Wanted: good citizens to watch Parliament

by Bertha Henson

SO SPEAKER of Parliament Halimah Yacob has lamented that not enough people followed the recent Budget debate. She thinks that this is a pity because plenty of issues were raised and discussed.

I almost wanted to laugh. Because I feel sorry that as Speaker, she’s the one who has to listen to speech after dreary speech, unless she passes the chair to her deputy. Even ministers can take a break, but the Speaker stays put, keeping an eye on the clock and MPs who step out of line. Did she want more people to share her pain? I wonder…

But, as I said, I “almost wanted to laugh’’ because keeping track of speeches is no laughing matter, as my experience of covering Budget debates over a very long period of time has shown me. If there was plenty of parrying between front- and backbenchers, your ears would prick up. But debates (rather a misnomer here) are so civil as to be yawn-inducing.

And that’s why people do not follow the Budget debate.

Yet she is right to say that people should follow the debate (despite its soporific quality). People will say that the Budget has “nothing to do with me and whatever I need to know, I will know sooner or later’’. Perhaps, some will say what the G wants done will get done anyway, so why follow a debate that will lead to the inevitable conclusion pre-decided by the G?

This year’s Budget is supposed to be a “transformative’’ budget, but the bet is that not many people care if it is transformative or not. Probably one thing the ordinary people will remember of this year’s budget is that a sacred cow has been slaughtered: unwed mums will get some help. Parents may know that the PSLE scoring system will be revised, but miss out the fact that this will come only six years later. Would-be daddies would have heard of the extra paternity leave.

If you want to know more, read Budget bounty.

Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng suggested that a month-long public consultation take place in November before a draft Budget Statement is released in February for the coming financial year. After which, there should be another month-long round of public consultations so Parliament can gather feedback from the ground and work towards incorporating it into the final Budget Statement. (Let’s be clear: He is talking about the Budget Statement, not the work of various ministries.)

He said: “Is this process more tedious? The answer without a doubt is yes. But will people feel more engaged, more empowered and will this strengthen our partnership with fellow Singaporeans? The answer is without a doubt also yes.”

Now, some of this is already being done, through the G’s feedback portal, Reach, for example. Trade associations, on the other hand, have never needed any prompting, putting up their wish lists way beforehand.

Never mind the tedium, is Mr Ng’s idea good or bad? On the face of it, it is about empowerment. But the issue is whether all of us have the maturity to accept that given our various needs and wants, some decisions, including unpopular ones, will have to be made in the end. Will we become more fractious as a result, with the biggest lobby and the biggest voices drowning out the rest?

Say it is tedious and the costs outweigh the benefits, then the easiest and most passive way to get involved in the political life of a country is to simply make a start by following the debates.

When elections come around, we are glued to the internet or the television set, and we find our way to rallies. After we’ve voted, what do we do then? Leave the elected to do all the thinking for us? That is hardly good citizenship.

We might be glad that there are opposition MPs to check on the G, or that our choice of representative is sitting in Parliament. But that cannot be the end of our involvement. What are our MPs saying? Are they keeping their campaign promises? Are they asking tough questions to hold the G to account? Do they have new solutions to problems? How is the G behaving towards the elected representatives?

Then there are the Non-Constituency MPs (NCMPs) and Nominated MPs (NMPs). They are the unelected who have been given a voice. Are they respectful of the privilege they have been given? Have they raised issues that the elected, because of party allegiances, might not be able to raise?

Following parliamentary debates (I am not saying that we have to follow “everything’’) is a mark of responsible citizenship – and informs our vote for future elections.

Let’s be good citizens – if it puts us to sleep.

 

P.S. If the Speaker is concerned about a lack of interest, why not televise Parliamentary proceedings (at least the Budget debate) live or on a dedicated channel? It’s technically possible. And what about working to get the Hansard published sooner than the “seven to ten working days” it currently takes? Or is this not worth the budget?

 

Featured image from TMG file. 

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The post Wanted: good citizens to watch Parliament appeared first on The Middle Ground.

- Bertha Henson