Following an incident this week where two women caused a commotion at a Meet-The-People session (MPS) in Nee Soon, it has been revealed that two similar incidents had taken place at Jalan Besar GRC.
Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, who is MP for the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng ward in the GRC, related these incidents in a Facebook post on Friday (14 March).
Source: Josephine Teo on Facebook
The first incident took place last November, Mrs Teo said.
Two women reportedly came to her MPS to voice their concerns about Singapore’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, and she was prepared to see them after attending to other residents.
She ended up spending nearly an hour with them, offering to write to the relevant ministries on their behalf.
However, Mrs Teo was surprised to find an online article about the meeting a few weeks later.
While it acknowledged that she had engaged the two women empathetically, she said:
It was difficult to see any reason for publishing the piece other than to spread the word that they had successfully made a move at my MPS.
The second incident took place in January when a resident known as “Mdm A” attended an MPS at Upper Boon Keng, located at Block 20A Lorong 3 Geylang.
Source: Google Maps
Mdm A brought along a young woman known as “M”, who claimed to be her daughter.
As the duo claimed they were seeking financial assistance and said they had a confidential matter to raise, Mrs Teo attended to them immediately.
However, M passed a three-page typed statement to Mdm A, who recited the statement.
The minister said it soon became clear that the duo were not mother and daughter and that the statement had no relation to financial assistance.
Mrs Teo said Mdm A has been receiving support “for some time”, including financial assistance for her religious studies.
She continues to get support in the form of weekly rations, though she had informed volunteers not long after the incident that she does not need any other financial assistance as her son had qualified for educational support from the Government.
Mdm A has also appeared at least twice at constituency events where donations were shared with residents, the minister added.
Mrs Teo said MPS was not designed as a platform to address broader national issues that are worthy of discussion.
That’s because the priority must go to “residents with urgent, municipal or personal matters”, she added.
While she appreciates that residents may raise broader concerns about Singapore besides their own issues, she noted:
I am saddened that, in my nearly two decades as an MP, the tone of MPS seems to have shifted because of episodes like these.
She hopes MPS can return to “their truest purpose” — not protest platforms, but “a channel for MPs to engage their residents openly and attend to their most acute needs”.
She had not intended to mention these incidents publicly “but felt compelled to” after what recently happened in Nee Soon.
Mrs Teo also said her volunteers were “perturbed and saddened” by such incidents, especially when they responded with sincere intent and did not expect to be led to an “ambush”.
She added that such incidents affect her volunteers and their “sense of safety”, adding:
It becomes hard to let our guard down when we do not know if we might be treated with hostility.
Nevertheless, she expressed gratefulness to her volunteers and said she and them will “do their (our) best to bounce back from such incidents”.
Also read: 2 women ask Shanmugam about POFMA during Nee Soon Meet-The-People session, cause commotion
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Featured image adapted from Josephine Teo on Facebook and K Shanmugam Sc on Facebook.