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Ownself reward ownselfGuess who is the next recipient of the Order of Temasek...the highest award in Singapore ?
Singapore Govt, PAP and WP
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Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh questions S'pore's need for mayors, CDC - The Online Citizen Asia
Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh on Wednesday (24 Feb) questioned Singapore’s need for mayors and the role of the Community Development Councils (CDCs) run by them.
Speaking in Parliament today during the debate on the Emerging Stronger Together Budget, the Workers’ Party chief highlighted that many Singaporeans are of the view that the salaries of mayors are “outrageous”, given how they do not appear to “commensurate with the mayor’s roles and functions today”.
“Other Singaporeans are of the view that the CDCs’ functions can be carried out by other existing entities, or by ministries and statutory boards, including other organisations under the People’s Association,” he said.
This is particularly as “the social footprint of each CDC is uneven, and can differ greatly compared to another,” the Aljunied GRC MP told the House, adding that “others simply don’t know what the CDCs do”.
The need for full-time mayors continues to be called into question and thus “there is scope for a serious review” of such roles, said Mr Singh.
The issue of mayors’ roles was thrust into the spotlight after CNA in November last year documented a day in the life of South West District Mayor Low Yen Ling.
Speaking on a Mayor’s role, Ms Low said that it is similar to “leading a middle office where crucial goals and plans are set to meet the needs on the frontline, and also having to ensure all the back-end processes are in place too”.
Apart from being a Mayor, Ms Low is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Chua Chu Kang GRC.
She also holds the Minister of State position in two ministries, namely the Ministry for Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth.
Among the CDCs’ purpose are supporting national policies and engaging with residents, doing so in collaboration with government agencies, grassroots organisations, voluntary welfare organisations and partners from the public and private sectors.
There are five CDCs in total at present. Other than Ms Low’s South West CDC, the other four are:
North East CDC, run by Desmond Choo;
Central CDC, run by Denise Phua;
North West CDC, run by Alex Yam; and
South East CDC, run by Fahmi Aliman.
Ms Low chairs the Mayors’ Committee.
Netizens commenting on the CNA Facebook post on the article pointed out the redundant nature of the mayors’ role, seeing how similar their duties are to those of the roles of elected MPs.
They questioned the purpose of having five mayors in Singapore, considering that the MPs are already carrying out the activities and responsibilities mentioned in the article.
According to the 2012 White Paper on government salaries, mayors earn an annual salary of S$660,000, on top of their annual MP allowance of S$192,500, excluding bonuses.
Mr Singh noted that the Government allocated S$20 million to the CDCs in the Unity Budget last year, with the amount increased to S$75 million dollars a month later in the Resilience Budget.
“This injection is equal to all the reserves of the CDCs put together according to the CDC’s FY 2018 annual report,” he stressed.
Mr Singh said that bodies such as the Citizens Consultative Committees (CCC) are more closely connected to the ground.
He observed that representatives of market and merchants association are commonly represented on the CCCs and that CCCs are more targeted, as there are such committees for each ward or constituency.
“So it would appear to me as if the Government is trying to find some way to make the CDCs relevant, in view of their relative absence in the public mindshare,” said Mr Singh.
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Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh on Wednesday (24 Feb) questioned Singapore’s need for mayors and the role of the Community Development Councils (CDCs) run by them.
Speaking in Parliament today during the debate on the Emerging Stronger Together Budget, the Workers’ Party chief highlighted that many Singaporeans are of the view that the salaries of mayors are “outrageous”, given how they do not appear to “commensurate with the mayor’s roles and functions today”.
“Other Singaporeans are of the view that the CDCs’ functions can be carried out by other existing entities, or by ministries and statutory boards, including other organisations under the People’s Association,” he said.
This is particularly as “the social footprint of each CDC is uneven, and can differ greatly compared to another,” the Aljunied GRC MP told the House, adding that “others simply don’t know what the CDCs do”.
The need for full-time mayors continues to be called into question and thus “there is scope for a serious review” of such roles, said Mr Singh.
The issue of mayors’ roles was thrust into the spotlight after CNA in November last year documented a day in the life of South West District Mayor Low Yen Ling.
Speaking on a Mayor’s role, Ms Low said that it is similar to “leading a middle office where crucial goals and plans are set to meet the needs on the frontline, and also having to ensure all the back-end processes are in place too”.
Apart from being a Mayor, Ms Low is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Chua Chu Kang GRC.
She also holds the Minister of State position in two ministries, namely the Ministry for Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth.
Among the CDCs’ purpose are supporting national policies and engaging with residents, doing so in collaboration with government agencies, grassroots organisations, voluntary welfare organisations and partners from the public and private sectors.
There are five CDCs in total at present. Other than Ms Low’s South West CDC, the other four are:
North East CDC, run by Desmond Choo;
Central CDC, run by Denise Phua;
North West CDC, run by Alex Yam; and
South East CDC, run by Fahmi Aliman.
Ms Low chairs the Mayors’ Committee.
Netizens commenting on the CNA Facebook post on the article pointed out the redundant nature of the mayors’ role, seeing how similar their duties are to those of the roles of elected MPs.
They questioned the purpose of having five mayors in Singapore, considering that the MPs are already carrying out the activities and responsibilities mentioned in the article.
According to the 2012 White Paper on government salaries, mayors earn an annual salary of S$660,000, on top of their annual MP allowance of S$192,500, excluding bonuses.
Mr Singh noted that the Government allocated S$20 million to the CDCs in the Unity Budget last year, with the amount increased to S$75 million dollars a month later in the Resilience Budget.
“This injection is equal to all the reserves of the CDCs put together according to the CDC’s FY 2018 annual report,” he stressed.
Mr Singh said that bodies such as the Citizens Consultative Committees (CCC) are more closely connected to the ground.
He observed that representatives of market and merchants association are commonly represented on the CCCs and that CCCs are more targeted, as there are such committees for each ward or constituency.
“So it would appear to me as if the Government is trying to find some way to make the CDCs relevant, in view of their relative absence in the public mindshare,” said Mr Singh.
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True to the story line, crazy rich Familee paying all his cronies with obscene salaries.
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It’s like 'night and day': Workers' Party MP Gerald Giam on being an MP versus an NCMP
In the third of an occasional series of interviews with new MPs elected in the 2020 General Election, Gerald Giam talks about heading the Worker's Party's policy research team and the increase in the number of party volunteers.
MP Gerald Giam
Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam squats down beside a table in the coffee shop as he listens to a resident tell him about a ramp, or lack of one, somewhere in the estate.
Forty minutes later on a Saturday morning (Mar 13), he's still at the Hougang coffee shop discussing drain covers with another resident, and one takes him behind the coffee shop to show him a pavement he's not too pleased with.
Four Workers' Party (WP) volunteers trail the MP, taking down all the complaints and feedback.
That’s part of the constituency nitty-gritty the WP Member of Parliament and town council vice-chair now deals with on top of other parliamentary work, which he already had experience of as a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) from 2011 to 2015.
Managing the town council, responding to residents’ feedback and doing estate and house visits take up the bulk of his time, except when Parliament is in session, said Mr Giam, who oversees Bedok Reservoir-Punggol in Aljunied GRC - a division which was previously under former WP chief Low Thia Khiang.
Mr Giam had contested twice in East Coast GRC, and was an NCMP for one term after the 2011 General Election on the back of the WP team’s performance there. NCMPs are appointed from the losing opposition candidates with the best election results.
WATCH: GE2020: NCMP scheme comes under fire from opposition parties
“The adjustment is almost like night and day because when you are an elected MP, people expect you to solve their problems,” he said, when asked about the differences between being a constituency MP and an NCMP.
The move to Aljunied GRC was unexpected, said the IT consultant: “I was fully expecting to go back to either East Coast or Fengshan. In fact, (in) the years leading up to the GE, I'd been spending a lot of time in grassroots work in Fengshan, doing house visits and food distribution, I mean, we pretty much covered the whole ward.”
WP announced on Jun 25 that Mr Low and Mr Chen Show Mao would not contest in the 2020 General Election, and that Mr Giam and Mr Leon Perera would replace them on the slate of candidates for Aljunied.
READ: GE2020: Workers' Party to contest 4 GRCs, 2 SMCs; Low Thia Khiang, Chen Show Mao and Png Eng Huat to step down
There was much speculation then about whether the new team, missing WP stalwart Mr Low, would be able to hold on to the GRC, which the party had won in a massive upset in 2011 but only held on to by the thinnest of margins in 2015.
As it turned out, the refreshed team of WP chief Pritam Singh, party chair Sylvia Lim, Mr Faisal Manap, Mr Perera and Mr Giam won the ward with a wider margin than in 2015. The party also won Sengkang GRC, bumping up the ranks of their elected MPs in Parliament to 10, from six.
“MORE FREEDOM TO HEAR FEEDBACK”
When asked what challenges an opposition MP faces in Singapore, Mr Giam said he prefers not to dwell on the usual issues, such as the role of grassroots advisers who, in opposition wards, can include the losing People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates. In PAP-run wards, the elected MPs double as grassroots advisers.
MP Gerald Giam w residents (1)
Workers' Party MP Gerald Giam speaking to an elderly resident in his ward on Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
WP and PAP representatives have also sparred in public about the lack or delay of funds for upgrading works in opposition wards.
“I would rather try and dwell on what the opportunities are,” Mr Giam said. “To me, being an opposition MP allows me a bit more freedom to be able to hear the feedback from the ground, I think people are quite open (to) sharing with me what their real concerns with the government policies are.”
He adds: “If more people are willing to step forward to say what they really think is an area that can be improved, I think a lot of a lot more policies can be can be adjusted from there.”
MP Gerald Giam w residents
MP Gerald Giam meeting residents at a coffeeshop on Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
This is a topic Mr Giam circles back to time and again - critiquing and analysing government policy. It was what first drove him to join the WP, which he came into contact with during a stint as deputy editor of political news site The Online Citizen. It remains his passion, he said.
“POLICY WONK”
Mr Giam, a self-confessed “policy wonk” - someone who takes keen interest in the technicalities of government policy - is now the WP’s policy wonk in chief, having taken on the task of leading its policy research team.
While the research team has been in existence for a while, it was only this year that the WP gave official titles to the team head (Mr Giam) and deputy head (Sengkang MP Jamus Lim) in its Central Executive Committee (CEC). Mr Giam is also the party’s treasurer.
He said that subject matter experts in their fields have stepped forward to volunteer in the team after last year’s election. These include academics, professionals and former public servants, who may not necessarily be “political”, but do want to see Singapore improve, he said.
He does not keep track of the number of volunteers, but estimated that the number has “more than tripled” since July.
MP Gerald Giam distributing food
MP Gerald Giam distributing food to residents in his ward on Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
“One of my biggest challenges is harnessing all this ... to be able to put together cogent policies that we can table in Parliament,” he said.
“We have to make sure that everything that we table is in line with our party positions and party philosophies, and … it cannot just be focused on improving the lot of one small group of people, to the detriment of everybody else.”
Broadly, the team’s focus is on delivering the promises the WP set out in its manifesto, and responding to government policies that are introduced in Parliament, he said.
In the third of an occasional series of interviews with new MPs elected in the 2020 General Election, Gerald Giam talks about heading the Worker's Party's policy research team and the increase in the number of party volunteers.
MP Gerald Giam
Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
Bookmark
SINGAPORE: Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam squats down beside a table in the coffee shop as he listens to a resident tell him about a ramp, or lack of one, somewhere in the estate.
Forty minutes later on a Saturday morning (Mar 13), he's still at the Hougang coffee shop discussing drain covers with another resident, and one takes him behind the coffee shop to show him a pavement he's not too pleased with.
Four Workers' Party (WP) volunteers trail the MP, taking down all the complaints and feedback.
That’s part of the constituency nitty-gritty the WP Member of Parliament and town council vice-chair now deals with on top of other parliamentary work, which he already had experience of as a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) from 2011 to 2015.
Managing the town council, responding to residents’ feedback and doing estate and house visits take up the bulk of his time, except when Parliament is in session, said Mr Giam, who oversees Bedok Reservoir-Punggol in Aljunied GRC - a division which was previously under former WP chief Low Thia Khiang.
Mr Giam had contested twice in East Coast GRC, and was an NCMP for one term after the 2011 General Election on the back of the WP team’s performance there. NCMPs are appointed from the losing opposition candidates with the best election results.
WATCH: GE2020: NCMP scheme comes under fire from opposition parties
“The adjustment is almost like night and day because when you are an elected MP, people expect you to solve their problems,” he said, when asked about the differences between being a constituency MP and an NCMP.
The move to Aljunied GRC was unexpected, said the IT consultant: “I was fully expecting to go back to either East Coast or Fengshan. In fact, (in) the years leading up to the GE, I'd been spending a lot of time in grassroots work in Fengshan, doing house visits and food distribution, I mean, we pretty much covered the whole ward.”
WP announced on Jun 25 that Mr Low and Mr Chen Show Mao would not contest in the 2020 General Election, and that Mr Giam and Mr Leon Perera would replace them on the slate of candidates for Aljunied.
READ: GE2020: Workers' Party to contest 4 GRCs, 2 SMCs; Low Thia Khiang, Chen Show Mao and Png Eng Huat to step down
There was much speculation then about whether the new team, missing WP stalwart Mr Low, would be able to hold on to the GRC, which the party had won in a massive upset in 2011 but only held on to by the thinnest of margins in 2015.
As it turned out, the refreshed team of WP chief Pritam Singh, party chair Sylvia Lim, Mr Faisal Manap, Mr Perera and Mr Giam won the ward with a wider margin than in 2015. The party also won Sengkang GRC, bumping up the ranks of their elected MPs in Parliament to 10, from six.
“MORE FREEDOM TO HEAR FEEDBACK”
When asked what challenges an opposition MP faces in Singapore, Mr Giam said he prefers not to dwell on the usual issues, such as the role of grassroots advisers who, in opposition wards, can include the losing People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates. In PAP-run wards, the elected MPs double as grassroots advisers.
MP Gerald Giam w residents (1)
Workers' Party MP Gerald Giam speaking to an elderly resident in his ward on Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
WP and PAP representatives have also sparred in public about the lack or delay of funds for upgrading works in opposition wards.
“I would rather try and dwell on what the opportunities are,” Mr Giam said. “To me, being an opposition MP allows me a bit more freedom to be able to hear the feedback from the ground, I think people are quite open (to) sharing with me what their real concerns with the government policies are.”
He adds: “If more people are willing to step forward to say what they really think is an area that can be improved, I think a lot of a lot more policies can be can be adjusted from there.”
MP Gerald Giam w residents
MP Gerald Giam meeting residents at a coffeeshop on Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
This is a topic Mr Giam circles back to time and again - critiquing and analysing government policy. It was what first drove him to join the WP, which he came into contact with during a stint as deputy editor of political news site The Online Citizen. It remains his passion, he said.
“POLICY WONK”
Mr Giam, a self-confessed “policy wonk” - someone who takes keen interest in the technicalities of government policy - is now the WP’s policy wonk in chief, having taken on the task of leading its policy research team.
While the research team has been in existence for a while, it was only this year that the WP gave official titles to the team head (Mr Giam) and deputy head (Sengkang MP Jamus Lim) in its Central Executive Committee (CEC). Mr Giam is also the party’s treasurer.
He said that subject matter experts in their fields have stepped forward to volunteer in the team after last year’s election. These include academics, professionals and former public servants, who may not necessarily be “political”, but do want to see Singapore improve, he said.
He does not keep track of the number of volunteers, but estimated that the number has “more than tripled” since July.
MP Gerald Giam distributing food
MP Gerald Giam distributing food to residents in his ward on Mar 13, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
“One of my biggest challenges is harnessing all this ... to be able to put together cogent policies that we can table in Parliament,” he said.
“We have to make sure that everything that we table is in line with our party positions and party philosophies, and … it cannot just be focused on improving the lot of one small group of people, to the detriment of everybody else.”
Broadly, the team’s focus is on delivering the promises the WP set out in its manifesto, and responding to government policies that are introduced in Parliament, he said.
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