Workers’ Party MP Leon Perera asked at a Parliamentary session on Oct 3 about the People’s Association (PA) activities, as well as the benefits accrued by PA Grassroots Leaders (GRLs).
One question the Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament asked, in particular, was concerning how many GRLs have benefited from the Ministry of National Development’s Grassroots Organisation Scheme in the last five years, which grants priority balloting to PA GRLs in applying for HDB BTO flats and Executive Condominiums (EC).
GRLs who have served continuously in the constituencies where they live are eligible for the benefit.
He also asked for the total number of HDB BTO flats and ECs launched in the last five years which GRLs have been eligible to apply for.
Mr Perera was given an answer by the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association (PA), Mr Edwin Tong, who said that an average of 42 grassroots leaders have gotten their flats through this scheme each year in the past five years.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Oct 18), Mr Perera noted that 210 GRLs obtained housing under the scheme from among the 87,000 BTO flats and ECs launched in the past five years, which means that .24 per cent of all BTOs/ECs had been taken up by GRLs who made use of the benefit.
He also listed the other benefits that GRLs receive, such as “P1 registration for their children under Phase 2B in schools within the consistency they reside in” and “a special parking label to part at designated car parks up to 11 pm in the consistency they serve,” based on an answer given by Minister Chan Chun Sing, who was then Deputy Chairman of the PA, to former Hougang MP Png Eng Huat, who had sought a full disclosure regarding the benefits that are given to grassroots leaders and advisers.
Mr Chan said then that GRLs “are volunteers who serve the community actively. They help bond residents who weave our social fabric; gather feedback for government to improve our policies and services, and they help close the last mile in our policy communications and delivery.”
“Interestingly, while the Minister said that about 0.1 per cent of all GRLs obtain flats through this scheme (a similar percentage to when Hougang MP Png Eng Huat asked for data in 2016), another way of contextualising the data is that about 0.24% of all BTOs/ECs launched in recent years were taken up by GRLs under the scheme,” added Mr Perera. /TISG