MP's Outburst in Parliament

[THOA]

I'm not sure if this came out in Straits Times or other papers, but an article came out on the New Paper about an outburst that happened in Parliament yesterday.

Apparently, Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC) wanted to address a reply to questions she had asked about the stagnation of wages and the effect of inflation on lower-income families, but was completely ignored by the Speaker of Parliament, who signaled for the House to move to the next question instead, despite her waving a piece of paper at him.

So she stood up, walked to the rostrum and stopped the Speaker from moving on, saying "in a terse tone that she needed to rehash a previous point".

Some of the MPs were amused by her actions. The New Paper article angled the incident in a very awkward moment that should manage a laugh, but no more.

I am for one am amused to see not many online reports to be found about it, cos that incident really intrigues me.

Your thoughts?

 

[visa]

We should all stand up for what we believe in.

I applaud her for doing so, and I hope more of our community learns to do the same.

As for incident coverage, I don't consider it particularly news-worthy. It's part and parcel of the parliamentary process. The New Paper is a poor excuse for attempted tabloid trash.

 

[Xypher]

Maybe the matter ended there. Everyone gets frustrated from time to time.

 

[THOA]

As for incident coverage, I don't consider it particularly news-worthy. It's part and parcel of the parliamentary process.

Hmmm... well, I just can't seem to remember an incident in parliament quite as heated as this. I mean, to have to stand up and stop someone else from speaking in Parliament at the very rostrum is quite a drastic turn of event.

I hate the way the article was written, but her stand certainly caught my attention. The party and organisation may not be popular but individuals like her make my vote matter.

 

[FluxUs]

she's hot!!! always get ma vote!!!

 

[shinobi]

normally, the only way to progress is to acknowledge our weaknesses and work on it together. but 'the man' today is one who cannot admit his own faults. 1 or 2 guns here and there don't want to lose face, cannot admit they are at fault, cannot admit that there are problems... and we keep sweeping real problems under the rug only for them to reappear bigger than before. and no matter how good the organisation is, a few rotten apples will always spoil the lot.

and TNP is nonsense. i had given up on their football nonsense long ago, now the only thing interesting is the occasional sex and violence, and everyone knows that they dont have real news

 

[guitarsan]

I stopped buying TNP nong nong time ago.

 

[Vaiyen]

I've always maintained that the new paper is a waste of trees.

 

[THOA]

TNP is crap at most times but once in a while there's jewels in them pages, heh.

 

[edder]

I remember some time back when Dr Lily Neo was asking about mamogram subsidies or something like that to Lim Hng Kiang and all he did was to rebutt something to that effect that if women spend less on their hairdos they'd be able to afford mamograms.

minus one gabajillion points for that male chauvinistic behavior and bad taste.

Dr Lily Neo rorks. :mrgreen:

 

[obzervr]

I didn't get to witness the incident but from what was stated, I applaud and salute Dr Lily Neo's effort to stand up for the people who had elected her (regardless if it was a walkover - not sure about that). The plight of the underclass has always been submerged under the so call 'bigger agenda'. Usually, if an opposition member were to raise it, it would be depoliticised by a series of motherhood statements. This incident speaks a thousand words. With the gini coefficient hovering at 0.5, it is just too ridiculous to ignore the fact that class divide exist in Singapore.

 

[shinobi]

class divide is a cool word to use in singapore

but while it is a problem in other countries, it could be disastrous in singapore

for such a small population, imagine what would happen if the govt did not jaga the poor. poverty will be on the rise. and surely, there is a correlation between poverty and things like crime, health, social unrest and ultimately, support for the government.

as the poor begin to regard the ministers as elites and start to feel alienated by them, the credibility of the government will weaken. they would see that there is no way the government can relate to their problems, much less solve them.

given singapore's small population, we are talking about margins of a mere few thousands

in the real world, it is often better to be prudent than to be optimistic

 

[Krist]

they getting paid monthly 5-figure-sum.

if she can do what she did, then what is the opposition doing?

 

[obzervr]

they getting paid monthly 5-figure-sum.

if she can do what she did, then what is the opposition doing?

Yes, if she can do what she did...

...and still get sidestepped... imagine the difficulties of the opposition to voice anything similar.

 

[rottenramone]

i've attended a couple of meet-the-peoples sessions and i tell u, it ain't easy being an MP.

gotta steel yourself with the raw reality of your voters not having enough to eat, asking for repreive from pub cos they shut off electricity etc. the ones that i went to (cheng san and kampong glam) have mostly low income families, and its really heartbreaking to see this deaf mute person get fired from his kopitiam or the ice cream seller who can't afford to buy his kid school books.

on the flipside, there are idiots who bring their sons along to complain about their son being scolded in bmt in tekong.

On top of that MPs hold down day jobs. they get that 10k allowance to run their office (ie hire legislative assistants, PAs, office rental). and opposition gets that money too.

 

[obzervr]

Good point. But then, what's after the MPS? This is where as a citizen, I expect MPs to surface ground issues not to simply sign referal letters which any social worker at the family service centre can do for a monthly wage of under a fifth of the MPs allowance.

 

[Krist]

im more concerned for those who don't have the means and funds to go to sch. at a young age they start doing funny things.

i hope they can quickly zoom into those children whose families have financial constraints and also the very poor, elderly pple who have been abandoned by their families.

hope more can be done for these pple.

but i suppose praying and hoping helps to a certain extent.

maybe the action part must come in.

 

[chrisiscoolerthanyou]

they didnt even give her a chance to speak about the issue and just waved it off like that -___-

GO LILY GO!

 

[JaarVis.]

they tio jack mah. dont know what to say already . of course act like never hear and pretend noone talked lah. if not malu what. hahaha

 

[Vaiyen]

eh but the local press reported on it! buey pai!