First World Parliament needs competition

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Apr 25, 2011
First World Parliament needs competition
I REFER to People's Action Party MP Indranee Rajah's letters ("WP's fictional First World Parliament"; last Tuesday, and "The inconvenient truth about WP's campaign slogan"; last Saturday).
They represent an unproductive picking of words and a distraction from the real issue confronting us, which is to have competition in Parliament.

To me, a First World Parliament is one in which there is competition and robust debate of policies in the interest of the nation and the various constituencies represented by different MPs, which is lacking now.
In every sector, from transport and health to education, we have competition, which we are told is healthy. However, we are effectively told that no competition is required when it comes to Parliament. This is disingenuous as the presence of more Non-Constituency MPs does not amount to competition.
Daniel Tan
http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_660697.html

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