It is political, like it or not

Mr Steve Tan misses the point entirely with his criticism of Workers' Party MP Low Thia Kiang in his letter.

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"Politics is not only for old people"

Carlos Abdullah suggested a Singapore Youth Parliament to get youths more involved in the politics and policies that affect them.

So if politics is necessary and youth do not necessarily want to involve themselves with partisan politics, what alternative do we have? I propose that we convene the “Singapore Youth Parliament”.

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A simple majority is enough

Singapore needs a Government with a clear, strong majority, that can provide good governance in the long term interests of Singaporeans. 

That was taken from a speech by Singapore's Law Minister, K. Shanmugam, when he was speaking during the Second Reading of the bill to amend the Constitution to allow more NMPs and NCMPs into Parliament.

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Good news, bad news?

Among the changes proposed to the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA) is the removal of all references to "relevant persons" in the PEA. Minister for Law K Shanmugam explains this "means that the current blanket prohibition on individuals operating non-party political websites will be lifted". This change brings both good and (possibly) bad news to socio-political bloggers like yours truly.

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Are hollow arguments, noise?

The lack of quality arguments from PAP MPs, and NMPs alike leads me to think that we have bigger things to worry about than increasing the number of NMPs and NCMPs in Parliament, especially if the existing system allowed the likes of Zaqy Mohamad, Ho Geok Choo, and Calvin Cheng into Parliament.

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Sylvia Lim and her NCMP experience

Workers' party chair Sylvia Lim made an impressive and important speech in Parliament, during the debate for Constitutional changes to entrench the positions of Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) and Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs). The entire speech is worth reading, and her analysis of the GRCs and gerrymandering tactics of the PAP are spot on, and Singaporeans need to know and understand the political ramifications of these constant changes.

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The Bogeyman of the "West"

Former Youth PAP member and current Nominated MP Calvin Cheng made his debut on the floor of Parliament recently, delivering what the Straits Times deemed a "hard-hitting" speech, but really more of the same from the PAP playbook of "Asian Values" and espousing our unique culture over "apeing the West".

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Changes to Parliamentary representation and elections tabled

Updated on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 9:12PM by Callan Tham

No mention of specific language in the legislation, but most of these changes are nothing major, and some are downright unnecessary. The addition of a ban on campaigning on the eve of polling day for example is one such measure.

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Finally, something useful from Parliament

Let's give credit where credit is due, even though this measure is long overdue.

The amendments to the Women's Charter, to give the Family Court more teeth, include requiring defaulters to place funds in a bank to guarantee against future defaults and imposing community-based sentences.

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There's a time and place for everything

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe Parliamentary debate and proceedings should be conducted in a serious manner. These are hallowed chambers in which legislation affecting the entire country are discussed, formulated and passed, and there should be zero tolerance for frivolous questions, and floor time should be used judiciously. In other words, leave the banter outside of the chambers, thank you very much.

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