MP Lee Bee Wah Left To Attend To Other “Real Problems”
Meet-the-People (MTP) sessions allow constituents to seek help on problems, however big or small, from their respective Member of Parliaments (MPs).
But that wasn’t the case for Edward Foo, a volunteer from the Ready4Repeal movement, when he allegedly approached his MP, Dr Lee Bee Wah, at a session in Nee Soon.
Mr Foo explains that the Ready4Repeal movement is aimed at repealing Section 377A of the Penal Code in a Facebook post detailing the events that day.
Here’s his post in full, we also summarise it after the jump.
Meet-the-People session at Nee Soon South
On Monday (3 Dec), Mr Foo, along with 3 other acquaintances attended the MTP session at Nee Soon South.
Their agenda? To pass Dr Lee Bee Wah – MP of Nee Soon South – a petition against Section 377A, signed by 859 of her constituents.
After waiting for 45 minutes, the 4 of them were called into a room to meet Dr Lee.
As MP Lee walked over to shake their hands, she asked if 4 of them were related.
One of Mr Foo’s friend replied that they were not, but explained that they had gathered to discuss a common topic.
Dr Lee then allegedly asked the group to leave, claiming that she “only wanted to talk to her residents”.
Ironically, Mr Foo and one of his friends happened to be Dr Lee’s constituents.
Even so, he claims Mdm Lee Bee Wah told Mr Foo’s friend get a new queue number for herself.
Other residents have “real problems”
As Mr Foo’s companions were leaving the room, Dr Lee commented that she had an inkling of what they hoped to discuss, as other MPs had mentioned it to her before.
After his friends departed, Mr Foo claimed Dr Lee finally addressed his concerns.
Mr Foo promptly answered that he wished to discuss Section 377A, and to seek her views on the matter.
According to Mr Foo, this was Dr Lee’s reply,
I have other residents with real problems.
She allegedly left the room after making the comment.
“Actively avoided” Mr Foo
After 15 minutes, Dr Lee returned to the room once again to speak to other residents.
Mr Foo shares that MP Lee made a deliberate effort to avoid the table he was at. She also allegedly ignored Mr Foo and another volunteer’s attempt at catching her attention.
Dr Lee finally responded when Mr Foo called her name for a second time.
Still harbouring hopes of handing over the petition, Mr Foo said,
If you don’t want to talk…can I at least pass you this?
Dr Lee allegedly gestured for him to pass the petition to a one of the volunteers around, concluding the encounter.
Dr Lee’s side of the story
Dr Lee Bee Wah has responded via Facebook to the viral post on Tuesday (4 Dec).
Here’s her transcript in full:
We were alerted to an online post about individuals who came to our Meet-the-People session last night.
We would like to clarify that both individuals who were residents of the GRC were seen by volunteer letter-writers, just like every other resident. The male resident indicated there was no need to write an appeal letter for him. Our volunteer wrote an appeal letter for the female resident.
MP Er Dr Lee Bee Wah spoke to them briefly and moved on to speak to other residents about their issues.
We hope the matter is resolved soon
Given that this is very much a one-sided account, we should all take it with a pinch of salt.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time that Dr Lee has received public backlash, as a result of her comments.
In any case, Dr Lee has stated previously that she serves her residents sincerely and wholeheartedly. So let’s hope she’ll help convey her constituents’ sentiments to our decision-makers.
Also read:
https://mustsharenews.com/lee-bee-wah-dpm/
Featured image from Facebook and Facebook.
