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.