Singapore — Former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng weighed in on the issue of who should be giving out awards in areas held by opposition MPs.
Mr Cheng wrote in a Jan 30 Facebook post that Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC) had “once again re-ignited the issue of Opposition MPs presenting Edusave and other awards through the People’s Association.”
Prof Lim said written in a Jan 28 Facebook post that parents have reached out to him regarding the Edusave awards, grants typically given to students in the top 10 per cent of a school’s cohort.
He expressed his willingness to write a signed letter of encouragement to Sengkang residents because opposition MPs don’t have the opportunity to hand out Edusave awards to exemplary students.
Mr Cheng explained why non-PAP MPs don’t give out such awards.
Singaporeans, he claimed, are “politically naive” and “do not understand that Opposition MPs are not members of the Government. The Government is formed by the ruling party – the PAP.
The Government has been elected to decide how tax payers money is used. What programmes and policies to implement.
If you think they have done that job badly, vote them out.”
When the time comes to give out awards, the administration sends a representative to do the honours. But problems have arisen at times concerning the person chosen.
“In PAP constituencies, this representative is obviously the PAP MP there.
Now, who should be the representative of the Government in Opposition Wards?
Obviously, this cannot be the Opposition MP, in this case A/P Jamus Lim. He doesn’t represent the Government. In fact, he was elected in opposition to them.”
And while it’s the government’s prerogative to choose its representative, Mr Cheng does not believe it should be the PAP candidate who lost in a particular ward.
“It is true that the Government (now the PAP) can send who they like to represent them.
But should it be the losing candidate? These grassroots advisers?
I think this is stupid.
It leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths.”
It would be better to have a civil servant come and present the award, and for an Edusave award, Mr Cheng suggested one from the Ministry of Education.
“Anyone but the losing candidate,” he added.
“People already find it hard enough to understand why opposition MPs cannot and should not be presenting Government awards.
It is even worse when the Government sends the chap that lost the election to represent them.
Optics matter.”
Mr Victor Lye, the People’s Action Party’s candidate who lost at Aljunied, has given out Edusave awards in WP stronghold Aljunied GRC.
Last year, at Senkang West, while there was no Edusave award ceremony due to the pandemic, former MP Lam Pin Min announced that recipients had been told “to collect their certificates from their respective RC centres and condo function rooms.”
“Glad to have also met many Sengkang West students and their families during the collection. Congratulations 🥳 to all the recipients once again and keep up the good work!,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Mr Lam had been bested by Prof Lim and the rest of the WP slate at Sengkang GRC in the 2020 GE.
Mr Lam’s post was then shared on popular Facebook group called ‘United Singaporean’, where a netizen questioned: “shldnt the MP of that GRC be given the priority to attend? Why ordinary citizen can be present at this ceremony?”
Shortly afterward, in a Facebook post on Feb 15, 2021, Prof Lim wrote that when a resident asked why he was not present at her daughter’s Edusave Award ceremony, he had to explain that “MPs from opposition wards are not simultaneously the grassroots advisers for their constituencies (who are the ones that actually give out these awards)”.
Prof Lim continued: “So I had to explain that my absence was not for lack of interest or desire”. /TISG