cHyOrK: >>

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I read about something that Mr Chen Show Mao posted on his Facebook page.

Again, it's the issue between the People's Association and its seemingly unnecessary involvement in Politics.

Back then in May 2011, at the WP's rally in Bedok Stadium, Mr Low Thia Khiang had already highlighted the realities in his Hougang ward that he had held for 20 years. Apart from the realities of not being able to conduct the Meet-the-People Sessions from the comfort of the office that the previous ruling party's MP enjoyed, there was also another issue that involved the Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCCs), under the People's Association. There had been many events spearheaded by CCCs in Hougang, and they were purely community in nature. However, the elected MP of Hougang was unable to grace those events. Instead, the guest-of-honour was usually the ruling party candidate who stood but lost in the constituency, hence ensuring a continued exposure of the losing candidate within each 5-year term in the area.

The same thing's happening right now in Aljunied GRC, under Mr Chen's Paya Lebar Ward. I don't think it is restricted to just the Paya Lebar Ward in the GRC anyway. The latest issue is that once again, purely community events seem to be politicised by the CCCs, by having imposed that Opposition MPs shouldn't be invited to the events if the venues are under the purview of PA, like hard courts. So who can be invited: The advisors to the CCCs, who are actually the ruling party candidates that had stood (and lost) in the constituency during the election.

The event organisers are the average Singaporean, who organised events at the community level, perhaps to encourage bonding or to hold religious events, etc. They should have the right to decide who they genuinely want to invite to grace their events. The venue might be owned by PA--they can decide whether or not to lease the venue. But do they really have the right to interfere in matters as private as whether or not to invite the MP? In the first place, why should PA be political? What was the initial objectives of an association like PA? Even if it had meant to be politicial rather than community-based, shouldn't its relevance today be reviewed again?

Serving the people or serving political agenda? The line seemed to have been blurred over the years and it's certainly high time to relook into it and educate the people, both inside and outside the association. RC, CC, CCC. The day they can find themselves truly serving the People and not some Political agenda, is probably the day we mature further.

人生是黑白的.
12:49 AM <3

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