Keeping to his habit of making parliamentary processes transparent to laymen, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin shed more light on how Parliamentary Questions (PQs) are cleared in a recent Facebook post.
The 14th Parliament of Singapore opened this Monday (24 Aug) and Mr Tan already has “tons” of PQs to clear. Sharing a photo of a computer screen showing the Parliament Integrated Papers System, Mr Tan described the process through which PQs are cleared before parliamentary sittings.
PQs that are filed by the MPs will be first checked by Mr Tan’s colleagues in Parliament who will ensure that the questions are in good order, before submitting the questions to Mr Tan for clearance. Mr Tan will clear each question, group the questions thematically and assign the questions to the respective ministries who are expected to respond during the 90-minute Question Time segment that marks the beginning of each parliamentary sitting.
In a Facebook post published this afternoon (26 Aug), Mr Tan assured: “EVERY question would be answered. Those that are not orally answered during the PQ session can be either rolled over to the following session or converted to written answers. The MP asking the question can decide which route to take.”
Pointing out that all parliamentary proceedings are available to the public, Mr Tan wrote: “All answers are available to the public in the form of the footage compiled at the end of the day, unedited, on CNA, and in the Hansard, which the MP will also ‘vet’ before publishing. The sittings are also open to the public who can then verify if what is repeated is accurate or not. Everything is available to the public.”
He added: “From time to time, some politicians and public will hint that questions are being avoided or there isn’t any transparency. It is not structurally possible to mask anything up ??”
https://www.facebook.com/TanChuanJin1/photos/a.257251717650944/3348141315228620/?type=3&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBvu76Mi3k1j8qkc9lXgHQcc5nkkxWsYKeqvcQ_MWkQUWgXYZzHi0Dqbhc5hmqRANp4NO-MD29V_7o38gKCSrtQvZKMQDdvN2ln_OK2TcveBxuzr_N4_GFCvl59rQNea78wvzrAd7-Sz0xM_oPc8nMvZOsSjllHrE-VSz6EiwYc0kamYWF-2EOFN6ooGJeW_0XmVUG7HnU_csfKXMdhZn-C6kpDdQVH-_d3J3Rw_kSx1ZWChtrPpUHD9tSflLAj3GvETNdUysivErN5Hgm95f7LWfbOeHpOBESNsdd5ZcLiI57_2O7VS4UycBUFcD9OWJqbrqmFVidokMT1Kp5ghd8zRw&__tn__=-R
Although Mr Tan is a prominent member of the ruling party, he has won praise for acting fairly towards the opposition since he became Speaker in 2017. Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh even praised Mr Tan’s work in his maiden parliamentary speech as Leader of the Opposition (LO), this week.
Mr Pritam said: “Since your election as Speaker in 2017, you have given WP MPs appropriate time to engage the Government of the day on the issues that matter. We trust that you will continue in the same vein.”
Appreciating Mr Tan’s efforts as Speaker, the LO said: “In your few short years in office, you have sought to increase public awareness of Parliament and its work through new methods of communication, such as engaging younger Singaporeans through social media. In doing so, you have encouraged Singaporeans to take an active interest in Parliament as an Organ of State that is fundamental to our democracy.
“Mr Speaker, you have done so in step with the changing norms of society and without losing sight of the formality and serious purpose of Parliament as a central pillar in our system of Government.”
https://www.facebook.com/workersparty/videos/732550303973762/