Tan Chuan-Jin Calls for Public To Stop False Ballot Rumours, Says Parliament Will Discuss Issues
Naturally when it comes to socio-political issues that affect Singaporeans directly, people will voice out their concerns and opinions passionately.
The Parti Liyani case for instance drew much attention, with Workers’ Party’s (WP) Sylvia Lim filing an Adjournment Motion (AM) on criminal justice in Parliament.
As Singaporeans look forward to what she has to say, Member of Parliament (MP) Louis Ng winning the ballot to speak on secondhand smoke instead made people question the priority of issues.
Hoping to address their concerns, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin took to Facebook to clarify any doubts.
Disrespectful to run-down issues that impact Singaporeans
Mr Tan began his post by expressing his disappointment with the public’s reaction to the ballot outcome.
Calling their actions “disrespectful”, he pointed out how undermining issues, in this case, secondhand smoke, disregards those who are affected by them.
While he understood the gravity of the Parti Liyani case and Singaporeans’ investment in it, he reminds us that Ms Lim not winning the ballot is not the end of the road.
Just because a motion is not picked this round does not mean it would not be picked again.
He therefore cautioned against spinning “false narratives about the (balloting) process”.
Parliament will debate criminal justice issue
Mr Tan went on to clarify that an issue not being picked does not mean its permanent dismissal from Parliament.
He reminded everyone that Law Minister K Shanmugam has already stated that he would address the issue in a Ministerial Statement. Other MPs have also filed their questions.
With the above in line, a “full and substantive debate” will most likely follow.
Ballot result didn’t meet public expectations
After news about the selection of Mr Louis Ng’s AM broke on Tuesday (29 Sep), Mr Leong Mun Wai, Non-constituency MP (NCMP) from the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), shared his views in a Facebook post on Wednesday (30 Sep).
He opined that criminal justice is of higher priority than secondhand smoke, and believed the result didn’t meet public expectations.
Rather than secondhand smoke, he felt that criminal justice should be heard and processed in Parliament first.
Nevertheless, Mr Leong told MS News that he respects the process which was fair and proper.
Interesting Parliament Sitting on 5 Oct
There are many issues in Singapore that affect and concern us. That is when Singaporeans need the MPs and the government to support our needs.
Be it secondhand smoke or enhancing equity in the justice system, we can be sure the Parliament sitting on 5 Oct will debate some pertinent issues.
At the end of the day, all we hope for are positive outcomes for everyone, so let’s trust that our representatives will speak for us.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
