Parliament term a ‘strenuous but rewarding’ experience
Mr Giam speaking to TODAY. Photo: Ernest Chua
SINGAPORE — It has been a heady few years for Mr Gerald Giam. In 2009, he was a blogger who regularly wrote letters to newspapers, and was raising a young family with a one-year-old child. Today, the Workers’ Party (WP) stalwart could be leading a team to contest a Group Representation Constituency in the coming polls — only the second time he is taking part in the General Election (GE) — coming off a 4.5-year term as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP).
Mr Giam, who now has two children, aged seven and five, described his time in Parliament as “enjoyable and rewarding”, but conceded that it had been a challenge juggling multiple duties as a family man, an NCMP, serving in the grassroots and as a full-time IT consultant.
Asked what were the things he had to give up, Mr Giam said: “I don’t like to think of them as sacrifices. If anything, it would be sacrificing my sleep ... I had to say ‘no’ to a lot of things. I didn’t have very much time to watch television or kick back on a couch or hang out with friends.”
He added: “Most of my hanging out was with residents and party colleagues. I didn’t have as much time with my friends as I would like, because with whatever free time I had, I would spend it with my family.”
The blogger-turned-politician joined the WP in January 2009. Before moving to the private sector, he had been a civil servant working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the 2011 GE, he was part of the WP’s East Coast GRC team who received 45.2 per cent of the vote, earning him a ticket to Parliament as among the “best losers”.
Recounting his maiden experience in Parliament, Mr Giam said: “I like to research on policies, and be able to pinpoint what are some of the areas that are not working so well, and push through alternatives.”
Although he felt he had given his all during his time as NCMP, he acknowledged that more could have been done. “I wish I had 24 hours a day to work on a lot of the Bills and policies … and to be able to delve into a lot of issues that I had been touching on the surface in the last Parliament.”
If he is elected as a full MP, he said he would have to rejig his priorities. “I probably have to take a step back in my IT career. And it would be something that I would relish the opportunity to do.”
On the WP, he said its strength is in working as a team and not having “superstars”.
“We are a small party … we don’t operate in terms of rank. Each person has his or her responsibilities, so we ensure that we are able to move the party together,” he said.
On that note, he pointed out that the WP’s new candidates are individuals who “are not your typical kind of politicians”.
“A lot of them do not have ambitions to be in the limelight of any sort, but they are coming forward because they feel this is a time we need to take our country forward,” he said. KELLY NG
