What a crock of BS!
When my friend needed help, the MP's administrator fielded her
subject matter for meeting the MP and told her she need not see the
MP!
What hell kind of MP & Constituent relationship do you people
call this?
What a load of crap!
From the New Paper
============================================
ALL it takes is an election; the rest is up to you.
The line, borrowed and tweaked from a matchmaking slogan, could
well describe the relationship between MP and constituent
here.
As two separate strawpolls by The New Paper and The Straits Times
found (see report on right), more than half of all respondents
couldn't name their MPs correctly.
--File Picture
It would seem the only people who know their MPs are those in
trouble and need help.
For the majority, no worry, no whining, no knowing. Call them
Trouble-free Residents.
Should you bother to know your MP? Or should the MP reach out to
you?
Put it another way: Is this a sorry state of affairs or really no
big deal?
'It does raise the question: To what extent is the MP a grassroots
person?' said Dr Suzaina Kadir, a political scientist at the Lee
Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
'If you don't know who's in charge of your area and there's no
overall connection between you and the person who represents you,
that's not a good sign.'
What this means, as The New Paper's straw poll found, is that most
of us won't recognise our MP even if he or she walks past us at the
kopitiam.
Here are three sample responses.
Mr Foo Fang Wei, 21, a Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC resident: 'I live in a
private estate, so my MP's visibility is much lower.'
Ms Suriana Abdullah, 32, a customer service officer from Sembawang
GRC: 'I don't really bother because so far it's been a
walkover.'
Mr Leslie Tan, 30, who lives near the boundary of Marine Parade and
Aljunied GRCs: 'I am not sure about my MP or my constituency
because they keep redrawing the lines.'
Spoken like typical Trouble-free Residents.
But so what, others ask.
Call them apathetic if you want, but surprise, surprise, they could
just be a contented lot who would rather solve their problems their
way.
Translation: I don't know my MP and I don't care who he is because
I don't need to know or care.
After all, explained sociologist Tan Ern Ser, aren't we just a tiny
red dot?
'Singapore's so small, there are no problems with regional
differences,' he stressed.
'In the US, within the different states, the south is very
different from the north. So you're more conscious of who your
Senator or Congressman is.
'Here, we don't have that kind of fine distinction.'
NO CAUSE FOR WORRY
So don't lose sleep over it.
In any case, Dr Tan believes Singaporeans, consciously or not, tend
to vote for a party rather than a candidate.
In other words, you'll probably mark a cross next to the party's
logo without bothering whose face is next to it.
'Local policies - maybe you get another covered walkway in your
neighbourhood. But it's national policies (on jobs, finances,
housing, healthcare, education) that will have greater impact. And
for this, the party matters more than the individual MP.'
Good news then for Troubleshooting MPs? Many, after all, hold other
full-time jobs and they don't even live in their wards to begin
with.
But here a reality check is in order.
Take it from the horse's mouth: The man often hailed as a classic
'grassroots MP', Mr Ang Mong Seng.
The dialect-speaking son of a farmer has contested successfully in
both a single seat (Bukit Gombak in 1997) and a GRC (Hong Kah in
2001).
'I don't agree that voters only look at the party,' he told The New
Paper.
'Even in GRCs, they have their own report card for every MP. They
will ask: What have you done for me in the past five years?'
Mr Ang's advice to political newbies: 'Don't just come down during
MPS (Meet-the-People Sessions). Organise more events, make it a
point to go and chat with residents, visit them in the markets and
coffee shops - especially in uncontested wards.'
Already, he explained, fresh faces in walkover GRCs have the odds
stacked against them - compared with say, long-time MPs of
always-contested single seats such as Ayer Rajah's Dr Tan Cheng
Bock and Potong Pasir's Chiam See Tong.
Also, unlike Cabinet Ministers who are featured frequently in the
mass media, there are many more backbenchers, which means it's more
difficult to remember faces and names.
Blame it on human nature.
So the consensus is, while it's easy to understand, even forgive,
the apparent bochap attitude of Trouble-free Residents, it may be
harder for Troubleshooting MPs to just coast along and yet steer
clear of, well, trouble.
Now, with the election buzz hitting you in the face everywhere you
go these days, both sides are bound to meet head-on sooner or
later.
But will the pleasantries last beyond polling day?
- Additional reporting
by Ong Rui Lin
