Singapore — In the midst of criticism of the balloting process of an adjournment motion filed by Workers’ Party (WP) Chairman Sylvia Lim last week, WP politician Yee Jenn Jong has recounted how he took great pains to file an adjournment motion at the last possible moment to avoid having to go through the ballot process back when he was a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP).

Mr Yee recalled on Facebook last Thursday (Oct 1) that he was the first to file an adjournment motion in the 12th Parliament of Singapore and that his motion was filed 11 months after that term commenced:

“When I was in the 12th parliament (2011-2015), I was the first to for that term. It was for 10 Sep 2012, 11 months after parliament had convened. Yup, not a single MP use this mechanism for 11 months.”

The opposition politician described the lengths he went to in a bid to avoid competition. Mr Yee filed his adjournment motion minutes before the cut-off time on the last day of the deadline to file such motions. He said that he was afraid that others might file adjournment motions to compete with him if he made his submission to early:

“For the adjournment motion I had filed, I went to Parliament House and waited at the library until 4.25 pm to email the Clerk of Parliament of my intention to file. Then I went to the Clerk’s office just below the library to hand in my printed request. 430 pm is the cut-off time for filing and it must be filed I think 3 working days before the sitting.

“I filed on the final day allowed for filing, a few minutes before cut off. I did so because I did not want to risk having to go for a ballot if I submitted my request too early and others start filing.

“This was because I was due to fly off on 10 Sep 2012 as a representative of Singapore’s parliament for an Asean parliamentarian gathering. I requested to delay my flight by a day. I did not want to risk my adjournment motion not be selected if there was to be a ballot. I had to travel and skip the sitting on 11 Sep.”

Only two days before Mr Yee’s post, Ms Lim lost a random ballot to pick an adjournment motion for Parliament this week. She had filed an adjournment motion on Sept 14 on the issues surrounding the court case involving former maid Parti Liyani.

On Sept 29, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin announced that Ms Lim had lost the ballot of the adjournment motions filed for House. A motion filed by People’s Action Party (PAP) MP Louis Ng, calling for protection against secondhand smoke in homes, won the ballot.

The result of the ballot sparked criticism of the way a motion is selected. Mr Tan responded with multiple rebuttals of the criticism. Mr Ng, when urged by the critics to withdraw his motion and give way to Ms Lim, said he would also speak on the Parti Liyani case in Parliament.

Referring to the recent ballot, Mr Yee commented that he does not remember ever having five motions up for ballot. He wrote on Facebook: “Perhaps there were a rare few times with more than one wanting to use the adjournment motion mechanism, but I do not recall ever having 5 at one time. Could be a new record.”

Mr Yee also set out why adjournment motions can be useful for MPs to call attention to issues since they have 20 minutes to speak without a prolonged debate afterwards.

On the back of comments by Mr Tan that MPs have an array of avenues to raise issues, Mr Yee pointed out that there is a time limit when MPs want to highlight issues through parliamentary questions (PQs). Revealing that the Speaker would interrupt him and ask  him to hurry up when he tried to make a case when posing PQs to ministers, Mr Yee said:

“In any case, I am sure the Minister’s statement on this hot topic will be well debated upon. There is a limitation though when asking a Minister questions, on how long you can have to present your case. Technically, it should not be to make a speech in response to a Minister’s statement but to ask questions for clarifications.

“I had tried before to make a case or make a proposal when asking questions and the Speaker would interrupt and tell me to get to my question quickly. So a proper speech such as through an adjournment motion or a motion is better to lay out the points.”

Read his post in full here:

WP clarifies that Sylvia Lim has not abandoned her “Justice for All” parliamentary motion

Are Tan Chuan-Jin and Lim Wee Kiak claiming that mainstream media is biased towards WP?

Tan Chuan-Jin gets defensive in response to backlash for not picking Sylvia Lim’s adjournment motion

Louis Ng says he will also touch on Parti Liyani case in the face of calls for him to give way to Sylvia Lim

No motion on Parti Liyani in the next Parliament sitting

Singapore — Opposition Workers’ Party MP Louis Chua has asked the Government to give the people an idea of what to expect when the country enters Phase 3 of its phased reopening instead of keeping them largely unaware of what adjustments they should make after Phase 2.

Phase 3 is expected to be the “new normal” until a vaccine or treatment is found for Covid-19.

Mr Chua, a member of the WP team elected to Sengkang GRC in this year’s elections, asked Health Minister Gan Kim Yong in Parliament on Monday (Oct 5) where the country stands in the Government’s risk assessment in determining when to move into Phase 3.

Echoing comments Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat made in a Ministerial Statement the same day, Mr Gan responded that the Multi-ministry Task Force is still working on a roadmap towards Phase 3 and that more details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Through supplementary questions, Mr Chua highlighted the importance of giving additional parameters and guidance to businesses and individuals on what they can expect in that phase. He said in a subsequent Facebook post: “This is to help us make plans in advance, rather than taking a passive wait-and-see approach with low visibility into the future.”

Mr Chua also asked whether an improved risk assessment guide can be provided since the country has been at the DORSCON Orange level since February and expects to remain in it for some more time, even though the number of daily Covid-19 cases have dropped off since hitting a peak of 1,426 cases in April.

He said on Facebook: “Further, I’ve also highlighted that we have been in DORSCON Orange since 7 February earlier this year.

“The Circuit Breaker period, the peak in daily Covid-19 cases at 1,426 on 20 April and the upcoming Phase Three re-opening are all part of DORSCON Orange…with Minister Gan stressing that we will maintain DORSCON Orange for the time being, could a more useful and timely risk assessment guide be provided to residents instead?”

Social media influencer Xiaxue’s complaints about the way the Workers’ Party (WP) runs the Aljunied GRC estate she lives in has drawn mixed reactions online, with netizens questioning her motives for publicising the issues on social media.

On Tuesday (6 Oct), Xiaxue – whose real name is Wendy Cheng – claimed that the Workers’ Party (WP) compared Aljunied GRC unfavourably to wards held by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and claimed that her housing area is in a “destitute state”, in her Instagram stories.

The vlogger, who is a self-described People’s Action Party (PAP) supporter, has criticised the WP in the past but claimed that her complaints have nothing to do with her political views.

She added that she did not want to raise this matter online but decided to do so when her MP, WP chairman Sylvia Lim, did not respond to repeated complaints about the poor condition her Housing Development Board (HDB) block is in.

In her stories, Xiaxue shared photos of a damaged void deck ceiling after a chunk of the concrete dislodged and fell onto the ground. She also shared that exposed wires were secured with cable ties and that the concrete floor of the corridor outside her unit is also damaged.

The vlogger took issue with the cracks on certain parts of the HDB facade and the fact that these cracks are painted over in a colour that does not match the rest of the building, as well. She also complained about peeling paint and claimed that she has spotted rats in the vicinity, aside from expressing concerns about a pipe that appears to be leaking some kind of dark green substance.

On Wednesday (7 Oct), Xiaxue revealed that the issues she flagged at her block were rectified that same afternoon. Both the damage to the concrete outside the unit and the hole in the void deck ceiling were patched up. Posting photos of the repairs, the influencer wrote in her stories:

“Today workers came to fix the broke concrete outside my unit. So I guess they can be efficient if they want to…Wasn’t so hard was it? Why take so long to do zzz…Finally. Very fast suddenly after complaining it’s a miracle lol…Today the WP people must have been like “f!@#ing suay why she must stay at our estate” lol”

Netizens responding to the influencers stories were largely divided. Some understood her point of view and said that Ms Lim or a representative of the town council should have responded to her initial complaints. Others felt that the disparity in funding the WP receives to manage its town council, compared to the funding PAP wards receive is to blame, for the disrepair.

Some felt that her block could just be old and said that these issues are seen in other older estates run by the ruling party, with at least one netizen asserting that he is also a constituent of Ms Lim but has not encountered the issues Xiaxue described. Still others put little stock in Xiaxue’s claims and felt that this was just another publicity stunt: