‘Maybe they should be called Penghulus’: Calvin Cheng changes mind on Singapore’s Mayors after meeting Denise Phua
SINGAPORE: The former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng wrote in a social media post that he recently spent time with Denise Phua, MP for Jalan Besar and Mayor of Central Singapore District since 2014.
Mr Cheng wrote in a Sept 17 (Thursday) Facebook post that Ms Phua had invited him to the Central Community Development Council (CDC) to have a better understanding of Mayors and CDCs.
On Sept 10, he had written in another post that he was not convinced about the role of Mayors, but the meeting with Ms Phua appears to have changed his mind.
Singapore has five mayors representing different districts: Central, North East, North West, South East, and South West, and mayors chair CDCs.
Some have argued against the role of Mayors in Singapore. For example, in Parliament last week, de facto Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh (Workers’ Party-Aljunied) reiterated that the job scope of mayors in Singapore remains unclear to many Singaporeans.
Others have said that MPs and Town Councils already meet the needs of residents, and that government agencies manage several of the functions of CDCs.
Mr Cheng wrote, “The problem is not that Mayors and CDCs don’t do anything. In fact, they do a lot.”
He explained that Mayors act as regional directors who create specific programmes for their districts.
As for the argument of Singapore’s being so small as to make this unnecessary, Mr Cheng wrote that the smaller the MP-to-constituent ratio is advantageous, as long as the city-state can afford it.
He also said that for on-the-ground initiatives that need several ministries to be involved, it would be difficult for one MP to do the needed coordination. In the case of extending aid via vouchers, he wrote that it was the CDCs that coordinated with the different ministries for the budget, logistics, and data, as well as with participating merchants, to get the initiative working.
“That’s how we got our CDC vouchers in the first place! The government couldn’t do this as it needs on-the-ground grassroots coordination. And a single MP couldn’t do this by himself. But a regional boss can,” he added.
What Mr Cheng appeared to take exception to, however, is the name of “Mayor,” since Singapore’s Mayors don’t govern municipalities.
He then suggested the Malay term Penghulu, a position that allowed someone to “administer a mukim (a district comprising several villages) and exercise authority over multiple ketua kampung,” which to him appears to be what Singapore’s mayors do.
“Denise Phua, Central District Penghulu. I like that. (Please share so people know why we need Penghulus!),” he wrote.
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What Singaporeans are saying
So far, the reactions to Mr Cheng’s post have been mixed, with some appearing to be unconvinced as to whether Mayors in Singapore are needed at all.
One wrote, “Then just employ a director! Park under PA! That way, the mayor who is also an MP will not be overloaded and will look after his/her constituency better. A director also doesn’t cost $800000 a year!”
“So do we need five Mayors, at a senior political pay grade, or could the same work be done by properly resourced FULL TIME MPs and professional CDC/District staff?” added another.
“Appreciate the explanation, but I still don't really understand the necessity for the mayors to implement CDC vouchers. Why can't they be implemented by, say, MND, similar to the Climate Vouchers implemented by NEA or Culture Pass by MCCY?” Commented a third. /TISG