Jamus Lim Explains Parliamentary Speech Selection with ‘Tikam-Tikam’ Analogy

Singapore — Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC) gave people a sneak peek into how Parliament works in a Thursday (Oct 28) Facebook post where he explained how his motion was chosen for an upcoming session.

The MP, an associate professor of economics at ESSEC Business School, has raised the issue of taxes in Parliament in the past, specifically bringing up an environmental tax with regard to Singapore Airlines in October of last year.

Then Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung flatly replied to Assoc Prof Lim, “This is really not the time now to talk about an environmental tax on SIA.”

And this time, the Sengkang MP will be delivering an Adjournment Motion “about how taxes can be designed for a dynamic and fair economy,” he wrote in his post.

He added a screenshot of a memo for the Notice of the Parliamentary Sitting on Monday (Nov 1), which shows that his speech is entitled “Taxation for a Dynamic and Fair 21st Century Economy.”

Assoc Prof Lim then went on to describe how his motion had been chosen.

“Such motions basically offer an opportunity for any member to speak on a topic of their choosing, for up to 20 minutes, at the end of the day’s proceedings,” he wrote.

In cases where more than one member wants to make a speech, a choice is made among them.

“The Speaker Tan Chuan Jin will crumple strips of paper with the various proposed motions, put them into a box, and select one randomly (in my case, there were 2 others), a process that reminds me of the tikam-tikam I used to play as a child,” he added.

In the Jamus Lim style of expressions that Singaporeans have come to know and love since last year’s General Election, he proceeded to expound on the process further.

“While this may sound rustic, it is actually truly random; computers, for all their sophistication, are algorithm-followers and generally only generate pseudo-random numbers (there are ways to get closer to random numbers by utilizing computer clocks and execution times, but such numbers will only be truly random with some degree of external human input).

All that as a long, discursive preamble to say that I did indeed win the ballot, and so I will be speaking about how taxes can be designed for a dynamic and fair economy.”

The MP received many encouraging comments on his post.

/TISG

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Jamus Lim posts photo of PAP MP Don Wee’s question on environmental taxes after receiving pushback on the issue

Jamus Lim posts photo of PAP MP Don Wee’s question on environmental taxes after receiving pushback on the issue