May 21st 2011 - Updates and a little format formalization.

The beginning of the 12th Parliament is nearly upon us with the official appointment of the cabinet due today. I will start with a standard table (which can be refined) from now on to track Parliamentary progress at the start of each subsequent post:

Parliamentarian	Attendance	Votes	Legislation Sponsored	Miscellaneous	Links
Lee Kuan Yew	0	0	0	3 Updates	NA
Indranee Rajah	0	0	0	1 Update	NA
Lily Neo	0	0	0	NA	NA
Chan Chun Sing	0	0	0	5 Updates	NA
Chia Shi-Lu	0	0	0	NA	NA
Worker's Party	0	0	0	2 Updates	NA

---

UPDATES

Tanjong Pagar

• As of today, the Tanjong Pagar Town Council page has NOT been updated.
• Chan Chun Sing is now Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports AND Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts.
• Lee Kuan Yew has resigned as Chairman of GIC and has been appointed Senior Advisor to GIC.
• Lee Kuan Yew has turned down an offer from the Prime Minister to officially be granted the "Emeritus" tag (it was unclear if it was meant to be applied to "Minister Mentor"). [May 19th 2011 - http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC110519-0000253/MM-Lee-and-SM-Goh-to-become-Senior-Advisers-to-GIC,-MAS-respectively].
• I could NOT find any updates on Chan Chun Sing's Facebook page on the next Informal Policy discussions (HDB pricing). Did I miss something? (I might have to "like" him after all, just to keep up).
• Chan Chun Sing's (publicly announced) email and MPS session:   chancs[DOT]bv[AT]gmail[DOT]com, Mondays 7:30pm onwards.
• From Chan Chun Sing's Facebook page - it looks like Indranee Rajah is currently representing Lee Kuan Yew for MPS at Tanjong Pagar. It is unclear from the context if this is temporary.

• Chan Chun Sing proposes mural art for void decks on Facebook. I thought this was post-worthy since it affects the community and it raises the appropriate questions of who gets to decide and who foots the bill.
  

Worker's Party

• Sylvia Lim has resigned from her job to focus on work in Parliament (May 14th 2011): http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110514-278889.html
• Last-minute update: The Worker's Party has proposed to merge the services provided by Aljunied and Hougang Town Councils, citing economies of scale and a not-so-smooth handover of Aljunied Town Council. [May 21st 2011 - http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110521-279923.html]. I am quoting the entire article since it is short:

THE Workers' Party (WP) submitted a proposal to merge the town councils of Aljunied GRC and single-seat Hougang last week. WP chief Low Thia Khiang told the Straits Times that it's easier operationally, and that they hope to achieve 'economies of scale in terms of tender of contracts, in terms of purchases made, in terms of projects, (and) hopefully we can get a better bargain'. If approved, it will be chaired by WP's chairman Sylvia Lim, with Hougang MP Yaw Shin Leong and Mr Low as the vice-chairmen. Mr Low also disclosed that some parts of the handover process, has not been smooth. The newly elected MP for Aljunied GRC said that they have been waiting since last week for the town council to provide key information on matters such as the list of service providers and its computer data system. His team also yet to have a face-to-face meeting with the management of the Aljunied Town Council, which had cancelled a meeting scheduled for last Tuesday, according to Mr Low. His party has since turned to HDB for help. According to the paper, Mr Jeffrey Chua, the Aljunied Town Council general manager, said he had informed the Hougang Town Council that it needed more time to compile the complete list of service providers. The Hougang Town Council has also been given the names of service providers whose contracts will expire in the next few months, said Mr Chua. Meanwhile, Mr Low dismissed rumours that the Aljunied Town Council had stopped removing rubbish from HDB blocks in the estate. According to him, the WP found the estates to be well-maintained, after they went on ground inspections in the GRC.

Commentary: From a democratic standpoint, I personally do not approve of this proposal. It messes with the transparency and accountability of the way public money is disbursed and handled. I cannot, however, logically argue against the points made ... except that it feels disturbing to me.

May 14th 2011 - [NEWS] Informal Policy Discussion Forum by MP Chan Chun Sing

As a reader pointed out to me, Mr. Chan had organized an Informal Policy Discussion Forum just today.

Full disclosure: I had actually known about the event, but it did not occur to me to post the information on this blog. As such, I apologize to the people who would have been interested but were not made aware of it. The good news, is that Mr. Chan will be organizing more. So please keep an eye on posts with [NEWS]. It will contain pertinent updates on upcoming political activities you as residents can participate in

Here is the Facebook link to the pictures Mr. Chan had kept of the event (with reader comments providing *some* context):


Informal Policy Discussion Forum Facebook Pictures and Comments

I (being in the USA) did not attend and I am reconstructing some information from Mr. Chan's comments on Facebook:

1. This particular forum was about Education reform.
2. The next one (as voted on by the participants) will be about HDB flat pricing. It will be scheduled some time next week.
3. His house rules for attendance are:

All Singaporeans welcome. We just hv the foll rules (after yest):
1. Listen with respect.
2.One conversation at one time.
3. Listen with open heart, open mind.
4. Keep Time.
5. No political agenda pse..

Some quotes from Mr. Chan (from Facebook):

Thks to All for the active participation at last night's "Policy Disc". As voted by many of u, we will attempt the challenging topic of "How to Price a HDB flat?" next time we meet. Which night you all prefer? Can't do Mon and Tues - MPS and Walkabout. Meantime, do share readings to prep ourselves. Will announce dates asap once I sort out schedule next wk.

Personal commentary (colored by my biases): This is as close a thing to a Town Hall meeting Tanjong Pagar residents will get. As a Liberal, I like Town Hall meetings and I encourage people interested in policy decision-making to attend. I do not expect the forum format to allow enough time for people to share their personal stories (the whole point of a Town Hall meeting in the USA), but I am encouraged that this forum is not (judging from the Facebook comments) a one-way street of information either.

I do not believe these forums are intended to be an MPS session. Even if you do get to share your personal stories, please do not expect to get them solved on the spot. I would, in fact, strongly discourage this motivation and expectation when attending this forum. I think it would only distract and dilute the value of the forum.

I do feel encouraged by Mr. Chan's words (in spite of my earlier disdain for his "Lanfang Republic" speech), specifically by his encouraging participants to share reading material before the next forum. I think this is of fundamental importance to meaningful discussions (from diverse points-of-view) on matters of policy decision-making. Quantifiable information, true or false, offers a basis for verification, debunking and debate.

That is it for now, I will keep you folks updated as and when I find out more.

Short Update: May 11th 2011 - WP assigns MP to wards

Just read the news:

http://www.straitstimes.com/GeneralElection/News/Story/STIStory_667724.html dated May 12th 2011 Singapore time. (No, I do not time-travel. I prefer to stick to Pacific Standard Time for my post headings instead of making conversions all the time).

That was, admittedly, faster than I had expected. The pertinent information is as follows (I tend to take the reliability of ST links with a pinch of salt, they do not appear to archive their articles indefinitely like the BBC does):

Low Thia Khiang - Bedok Reservoir-Punggol
Sylvia Lim - Serangoon
Chen Show Mao - Paya Lebar
Pritam Singh - Eunos
Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap - Kaki Bukit

The Worker's Party is really hitting the ground running post-GE. I had originally wanted to do a quick commentary this weekend on the issue of cross-party handover of Town Councils, given what was claimed by Mr. Low Thia Khiang regarding Hougang in 1991, his call for a smooth transfer, and how things are transpiring in Aljunied. Objectively speaking, we know nothing about Aljunied as of now. Like a friend stated, some of the problems with services may have been coincidental and disproportionately misconstrued as active acts of punishment. In Science, we have always been trained to look for objective evidence by counting both the hits and the misses. As of now, I do not believe there is any evidence to suggest that the Town Council services at Aljunied are being universally degraded.

An Update (May 12th 2011, PDT): Blogger confirms that there was no deliberate attempt by the outgoing Aljunied Town Council to deny services. Many thanks to the people who took action to do the necessary footwork to verify the claims! This is the kind of active citizenry we need to sift out truth from misconceptions or misinformation. Here is the link with the details: http://thinkhappiness.blogspot.com/2011/05/feedback-to-challenging-times-by.html.

Meanwhile, to make a direct comparison (probably biased) on the level of energy and enthusiasm of the elected teams, I would like to report that I've just checked the Tanjong Pagar GRC webpage and it still hosts the old information (6-member team with old boundaries). Let us see how long the Tanjong Pagar GRC team waits before they announce their new setup.

My next intended update this weekend will be to focus on the freshly re-elected MPs of the Tanjong Pagar team. This again, to provide background and context for the benefit of subsequent posts to this blog. Also, once they announce information about the new GRC setup, I will proceed to post the maps and information on districts if possible.

May 14th 2011 - MP Profiles and a big change.

OUR REPRESENTATIVES

Mr Lee Kuan Yew will be representing Tanjong Pagar as a backbencher. He is stepping down from the Cabinet as Minister Mentor. Here is the news article from Channel News Asia (dated May 14th 2011, author unknown):

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1128878/1/.html

Pertinent information on Mr Lee:

Minister Mentor was a term coined specially for Mr Lee in 2004, a description which reflects his role in office, and a nod to his wealth of experience.

Mr Lee's role in shaping modern Singapore started from pre-Independence in the 50s and has continued till today.

He took a tough stand on many policies, from land acquisition for development to opening the doors to foreign talent.

Having seen for himself how racial tensions can break a society, Mr Lee dedicated himself to building a cohesive nation.

In 1988, the Parliamentary Elections Act was amended to introduce GRCs.

Mr Lee has always said the GRC system is to guarantee minority representation in Parliament. At least one minority candidate must be part of the team contesting a GRC.

Leadership renewal has always been a key priority for Mr Lee, who stepped down as Prime Minister in 1990.

At a National Day dinner for his constituency, he said the country's leadership renewal process is very much like the systematic way the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) renews its ranks.

Mr Lee said: "Every year, the SAF improves on what it has done from the last year. Every year, a new team takes over and we have a regular succession of capable officers taking over, and that is the way Singapore has been able to maintain itself - regular renewal of the leadership, with younger people taking over these decisive roles."

His decision to step down is perhaps a sign of the confidence in the country's leadership renewal process.

TANJONG PAGAR TOWN COUNCIL

The Town Council (as of May 13th 2011) has started the process of updating its webpage. It is not complete as of now, but I am looking forward to when information becomes available.

INTENDED UPDATES - PROFILES OF OUR REPRESENTATIVES

A reader has pointed out that a good source of information would be their public Facebook pages. As such, I am linking them to this blog. Where Mr Lee Kuan Yew is concerned, given his extensive public records, I will link in his wikipedia page here as an extra source of information.

There are also video clips from the PAP website on their candidature during GE 2011 which is useful (but not permanent). Due to potential copyright issues, I do not intend to archive those videos and will let them lapse when the PAP updates their site. I assume they intend to archive the videos themselves and can be approached for a copy: http://ge.pap.org.sg/candidates/tanjongpagar

Note: It would appear the PAP had long decided on where their MP-candidates would represent unlike the case of the Worker's Party.

Note: Facebook links can be long and messy, I've decided to give the link-names shortened forms.

Lee Kuan Yew (Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew (No official Facebook presence)
Indranee Rajah (Tanglin-Cairnhill) - Indranee Rajah Facebook Page (I cannot tell if this page is official. There is hardly any activity there.)
Lily Tirtasana Neo (Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng) - Lily Neo Facebook Page (Looks like her official page. She actively responds to posts and comments. Residents should engage her there.)
Chan Chun Sing (Buona Vista) - Chan Chun Sing Facebook Page (seems to be the official and active page. He has a number of informal feedback events which I will attempt to record or report on.)
Chia Shi-Lu (Queenstown) - Chia Shi-Lu Facebook Page (Looks official and active)

May 8th 2011 - An attempt to establish a baseline.

This is a report of my attempt to establish a baseline from which we can monitor changes. Websites change over time, reports come and go without necessarily being archived. My focus in this article is the Tanjong Pagar Town Council webpage. The goal is to establish or get a feel for:

1. what the council was doing pre-GE 2011.
2. establish numbers and figures so subsequent changes can be put into context.

TANJONG PAGAR

As of today, the Tanjong Pagar Town Council webpage still reflects the members and maps from the 11th Parliament rather than the 12th. However, of interest are:

1) their 5-year plan they had introduced in the course of their campaigning for 2011 to 2016. This is in the form of a PDF I have archived. I will see if there is an easy way to maintain the PDF in the context of this blog.

2) Town council charges and fees for various facilities and activities. I have printed a copy and dated it for my physical archive. It is a little cumbersome to archive it on this blog unless there is some significant or unreasonable change. I urge fellow residents to keep an eye on it.

3) Conservancy charges based on the Government Gazette dated 9th October 2009. This is in the form of a PDF which I have archived. The latest document tags along what I assume are Pinacle@Duxton flat types and new charges for commercial space. The PDF represents an amendment to the original 2002 document (GN S 266/2002). "S1-room flats: $90 ($81?) and S2-room: $100. S-commercial: $3 per sq meter, min $96.30"

4) The 2009-2010 Annual report. I had expected to find information about the Town Council's sinking fund here, but it was not to be. PDF, also archived.

5) Various other links in the navigation bar. Residents please note these options:

a) About Us -> How to contact us
b) Feedback.

Of note is an FAQ about sinking funds (PDF) which I have archived. However, if there is a document showing a balance sheet of how our sinking funds are used (similar to one I've seen from Hougang a number of years ago), I've either not found it yet, or it does not exist. If someone knows about it, please let me know.

PARLIAMENT

As of today, Parliament has not released a schedule for parliamentary proceedings for the 12th Parliament.

Time to pay our dues as residents

Well, I've decided enough is enough. Time to pay attention (objectively) to what our representatives are doing on our behalf. As such, the goals of this blog are:

1. Collate and record all available public information about the 5 members of parliament representing Tanjong Pagar with respect to their work in parliament. Specifically, I'll be targeting and highlighting:

a. Speeches (preferably available video from TV or otherwise)
b. Voting record on legislation.
c. Proposing of new legislation.
d. Debates that impact Tanjong Pagar constituency.
e. As an aside (and for the fun of it), document any parliamentary snafus. Examples include: getting caught sleeping on camera; saying something really incredibly stupid.

2. Monitor, if possible, grassroots activities. Collate any verifiable stories on Meet-The-People Sessions. This can be an extremely difficult task to achieve objectively.

3. Pay limited attention to the 6 opposition members from Workers Party, particularly their new members in much the same way as described in #1.

At an ideological level, as a Liberal, my goal is to encourage voters in Singapore to pay attention to what their representatives do. I think Active Citizenry is as important to the political process as good candidates are. Only when we are aware of what is done in our name, can we make better judgement on whether our interests have been well-represented and on how we should vote the next time around.

I am limiting this blog to just Tanjong Pagar and the Opposition because I had realized I could not keep up with the activities of 87 people (I tried, during GE 2011, and was hopelessly overwhelmed). As an official resident of Tanjong Pagar and having a keen interest in keeping a record on Opposition activity, this will be my focus. I encourage others, if they can, to do the same for each constituency. If you do so, please let me know so I may link these blogs together into a somewhat cohesive archive for the benefit of all.

As full disclosure, I am most assuredly anti-establishment. I disagree, sometimes intensely, with the "ruling" (I prefer "governing") party's policies. As such, I can be biased. This would, of course, be at odds with the goals of this blog. I hereby urge readers to correct my biases accordingly. I hope to limit such bias by focusing on objective matters, but I will still suffer from the Bias of Ommission, which is the failure to record something I did not like or chose not to see. It is in these cases, I think, that reader intervention will come in handy so I may achieve a complete record.

Finally, I will minimize if not eliminate any analysis on my part in the posting of articles. I do, however, encourage discussion and analysis in the reader comments. I will also try to engage as often as I can.