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[h=2]Puthucheary & Tin Pei Ling – substandard quality MPs of GRC system[/h]
August 17th, 2012 |
Author: Contributions
This is the problem with the GRC system. You want the anchor-man or someone within the team, you must also vote for all his team-mates. So you end up having below-substandard quality MPs like Tin Pei Ling and Janil Puthucheary in parliament.
As if trying to prove how disconnected and politically naïve they were, one claimed that he did not hear people complained about the country was crowded with too many foreigners, nor did he hear many people complained that they could not afford a HDB flat.
[Go to 1:30 to hear MP Puthucheary talk about these issues:
"I think there is a little bit of disconnect between a very vocal small groups online and what I see on the ground... two examples you gave - housing and foreigners... you know, the common appeals I get at MPS, housing is one of them... No one...oh, I won't say no one, but very very few people are coming forward and complaining that the housing issue is that they can't afford a flat. Actually it's the other way around. They are complaining that they can afford a flat but they're not getting one fast enough...
Take foreigners, for example. I don't have people coming to me and say there are too many foreigners... but the people that I speak to are asking for the reverse. Most of the residents who are coming to me, their appeals are the reverse, they are asking for help in bringing their relatives in, on a long-term pass, or to get PR or citizenship. A significant number are business owners asking for help in bringing in foreign labour because they just can't employ Singaporeans."]
Then, as if trying to outdo her male colleague, the other female MP had the cheek to launch a cheapo publicity stunt by telling the nation that she would donate a used handbag for charitable cause – and she valued her second-hand handbag to worth at least $500! A politician trading $500 of an old, non-cash item for maximum publicity, hoping to repair her unpopularity!
MP Tin Pei Ling and her Kate Spade bag
She must be a distasteful cheapskate, isn’t it? And to rub salt on injuries, that was precisely the handbag which attracted heavy criticisms from the public, apart from her personal quality! As if trying to fuel public anger, she added, “This particular bag received much publicity during the last GE, and I hope to put it to good use.”
As a Singaporean, I am worried about the quality of products coming out of this GRC system. It produces backbenchers and ministers perceived by the ruling party as persons having “high calibre” – though in many cases, the public does not hold the same view.
Ironically, when it comes to the Companies Act legislated by the PAP Government, a company’s board of directors is prohibited to stand for election on the same basis as the GRC system – each board director must be elected on an individual basis by the shareholders.
A look at the number, age range, personal quality and war experience of its old horses as well as raw recruits in parliament, one would probably have a feeling that the PAP’s days are numbered.
.
Celia Lim
This is the problem with the GRC system. You want the anchor-man or someone within the team, you must also vote for all his team-mates. So you end up having below-substandard quality MPs like Tin Pei Ling and Janil Puthucheary in parliament.
As if trying to prove how disconnected and politically naïve they were, one claimed that he did not hear people complained about the country was crowded with too many foreigners, nor did he hear many people complained that they could not afford a HDB flat.
[Go to 1:30 to hear MP Puthucheary talk about these issues:
"I think there is a little bit of disconnect between a very vocal small groups online and what I see on the ground... two examples you gave - housing and foreigners... you know, the common appeals I get at MPS, housing is one of them... No one...oh, I won't say no one, but very very few people are coming forward and complaining that the housing issue is that they can't afford a flat. Actually it's the other way around. They are complaining that they can afford a flat but they're not getting one fast enough...
Take foreigners, for example. I don't have people coming to me and say there are too many foreigners... but the people that I speak to are asking for the reverse. Most of the residents who are coming to me, their appeals are the reverse, they are asking for help in bringing their relatives in, on a long-term pass, or to get PR or citizenship. A significant number are business owners asking for help in bringing in foreign labour because they just can't employ Singaporeans."]
Then, as if trying to outdo her male colleague, the other female MP had the cheek to launch a cheapo publicity stunt by telling the nation that she would donate a used handbag for charitable cause – and she valued her second-hand handbag to worth at least $500! A politician trading $500 of an old, non-cash item for maximum publicity, hoping to repair her unpopularity!
She must be a distasteful cheapskate, isn’t it? And to rub salt on injuries, that was precisely the handbag which attracted heavy criticisms from the public, apart from her personal quality! As if trying to fuel public anger, she added, “This particular bag received much publicity during the last GE, and I hope to put it to good use.”
As a Singaporean, I am worried about the quality of products coming out of this GRC system. It produces backbenchers and ministers perceived by the ruling party as persons having “high calibre” – though in many cases, the public does not hold the same view.
Ironically, when it comes to the Companies Act legislated by the PAP Government, a company’s board of directors is prohibited to stand for election on the same basis as the GRC system – each board director must be elected on an individual basis by the shareholders.
A look at the number, age range, personal quality and war experience of its old horses as well as raw recruits in parliament, one would probably have a feeling that the PAP’s days are numbered.
.
Celia Lim
