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[h=2]Hri Kumar defends his actions over dialogue invitation[/h]
June 13th, 2014 |
Author: Editorial
MP Hri Kumar is organizing a public dialogue on CPF titled
“CPF – An Honest Conversation” tomorrow (14 Jun). The dialogue will be held at
Thomson CC.
It was later revealed through email correspondence between MP Hri Kumar and
blogger Roy Ngerng, MP Hri Kumar does not welcome Roy to attend his public
dialogue. MP Hri Kumar told Roy that the dialogue is only meant for his
residents (‘Hri
Kumar to Roy: CPF dialogue only for my residents‘).
Roy then pointed to a screenshot of a conversation on the Facebook event page
of the dialogue. The screenshot was captured by another blogger Ariffin Sha (‘MP
Hri Kumar deletes Roy and Kenneth from his CPF event‘). Ariffin highlighted
that MP Hri Kumar had welcomed a netizen, Mr Malek, from Tanjong Pagar GRC to
join his dialogue event, even though Mr Malek is not his resident.
In fact, MP Hri Kumar even proudly proclaimed in another Facebook post that
the response to his dialogue event has been good with even Singaporeans from
outside his constituency signing up.
MP Hri Kumar finally replied to Roy but gave a rather confusing answer. He
told Roy, “That response was to that individual resident who asked.”
Today (13 Jun), MP Hri Kumar posted on his Facebook page [Link] a post to defend his
actions.
He said, “I returned from a short holiday with my family to see that my
humble dialogue on CPF with my residents has been denounced as a sham even
before it has taken place!”
He wrote down several points to “put some things right”:
1. I have no national constituency. My duty is to the residents in my
constituency. I organise dialogues with my residents as one of several ways to
gather feedback. These are usually on topical issues such as COE, the Budget
etc. I even submitted a paper on the COE to the Ministry of Transport on the
feedback received. Those who have attended these forums have said that they have
found the sessions interesting and useful.
2. The CPF dialogue is therefore nothing out of the ordinary. It was an
express invitation to my residents to attend and give their views on an
important and topical issue. Registration closed when we hit our maximum
number.
3. I received personal requests from a few non-residents to attend. However,
my direct response to a request from a non-resident, Mr Malek appears to have
been understood by some people as an “invitation to all Singaporeans”. This is
odd. Surely, the polite and proper thing to do is to ask whether you can attend
and only claim to be invited when you receive a positive response?
4. Some pointed out that my update where I said non-residents have signed up
is an invitation to all non-residents to sign up. Odd again. That update states
no more than the facts.
5. Some have alleged that I want to control the attendees so that the
dialogue will be a “wayang”. That is an insult to residents of Thomson – Toa
Payoh. They can think for themselves and have always been out-spoken and honest
in their views.
6. Opposition politicians who want a platform to share their ideas should
organise their own forums. If their ideas are really better, people will support
it. That’s how things work.
He added, “I know some people are itching for the opportunity to run me down.
That’s ok – that’s how they understand politics and they are welcome to take
their best shot. I will go on serving my residents to the best of my ability.
Ultimately, it is their opinion which matters.”
Still, MP Hri Kumar’s explanation did not address the issue why Mr Malek was
allowed to attend but not Roy. Roy is not an opposition politician – just a
concerned citizen like Mr Malek.
It seems that the more MP Hri Kumar tried to explain, the more confusing it
gets.
What do you think?
MP Hri Kumar is organizing a public dialogue on CPF titled
“CPF – An Honest Conversation” tomorrow (14 Jun). The dialogue will be held at
Thomson CC.
It was later revealed through email correspondence between MP Hri Kumar and
blogger Roy Ngerng, MP Hri Kumar does not welcome Roy to attend his public
dialogue. MP Hri Kumar told Roy that the dialogue is only meant for his
residents (‘Hri
Kumar to Roy: CPF dialogue only for my residents‘).
Roy then pointed to a screenshot of a conversation on the Facebook event page
of the dialogue. The screenshot was captured by another blogger Ariffin Sha (‘MP
Hri Kumar deletes Roy and Kenneth from his CPF event‘). Ariffin highlighted
that MP Hri Kumar had welcomed a netizen, Mr Malek, from Tanjong Pagar GRC to
join his dialogue event, even though Mr Malek is not his resident.
In fact, MP Hri Kumar even proudly proclaimed in another Facebook post that
the response to his dialogue event has been good with even Singaporeans from
outside his constituency signing up.
MP Hri Kumar finally replied to Roy but gave a rather confusing answer. He
told Roy, “That response was to that individual resident who asked.”
Today (13 Jun), MP Hri Kumar posted on his Facebook page [Link] a post to defend his
actions.
He said, “I returned from a short holiday with my family to see that my
humble dialogue on CPF with my residents has been denounced as a sham even
before it has taken place!”
He wrote down several points to “put some things right”:
1. I have no national constituency. My duty is to the residents in my
constituency. I organise dialogues with my residents as one of several ways to
gather feedback. These are usually on topical issues such as COE, the Budget
etc. I even submitted a paper on the COE to the Ministry of Transport on the
feedback received. Those who have attended these forums have said that they have
found the sessions interesting and useful.
2. The CPF dialogue is therefore nothing out of the ordinary. It was an
express invitation to my residents to attend and give their views on an
important and topical issue. Registration closed when we hit our maximum
number.
3. I received personal requests from a few non-residents to attend. However,
my direct response to a request from a non-resident, Mr Malek appears to have
been understood by some people as an “invitation to all Singaporeans”. This is
odd. Surely, the polite and proper thing to do is to ask whether you can attend
and only claim to be invited when you receive a positive response?
4. Some pointed out that my update where I said non-residents have signed up
is an invitation to all non-residents to sign up. Odd again. That update states
no more than the facts.
5. Some have alleged that I want to control the attendees so that the
dialogue will be a “wayang”. That is an insult to residents of Thomson – Toa
Payoh. They can think for themselves and have always been out-spoken and honest
in their views.
6. Opposition politicians who want a platform to share their ideas should
organise their own forums. If their ideas are really better, people will support
it. That’s how things work.
That’s ok – that’s how they understand politics and they are welcome to take
their best shot. I will go on serving my residents to the best of my ability.
Ultimately, it is their opinion which matters.”
Still, MP Hri Kumar’s explanation did not address the issue why Mr Malek was
allowed to attend but not Roy. Roy is not an opposition politician – just a
concerned citizen like Mr Malek.
It seems that the more MP Hri Kumar tried to explain, the more confusing it
gets.
What do you think?
