Janet Ang on motion calling for abolition of Group Representation Constituencies
Has the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system delivered on its promises, 35 years on? Raising and answering the question in Parliament on Wednesday (Jul 5), NMP Janet Ang said 28.3 per cent of elected MPs are from minority communities today, compared to 19.5 per cent in 1987 before GRCs were created. Ms Ang also asked, is the GRC concept still relevant today? She quoted Mr Goh Chok Tong when he moved the second reading of the Bill to implement GRCs in 1988 - “This Bill is to ensure the long-term political stability of Singapore in two ways: first, by ensuring that Parliament will always be multiracial and representative of our society and second, by encouraging the practice of multiracial politics by all political parties." These words still ring true today, concluded Ms Ang, perhaps even more so as the world becomes more polarised. As for the “conspiracy theory” that GRCs were a ploy by the PAP to handicap the opposition, she quoted an article by the Institute of Policy Studies in 2013 - “The winner-takes-all effect of GRCs does not disadvantage credible opposition but in fact, GRCs also advantages the opposition as it can knock out an entire team of PAP candidates in one constituency as it did in Aljunied GRC in 2011”. Ms Ang said the key issue perhaps is the size of GRCs and the number of Single Member Constituencies (SMCs). She said conspiracy theories and rumour-mongering, not backed up by facts and data, should not be entertained. She also said Singaporeans would do well to remember that the country got to where it is today on the collective efforts of generations of leaders, so “let us not mess it up for our children”. Ms Ang did not support the motion to abolish GRCs.
Has the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) system delivered on its promises, 35 years on? Raising and answering the question in Parliament on Wednesday (Jul 5), NMP Janet Ang said 28.3 per cent of elected MPs are from minority communities today, compared to 19.5 per cent in 1987 before GRCs were created. Ms Ang also asked, is the GRC concept still relevant today? She quoted Mr Goh Chok Tong when he moved the second reading of the Bill to implement GRCs in 1988 - “This Bill is to ensure the long-term political stability of Singapore in two ways: first, by ensuring that Parliament will always be multiracial and representative of our society and second, by encouraging the practice of multiracial politics by all political parties." These words still ring true today, concluded Ms Ang, perhaps even more so as the world becomes more polarised. As for the “conspiracy theory” that GRCs were a ploy by the PAP to handicap the opposition, she quoted an article by the Institute of Policy Studies in 2013 - “The winner-takes-all effect of GRCs does not disadvantage credible opposition but in fact, GRCs also advantages the opposition as it can knock out an entire team of PAP candidates in one constituency as it did in Aljunied GRC in 2011”. Ms Ang said the key issue perhaps is the size of GRCs and the number of Single Member Constituencies (SMCs). She said conspiracy theories and rumour-mongering, not backed up by facts and data, should not be entertained. She also said Singaporeans would do well to remember that the country got to where it is today on the collective efforts of generations of leaders, so “let us not mess it up for our children”. Ms Ang did not support the motion to abolish GRCs.
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