My Thoughts after GE2015
The results are mostly in line with my personal forecast, except that the Worker's Party managed to retain Aljunied GRC, I was expecting them to lose it, but since they won, albeit narrowly, I hope they will look past the mud-slinging (regardless of who is throwing who) and focus on how to manage the town council better. To me wrong means wrong, no way around it no matter how you argue, and I would like to see greater accountability and see them really taking ownership of the problems and deal with it swiftly, if everything had been done swift and sharp, I doubt anyone can say anything.
Even though the opposition suffered great defeat, that does not (and should not) invalidate whatever they have gathered from the ground, and whatever suggestions they have come up with should be consolidated and considered by the ruling party, as the saying goes, two heads better than one, I'm sure (and hope) they can find something useful, otherwise the existence of our opposition is very much questionable.
And even though Gerald Giam lost which was not surprising, I hope he can continue to serve as NCMP, during these years as NCMP, he spoke up on many close-to-heart issues, especially for people like us, I really appreciate the effort he has made to fight for citizen and foreigner couples, but actually he is fighting for everyone not just us, and if you haven't notice, nowadays government is focusing a lot on local workforce, homemakers, senior citizens, foreign spouses, not that they didn't care about local workforce before but there is greater emphasis now, Worker's Party did fight this one out in Parliament so have to give them credit.
There is also another Worker's Party candidate whom I think should stay and serve as NCMP, Lee Li Lian, she seems very sincere, humble, and approachable, although she lost but she didn't lose by too much, shows that she did her job well, otherwise I doubt she can get that many votes in the face of competition versus the strongest party in Singapore. Gerald Giam and Lee Li Lian are the kind of people that I wish to see more of in our political scene, it would be a loss for us if we don't send people like them to parliament.
Just realized that Lee Li Lian is not keen to take up the NCMP position, I know the salary is lower but not sure by how much so I googled and found that the NCMP gets only 15% of what an MP gets, so if an MP gets $15,000 a month, a NCMP gets $2,250 a month, it's not bad but for her credentials, she might as well get a full-time job which can pay better, and if she gets a full-time job, where would she have the time to serve the people, furthermore she has a young child to care for, can only say it's not easy for women with children.
And I don't think it's just about the money, NC means Non-Constituency, also means that NCMP does not serve any constituency, so basically NCMP cannot directly serve the people, can only raise issues in parliament, kind of a difficult job to hold for young people, unless you have passive income otherwise challenging to survive.
Even though the opposition suffered great defeat, that does not (and should not) invalidate whatever they have gathered from the ground, and whatever suggestions they have come up with should be consolidated and considered by the ruling party, as the saying goes, two heads better than one, I'm sure (and hope) they can find something useful, otherwise the existence of our opposition is very much questionable.
And even though Gerald Giam lost which was not surprising, I hope he can continue to serve as NCMP, during these years as NCMP, he spoke up on many close-to-heart issues, especially for people like us, I really appreciate the effort he has made to fight for citizen and foreigner couples, but actually he is fighting for everyone not just us, and if you haven't notice, nowadays government is focusing a lot on local workforce, homemakers, senior citizens, foreign spouses, not that they didn't care about local workforce before but there is greater emphasis now, Worker's Party did fight this one out in Parliament so have to give them credit.
There is also another Worker's Party candidate whom I think should stay and serve as NCMP, Lee Li Lian, she seems very sincere, humble, and approachable, although she lost but she didn't lose by too much, shows that she did her job well, otherwise I doubt she can get that many votes in the face of competition versus the strongest party in Singapore. Gerald Giam and Lee Li Lian are the kind of people that I wish to see more of in our political scene, it would be a loss for us if we don't send people like them to parliament.
Just realized that Lee Li Lian is not keen to take up the NCMP position, I know the salary is lower but not sure by how much so I googled and found that the NCMP gets only 15% of what an MP gets, so if an MP gets $15,000 a month, a NCMP gets $2,250 a month, it's not bad but for her credentials, she might as well get a full-time job which can pay better, and if she gets a full-time job, where would she have the time to serve the people, furthermore she has a young child to care for, can only say it's not easy for women with children.
And I don't think it's just about the money, NC means Non-Constituency, also means that NCMP does not serve any constituency, so basically NCMP cannot directly serve the people, can only raise issues in parliament, kind of a difficult job to hold for young people, unless you have passive income otherwise challenging to survive.
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