wok and C V Devan Nair.

 

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Half-hearted Attempts at Proposed Changes

Fri, May 29, 2009


The National Solidarity Party welcomes the proposals, albeit half-hearted ones, to change the electoral system, as announced by MP Lee in Parliament on Wednesday. Improvements to the system have in fact been long overdue, ever since his predecessor promised the electorate some form of political pluralism and a “kinder and gentler” nation way back in 1990.



The recent attempt to “open up” the electoral system is not unexpected. The tide of change has found favour with the new, younger generation of voters. Coupled with the wave of discontent over the Authorities’ apparent haplessness in tackling the current economic tsunami, the next General Election may spring several surprises. At least one GRC is expected to fall. Thus, being fearful of losing a 6-seat GRC, the Government could have decided to lighten its impact by reducing its size.



We would urge the Government to revert the GRC to its original size of three members, to stay true to its proclaimed purpose of accommodating minority representation in Parliament. It is a pity that its noble intention should be abused and violated, when it was blatantly enlarged to the obscene size of six.



Single-seat Constituencies should form at least one-third of the Parliamentary seats available. This would then allow the elected member with a better opportunity to engage with local governance, to prove himself and to gauge his performance. GRC newbies tend to find comfort under the skirts of their senior mentors, without having to stretch themselves in service to the People.



The Government should also reduce the electoral deposits to a more affordable sum of $5000 per candidate, to encourage greater participation from the interested public. Finally, the electoral boundaries should be made known publicly, at least six months before the elections. Such a transparency would dispel any charge of gerrymandering.



Any attempt to bring about changes to the presently biased electoral system, should be implemented whole-heartedly. There should be a concerted effort to bring about a paradigm shift in public consciousness. Despite claims to the contrary, the People are still shrouded by a cloak of fear, cowed by harsh authoritarianism over the past half century. A truly responsible government would owe a duty of care to lead its citizens into an era of progress and positiveness. It’s therefore a challenge for the Lee Hsien Loong Government, one which it cannot afford to bypass if it intends to remain relevant.



For & on behalf of

NATIONAL SOLIDARITY PARTY


Ken Sun

Secretary General

 

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Who dare to contect Minority lead GRC?

Can you win over the Minority Ministers?

8.5% Indian had 4 Minister 13.5% Malay had 1 Minister


The Cabinet comprises:

Senior Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security

Prof S Jayakumar, MP

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs

Assoc Prof Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, MP

Minister for Finance

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, MP

Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, MP

Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs

Mr K Shanmugam, MP

 

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Contest Deposit:-


$16K-$18K for PAP candidate is just a month their salary.

$16K-$18K for poor Singaporean is a big amount as One or half year salary.

 

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Born in 1936 as the eldest son, Ong was the second of five children from a middle class family. His English-educated father felt that Chinese is important if one wants to make a success in life, and especially business, so he sent all his children to Chinese medium schools. Ong graduated with distinctions from the Chinese High School (1950-1955), but being Chinese-educated, he saw little opportunity for advancing his studies in the Malayan University, where English was the teaching medium. In 1956, with the help of his father's friends, Ong ventured abroad. Those years were to shape both his beliefs and passions. He studied architecture at the University of Adelaide in Australia, and was later joined by his childhood sweetheart Ling Siew May. They had met in secondary school, when she was studying in Nanyang Girls'. After graduation, Ong worked as an architect in Adelaide and married Siew May in 1963.

Political career

Ong Teng Cheong's political career spanned 21 years. He was Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, before he resigned to become Elected President in 1993. Ong was talent spotted by the People's Action Party which fielded him in Kim Keat in the 1972 General Election. His first political appointment came just 3 years later when he was made Senior Minister of State for Communications. And it was as Communications Minister that Ong pushed for the development of the MRT system, the largest construction project in Singapore's history. His next challenge came on the labour front, when he became NTUC Secretary-General in 1983. Ong was diagnosed with lymphoma-cancer of the lymphatic system in 1992. But this did not dampen his desire to continue serving. He became Singapore's first Elected President a year later, and it was a presidency marked by many charitable projects, which touched the lives of many Singaporeans. Ong stepped down as President at the age of 63.

As chairman of the People's Action Party (PAP) and secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, Ong was considered a firm Lee Kuan Yew loyalist. In January 1986, he sanctioned a strike in the shipping industry, the first for about a decade in Singapore, without telling the cabinet. He said that he did not inform the cabinet or the government because they would probably stop him from going ahead with the strike. There was a major corporate and Cabinet backlash against his decision; however, the strike lasted only two days, and a deal was struck.

During his tenure as the Minister of National Development, Ong was a proponent of the Mass Rapid Transit system. He later became the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister in 1985.

Presidency

Ong ran for the presidency in 1993 under PAP's endorsement. He ran against a reluctant Chua Kim Yeoh, a former accountant general, for the post. A total of 1,756,517 votes were polled. Ong received 952,513 votes while Chua had 670,358 votes, despite the former having a higher public exposure and a much more active campaign than Chua. There was a swing of support over to Chua's side, especially in the educated class. The reason was because of the issue of whether they wanted a PAP man as president to check on a PAP government or whether it would be better to have a neutral independent like Chua.[citation needed]

However, soon after his election to the presidency in 1993, he became embroiled in a dispute with the government over the access of information regarding Singapore's financial reserves. The government said it would take 56 man years to produce a dollar-and-cents value of the immovable assets. Ong discussed this with the accountant general and the auditor general and came to a compromise that the government needed to give him only a listing of all the properties that the government owns. It took the government a few months to produce the list. But even then the list was not complete. In all, it took the government three years to come up with the information about the reserves that Ong requested. The government also tried to submit a bill to parliament for the sale of the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB), a statutory board whose reserves are to be protected by the president, to the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), without first informing Ong during the last year of his presidency. Ong's office had to inform the government that the procedure was wrong.

Due to health reasons, he decided not to run for a second term as president in 1999.

Death

Ong Teng Cheong's wife, Ling Siew May, died in August 1999 after a cancer relapse. Ong Teng Cheong died on February 8, 2002, at the age of 66 from lymphoma in his home at about 8:14 pm SST after he had been discharged from hospital a few days earlier.

Among the four former presidents who had passed away, Ong Teng Cheong was the only one who did not receive a state funeral

 

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Dr. Tony Tan Keng Yam (simplified Chinese: 陈庆炎博士; pinyin: Chén Qìngyán; Minnan: Tân Khèng-iām, born 7 February 1940, Singapore) is the former Deputy Prime Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for Security and Defence of Singapore.

Tan served as Minister of Finance from 24 October 1983 to 1 January 1985, as Minister of Education from January 1985 to December 1991, as Minister of Health between 2 January 1985 and 6 May 1985 and Minister for Trade and Industry between 7 May 1985 and 17 February 1986.

In December 1991, Dr Tan stepped down from the Cabinet to return to the private sector as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation. He retained his seat in Parliament as the Representative for the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency until he retired in 2006.

Dr. Tan rejoined the Cabinet on 1 August 1995 and was subsequently appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. In August 2003, Dr Tan was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for Security and Defence.

He is noted for his efforts by helping places such as Banda Aceh and Phuket, which were badly hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, notably in terms of helping out by reconstructing the city's infrastructure, and in coordinating donations for the tsunami victims.

Dr Tony Tan is married to Mary Chee Bee Kiang. They have four children: three sons and one daughter. He was previously from St Patrick’s Institution, St. Joseph’s Institution and went on to University of Singapore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Adelaide for further studies.

Dr Tony Tan stepped down as Deputy Prime Minister on September 1, 2005 and Wong Kan Seng, the Minister for Home Affairs, took over as the Deputy Prime Minister of the country.

After his retirement from the cabinet, Tan became the Chairman of the National Research Foundation and Deputy Chairman of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. He is also the Executive Director of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), and Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH).

 

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Mr Tan Kin Lian started his insurance career in 1966 in a local life insurance company. He has also worked in various positions as a computer programmer, organisation and methods officer and consulting actuary. Mr Tan qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1975.

He joined NTUC Income in 1977 as the chief executive officer. For the past 29 years, he has built up the business, assets and sphere of influence. From a base of $28 million (SGD), the total assets increased to over $18 billion at the time of his retirement. NTUC Income was a leading life and general insurance co-operative in Singapore.

During this period, Mr Tan has served on many boards and committees in Singapore and internationally.

From 1992 to 1997, he was Chairman of the International Co-operative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF), an international organisation representing 123 insurance groups in 65 countries.