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Apr 25, 2011
Attributes of a First World Parliament
PEOPLE'S Action Party MP Indranee Rajah said the Workers' Party (WP) is refusing to explain what it really means by "First World Parliament", so as not to alarm voters ("The inconvenient truth about WP's campaign slogan"; last Saturday).
She goes on to suggest how the WP should explain its campaign theme - by identifying the countries that can be held as models for a First World Parliament.
I disagree. My take of the WP's "First World Parliament" is that it refers to certain attributes. Let me explain what I mean by way of an example.
I followed the debate in Parliament on minimum wage. Given that there are very cogent arguments for and against the imposition of minimum wage, and that the policy concerns the plight of the lower-income group, I would have thought that the debate could be more substantive, analytical and thorough.
For this to come about, a "First World Parliament" would recognise that since a great deal of information must be gathered and scrutinised, and that many other governments have considered and implemented a minimum wage policy, an independent impact analysis study should be commissioned to do the research and present its findings to Parliament for debate.
The study could, among other things, examine similar studies undertaken by the other governments; consider the relevance or otherwise of their findings and the applicability of their post-study experiences to Singapore; seek the views of various experts on the multi-factorial aspects of the issue specific to Singapore; and investigate what steps can be taken to neutralise the adverse effects, if any.
Armed with such an impact analysis study, our MPs would be better placed to debate the policy robustly.
I therefore see in the WP's definition of "First World Parliament" a reference to the best practices and attributes of good governance in policymaking. And no, I do not see any cause for alarm.
David Hew
http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_660698.html
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