Tan fits the descriptive to a T, as he is an Associate Professor of Law at Singapore Management University (SMU), and teaches Constitutional & Administrative Law as well as Law and Policy of Ethnic Relations in Singapore. He has participated in many televised discussions, so many that detractors awarded him the unsolicited sobriquet of media whore. Problem is, he takes his job too diligently and seriously, so seriously that he dared point out to the Speaker in the nick of time that quorum was not met when two bills were about to be passed in parliament. Leader of the House Ng Eng Hen saved the day by asking for an adjournment instead of summoning the MPs back into the Chamber. Ng is also one of the eight select committee members.
The first rule of the wayang fight club is, don't make them lose face. In the immortal words of Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam", who sadly passed away today, "This will not look good on my resume."
Former NMP Siew Kum Hong nailed it when he observed of the nine fresh faces selected: "they do seem safe." Notable newcomer is President of the Society for the Physically Disabled Chia Yong Yong, a dedicated professional and wheelchair bound for more than 20 years due to muscular atrophy. What they were looking for ideally is someone blind, deaf and dumb - in line with Yaacob's dictates of see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. Chia is too nice a person to do it, but someone else may just still reach out from his wheelchair to deliver a few tight slaps if and when they pull another Population White Paper stunt.
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No, they are not looking for people who are blind, deaf and dumb. They already have someone who is better than that and a full time MP to boot - the zombiefied old fart.
ReplyDeleteWhat they want are people who can really tackle ceiling cleaning and other non issues to embarrass the few non whites from Aljunied for them.
Saycheese
Why I am not surprised. The PAP practices elitism and the list contains only elites. If you are not one of them, you will not be selected. They should scrap the NMP wayang scheme and let the people decide who gets into the parliament. Alternately, the people should scrap the PAP so that their wishes are heard and not stonewalled.
ReplyDelete"If you are not one of them, you will not be selected."
DeleteSo true. The nation's highest honor was just bestowed upon...... A BILLIONAIRE!
First they amended Parliament to allow GRC. Maybe the old fart foresee he may not be fit enough to attend MPS but fit enough to collect the pay. Is that probably why they need GRCs, nothing exactly to do with minorities ?
ReplyDeleteIf it had anything to do with minorities, they better now start electing a Pinoy MP or NMP, tio bo ? In addition to the PRC bus drivers strike & Indian riots, if we later have a Pinoy riot, how ?
Thanks goodness none who do selfie a lot... Baey tahan if there's more
ReplyDeleteThen you should ask Baey to go to the cliff and take all the selfies he craves......
Deletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/08/11/polish-couple-fall-off-cliff-and-die-while-taking-selfies/
Just scrap the NMP lah, it's a waste of taxpayers' money. Eugene Tan loses his credit when he talked against the Population White Paper but in the end abstained from voting the PWP. Those selected NMP can't do or change gov't policy for the electorate lah.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. What the NMPs are supposed to do are typically done in the US by NGOs, think tanks and lobbyists. Parliament should be reserved for those elected by the people, GRC or no GRC.
DeleteAnd Tan Cheng Bok is now disinvited to the NDP. Join the dots and see the hand behind all these. Can the real Hsien Loong please stand up?
ReplyDeleteTan Cheng Bok can return the favour to Hsien Loong by winning the next Presidential election and even decide the climax for Hsien Loong when the PAP becomes the minority.
DeleteWhat has TCB done for us? He is no different from those NMPs. His only contribution in parliament is free parking. He has been accessory to the familee by not playing his part as an MP. I will never vote for such a person to be our president.
DeleteThe NMP Scheme should be abolished, it is a scheme to hoodwinked Sinkies into believing that that are voices for the People.
ReplyDeleteThat there are alternative ideas from NMPs which the Elected MPs are not capable of itself is a farce.
Sinkies got to be blamed for constantly appreciating the roses on top of the thorns. They refuse to see the flowers and thorns are from the Same Plant and symbiotic to each other.
Till today, there are many paying tributes and even rever some of the folks that were or are members in the Pack. Most of them played major roles in policy making when they were and are rulers.
Occassional displays of care and piecemeal goodies work wonders to get votes for the PAP. See how the Beautiful Lily Neo gets accolades, but who is she working for? Late President Ong Teng Cheong was formulating policies for how many years and even rose to be DPM and President. Was he working for the People all those years that he was holding top positions. True that he did try to do some good when things went awry, however, he was in the policy making before that for decades!!
Was there a possibility that he was awaken by conscience or seen something that touched his heart, struck his sensibility? And he saw the need to do repair?
The 5 decades of PAP Rule are given by the People to the Rulers, if between the Two; one is to be blamed for the ugly situation today, the Sinkies are more responsible for it than the PAP.
speaker who cannot count, majority leader who didn't bother to count his tribe of monkeys, and MPs who take their (full time) job so seriously they declined to attend the rare sessions in parliament. Democracy pap style - why not? since it can be justified.
ReplyDeleteApart from what you point out, these lapses expose the lack of organisation ability of the Speaker. She has with her at every sitting the Clerk or Assistant Clerks who are very well qualified persons, even lawyers, assisting her. All she needed to do is to instruct them to do the counting before any Bill is out to the vote. You can see that done at company general meetings,etc. Do they not do that at NTUC union meetings?
DeleteMeetings such as these are meant to size people up and identify who to trip and take the rap.
DeleteIts just an event for political games for scholars to practice shooting skills.
Make sure the infra red beam is not on you....
The Pope appoints the cardinals who elects the pope.
ReplyDeleteTje Chinese Saying 人之将死, 其言(行)也善.
ReplyDeleteTo a large extend, this Chinese Saying that the Dying tends to do good in words and deed, is empirical. There is invarialy a reflection of ones' deed when dying and remorse and repentance set in. It is usually too late to repair damage done, but at least truth and sincerity prevail. Many dying are territory fearful of going to hell.
It is normal for humans to want to do good, however greed and lust are temptations few can resist. It is whence one lost the capacity to consume that one realizes that all those hoarding and accumulation of material affluence serves one very little purpose. Death is very useful in waking up conscience.
Without death, the Evil of man will not cease. Of course there are villians who will never repent and get great satisfaction doing sin. End of the Day, DEATH SHALL LEVEL EVERYONE.
patriot
Apology for typo mistake.
Delete'territory' should read as terribly.
patriot
The NMPs are toothless. It is an artifice invented by the PAP to give an appearance that there is true democracy even if Parliament is dominated by the PAP, and that there are enough checks and balances so that there is no need to vote more opposition. Once we vote more opposition, the NMP will be history. Remember, they also invented the GRC. This will also become history when more GRCs fall to the opposition.
ReplyDeleteAnon.1.27a.m. That was LKY justifying the PAP's cadre system. It is a false statement because the Pope is elected for life and needs no re-election. It is surprising that the Catholic Church did not correct him not only for its falsity but the aspersion it casts.
ReplyDeleteSo is the PM elected for life, unless he voluntarily gives up the seat after warming it......
ReplyDelete"...Anonymous8/13/2014 9:30 AM
ReplyDeleteAnon.1.27a.m. That was LKY justifying the PAP's cadre system. It is a false statement because the Pope is elected for life and needs no re-election. It is surprising that the Catholic Church did not correct him not only for its falsity but the aspersion it casts.
Thank you for making that clear. Its one example of why LKY refers to people here as 'Daft'.. we do not research and analyse enough.. we even refer to HIS statements as Gospel.
We all know it's a farce. NMPs are not elected by the people and it would be undemocratic for them to vote in parliament. NMP was introduced to bring "interesting" debates in parliament as PAP knows that its dominance has made parliament sessions rather boring. But to have majority of the committee to choose NMPs being associated to PAP, what else can we conclude about the NMPs and PAP wanting to bring more interesting debates into parliament? More conversations about hairdo? The rot has to stop.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, Eugene Tan. It's better to be from the ouside pissing in, than from the inside pissing out.
DeleteThat is how meritocracy is justified in Singapore. One appoints those with merit to important positions so they appoint you and your family to important positions.
ReplyDeleteNice post,, i'm very enjoyed to visit this site :D
ReplyDeleteShould have 50 NMPs so that after next election, PAP 50 seats, Opposition 30 seats, then votes are 100 vs 30 so can still amend constitution.
ReplyDeletea bathing ape
ReplyDeletesupreme
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