Many interesting moments have emerged out of the Budget 2022 Debate and it seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Most recently, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai had some gripes to share about Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin.
Following a Parliamentary sitting on Monday (7 Mar), he took to Facebook to complain about how Mr Tan had denied him the chance to speak.
Responding to Mr Leong’s claims, Mr Tan provided clarifications on his own Facebook page, citing the importance of abiding by “rules and processes”.
On Friday (4 Mar), Mr Leong had a question regarding the GST hike for Finance Minister Lawrence Wong. However, Mr Tan reportedly denied his request, stating that the debate session had to move on.
Beneath a Facebook post about the GST hike on 6 Mar, Mr Leong commented that he didn’t get the time to ask questions, which he described to be “completely ridiculous“.
This same issue apparently happened again on Monday (7 Mar), when he had a question about PME jobs in response to the debate on MOM’s spending.
He later addressed his dissatisfaction in detail in a separate post that same day.
Mr Leong wrote in his Facebook post,
[T]he Speaker did not allow me to speak using the cut-off time as an excuse. The cut-off time is decided by the Speaker before the session but there is flexibility because the Parliament schedule is ahead of time this year.
He added that the allocation of time to question MPs is not enough to hold a concise debate.
According to him, an NCMP gets only 2-3 minutes to ask a ministry a question, which isn’t enough to hold a proper discussion.
In response to Mr Leong’s claims, Mr Tan addressed the issue in Parliament on Monday (7 Mar).
He explained to all members present that everyone will be getting the airtime they need to ask questions.
However, there is a cutoff time at the end of each debate. This timing, or the “guillotine time”, allows the session to move forward.
Mr Tan stated that all MPs are notified about these times every day of the debate.
Members who have further queries, Mr Tan added, can file a Parliamentary Question (PQ) should they be unable to raise them when the debate has ended.
Mr Tan also asserted that he keeps track of which members have spoken during the session so that different political parties can have the chance to air their concerns.
On Tuesday (8 Mar), Mr Leong was advised in Parliament to take down his Facebook post and comments about not being given the airtime to ask his clarification questions.
He was also asked to apologise for the comments.
The issues raised in Budget 2022 have led to significant, thought-provoking discussions. As a result, it is only natural to expect MPs to have further questions they want to clarify in Parliament.
However, it is also important to respect the cutoff times during each debate. These cutoff times allow the debate to proceed, without skimping on any issue that requires discussion.
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Featured image adapted from MCI Singapore on YouTube and YouTube.
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