7/10: “Yes-men” PAP MPs embarrassed themselves by saying instinctively “Yes” (wrongly) to reduce budget of Home Affairs Ministry

“Yes-men” PAP MPs embarrassed themselves by saying instinctively “Yes” (wrongly) to reduce budget of Home Affairs Ministry
March 7th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
Written by Our Correspondent
PAP MPs are so used to saying “yes” in Parliament that they almost screwed up the budget of the Home Affairs Ministry by agreeing to reduce it.

PAP MP Alvin Yeo from Hong Kah GRC tabled a motion on Thursday to reduce the budget of the Home Affairs Ministry. As he was not present during the debate on the next day, Speaker of the House Abdullah Tarmugi asked MPs to decide to approve the motion.
As the PAP MPs are used to saying “Yes” in Parliament for many years, when the Speaker asked for a decision to be made on the motion, all of them shouted “AYE” in unison instinctively which prompted him to raise his head to hint to the MPs to listen carefully before voting again.
The PAP MPs realized their boo-boo and shouted “NO” amidst a chorous of laughter to reject the motion which allowed the budget for the Home Affairs Ministry to be passed through.
Below is an excerpt on the embarrassing incident reported by Lianhe Zaobao on 6 March 2010:
“内政部的开支预算辩论昨天结束，但是前天对它提出削减动议的议员杨康海（丰加集选区）当时偏偏不在席上，使得拨款委员会主席、议长阿都拉必须要求议员们表 决是否同意削减动议。换言之，如果议员要完整地通过内政部的预算，就必须喊“NO”来反对削减动议，可是执政党议员多年来似乎已习惯了喊“AYE”，所以 当议长提出表决时，他们都自然地喊出“AYE”，促使他猛抬起头来，示意议员们听清楚表决。结果，内政部预算才“有惊无险”地在议员掺杂着笑声和更大声喊 出的“NO”声中，获得通过。” (read rest of article here )
Parliament is supposedly an important place where major decisions concerning the nation are deliberated upon, debated vigorously and decided on by lawmakers voted by the people to represent their interests.
In Singapore, it is relegated to no more but a “wayang kulit” as epitomized by the above incident as the PAP has held an overwhelming majority for 50 continuous years.
Though one third of the population voted for the opposition during the 2006 general elections, they are represented by only 2 out of 84 seats in Parliament.
As such, the ruling PAP is able to bull-doze past unpopular policies and force them down the throats of hapless Singaporeans without consulting them.
This has led to glaring policy mistakes being made such as the liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies which have caused considerable hardships and sufferings to ordinary Singaporeans.
The PAP MPs are only allowed to “debate” on issues, but the ultimate say in the drafting up of policies lie in a small group of senior leaders within the party. Once a decision is made, they are expected to toe the party line and vote accordingly to serve its interests.
For example, the recent Parliamentary “debate” on the Budget is nothing more but a routine “mutual back-scratching” exercise for PAP leaders to sing praises of their “achievements” and for their subordinates to lick their boots for it has already been announced beforehand by the Finance Minister.
In other countries, the issues are first discussed and debated on involving lawmakers from all opposition parties before the Finance Minister draft up the Budget to be put to a vote.
This unique phenomenon is engineered by PAP’s founder and octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew who said in 2008:
“To be the prime minister, you don’t have to know every instrument, but you got to recognise, ah, he’s a good violinist, he’ll be the first violinist, he’ll be the double bass. He will play the viola, he will have the trumpet, he will do the drums. Then you coordinate them and then you have great music. And if you already have a great orchestra, you can put a dummy there and you still got great music.”
[Source: Channel News Asia, 5 March 2008]
He is proven wrong this time. Even with 82 dummies in Parliament, they can sometimes still sing the “wrong tune” if they are not “vigilant” enough.
http://www.temasekreview.net/2010/03/07/yes-men-pap-mps-embarrassed-themselves-by-saying-instinctively-yes-wrongly-to-reduce-budget-of-home-affairs-ministry/


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