Acting Education Minister, Ng Chee Meng, seems to have drawn his inspiration from Saint Paul of Tarsus, a character in the Bible, to make his maiden Speech in Parliament.
In his Speech he said:
“Just as the different organs in the body have to work together for the body to be healthy, we too, must find a place for every Singaporean to be part of the nation’s progress.
Referring to the topic of ‘ensuring social mobility and strengthening social safety nets’, the Minister said, “after all, the well-being of our society, like the body is measured by the health of all our parts.”
In the Bible, Saint Paul in a letter written to the Church in Corinthians and he had this to say:
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many…If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”