41 candidates enter names for NMP consideration
SINGAPORE — A total of 41 individuals have submitted their names to be considered for the nine Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) posts, with a dozen or so individuals turning up at Parliament House on the last day for submissions on Tuesday (Feb 23) to turn in their forms. But whom the seven functional groups have chosen to speak for them remain mostly unknown, as all save the labour movement have chosen to keep mum about the identities of their nominees.
More have submitted their names for consideration this year, compared with 36 submissions in 2014, although the figure is lower than the 50 in 2011.
An eight-member Special Select Committee, headed by Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, will recommend candidates from the pool of submissions for appointment to the President. The committee includes seven other MPs — six from the ruling People’s Action Party and one from the opposition Workers’ Party.
Submissions are made by the general public as well as the seven functional groups: Business and industry; labour; the professions; social service organisations; the civic and people sector, tertiary education institutions and the media, arts and sports organisations. Only the labour movement has announced its choice: Veteran unionist K Thanaletchimi, 50.
Among the individuals who dropped their names into the hat over the past few days were former opposition politician Eric Tan, 60, and Assistant Professor Liew Kai Khiun, 43, from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University.
Others include business owner Mohamed Nawaz, visual artist Felicia Low and theatre practitioner Kok Heng Leun, who is gunning for a second chance after he failed to become the NMP to represent the arts fraternity in 2014. Immediate-past NMP Kuik Shiao-Yin, 38, also confirmed that she was seeking renomination.
Both the social service organisations and the arts, media and sports functional groups said they have put forward two names each, with the latter submitting one name each from the media and arts sector.
The flurry of last-minute submissions at 1 Parliament Place on Tuesday included at least two candidates who came after the 4.30pm deadline passed. Security guard M P Kathiresan Raj, 60, and private tutor Ooi Boon Ewe, 74, only left the vicinity after officials came down to receive their nomination papers. It is not known whether they are still eligible for consideration.
Between 10am and 5pm on Tuesday, TODAY observed a total of 14 nomination papers submitted, five of which were dropped off by the nominees themselves. The rest were submitted via proxy on behalf of individuals or organisations, and representatives declined to speak to the media.
Among the aspiring NMPs was Mr David Lee, 50, who said that the NMP post would provide him with a platform “to continue what he has been doing”: Community volunteering. Mr Lee, who runs an events management company, also said that he would like to bring up the issue of the stringent criminal breach of trust law in parliament, if elected. Another hopeful was Mr Richard Siaw, who declined to share more after identifying himself. He is listed as a lawyer on his LinkedIn account.
Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan said the number of applicants this year suggest a “healthy interest” in the NMP scheme. “Notwithstanding the desire for opposition voices, the numbers, to me, do indicate that there a recognition at least, among the applicants that there is still a role for NMPs in Parliament,” he added.
On how most functional groups were coy about revealing the identities of their nominees, Assoc Prof Tan said the process should allow Singaporeans to know whose names were submitted given how the NMPs have voting rights in Parliament in most areas. “The onus of making public the applicants should fall on Parliament,” he said.
