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SINGAPORE: Applications for the post of Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) closed have closed.
Parliament's Committee of Selection will deliberate over the applications and decide on their appointment.
The term for the current batch of NMPs ends at end-June.
Singapore's Constitution provides for the appointment of up to nine NMPs to give a wider representation of community views in Parliament.
The arts community plans to make greater inroads into the parliamentary process. It has picked two candidates for the NMP post.
Both Loretta Chen and Audrey Wong hope to give an alternative voice to make the arts scene even more vibrant.
Loretta Chen said: "When we are talking about the arts, one of the things that we are talking about is asking for greater transparency in processes and policies, and of course funding is another issue, and nurturing younger artists (is also an issue). But the arts NMP should also be able to talk about other things - the betterment of people's lives and culture."
Audrey Wong said: "The feeling now amongst Singaporeans as well as the arts community is that we need to think a little bit deeper about the arts, we need to go further. You can't just think about commercially driven products, there has to be something else which is very meaningful for Singaporeans, and we feel we need to pay more attention to that."
One of the things candidates applying for the post of NMP have to do is to write an essay on what they hope to contribute if they are chosen to Singapore's Parliament.
For the labour movement's candidate, his area of priority is to further the importance of life-long learning.
Terry Lee Kok Hua, NTUC's candidate for NMP, said: "The labour movement always prides itself to say that the best weapon is a job. But that is the end. We must give people the means to achieve the end and the means I would think so is very much education, training and upgrading. This is something I would like to speak if given the opportunity to develop a learning Singapore culture."
If picked, Mr Lee, who is also the president of the Singapore's Insurance Employees' Union, hopes to tap on his experience sitting on key statutory bodies.
Several professional bodies have also named candidates for the NMP post, among them The Academy of Medicine and the Singapore Business Federation.
The Academy of Medicine gave two names while the Singapore Business Federation confirmed three candidates.
- CNA/ir
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