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SINGAPORE: Every six months, constituents of the late Dr Ong Chit Chung's Bukit Batok ward will see a different Member of Parliament (MP) from the Jurong GRC, of which it is a part, taking care of their zone's affairs.
TODAY has learnt the four remaining MPs have worked out how they will share the task by rotating responsibilities, following Dr Ong's death on July 14 — the first time in 15 years that a Singapore MP has died in office.
For instance, they will take turns attending the Meet the People sessions in Bukit Batok held every Friday, to listen to residents’ concerns.
The ward's 10 Residents' Committee (RC) zones will be divided up three ways, while a fourth MP will tend to the Community Club Management Committee and Citizens' Consultative Committee.
They will switch responsibilities every half a year, said MP Halimah Yacob.
Reiterating that the Constitution "does not require a by-election", she told TODAY: "The most important thing is to assure residents that their needs and welfare are being taken care of."
Meeting with 300 grassroots leaders at the Bukit Batok Community Club on Tuesday night, Mr Lim Boon Heng, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ms Grace Fu and Mdm Halimah promised that there would be no disruption to services to residents.
The late Mr Ong's shoes will not be easy ones to fill – given his hands-on reputation as the ward's MP for 20 years, and the fact that each of the four MPs will still take care of their own respective wards.
With three of the four also holding portfolios in government – Mr Lim as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Tharman as Finance Minister and Ms Fu as a Senior Minister of State (National Development and Education) – would Mdm Halimah take on the lion's share of the load in Bukit Batok?
"No, we believe in equality so all of us will do our part. We keep in close contact so if anyone assigned to a particular RC cannot make the event, someone else will step in."
Is six months too short a time to get acquainted with the needs of each neighbourhood, or for its residents to develop a bond with their caretaker MP before he or she moves on? Some grassroots leaders were concerned about this, but RC chairman for Bukit Batok Zone 10 Elson Tan said, he was informed the policy’s effectiveness "will be reviewed after half a year".
Mdm Halimah said this time frame balanced "the issue of continuity and stability" with the plan for residents "to be exposed to the four MPs and for us to get to know the residents better".
Mr Tan added that Tuesday's announcement gave new energy to grassroots leaders still saddened by Dr Ong's passing. "There was never any worry of Bukit Batok being ignored but we are happy the four of them are coming in to give us direction."
Fellow GRC members standing in for their fallen comrades is not new in Parliament. In 1993, Dr Tay Eng Soon died of heart failure while serving as an MP for Eunos GRC. MPs Charles Chong and Chew Heng Ching covered his duties until the 1997 General Election.
Still, talk of a by-election for Bukit Batok has persisted, with the media reporting Reform Party chief JB Jeyaretnam's challenge to the ruling People's Action Party to let the people decide. The next General Election is due by 2011.
In a straw poll conducted by TODAY, 18 Bukit Batok residents said they were "happy" with the PAP's work in the ward and for the other Jurong GRC MPs to step in.
Two residents felt Bukit Batok should have its own representative in Parliament. One, Mr Mohd Taufik Mohd Said, 37, said: "There should be one specific person here so he or she could dedicate their time to serving our needs better."
But resident Ted Phua was confident the new system will work well for the district.
"I had some reservations initially about not having a dedicated MP but all four GRC members chipping in their experience could do well by this estate," said the 34-year-old marketing manager.
- TODAY/so
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