I urge the Government to arrange a by-election in Hougang as
early as possible.
It is not the fault of the voters of Hougang that they have now
lost their elected Member of Parliament. It is also their
constitutional right to be represented by an elected political
leader in Parliament.
One possible reason given to justify a delay in holding a
by-election is that the Prime Minister has pressing
national issues to attend to.
I suggest that he should leave the arrangements of the
election to his civil servants, who should be quite capable of
attending to this matter and who are probably not as hard
pressed as the Prime Minster.
An early by-election would demonstrate to the world
that the rights of the citizens are respected.
The argument that the Prime Minister has urgent national issues to attend to, reflects a type of convoluted thinking that is quite common in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteRead this article by Eugene Tan http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/02/29/nmp-eugene-tan-rebuts-pap-mp-hri-kumar-nair-on-interpretation-of-by-election-laws/
ReplyDeleteI read with interest the 2 legally trained persons "arguing" over the interpretation of ENGLISH words in the last two days in TODAY Forum page...LOL. One with PAP affiliation and one without as NMP.
ReplyDelete..."Article 49 of the Constitution does not say that an election shall be "called" to fill a vacant seat. It simply prescribes that the vacant seat "shall be filled by election".....
Is the mindset "stuck-in-between" and typical of people who like to "muddle through" ? ... I know the results of the argument certainly still requires an "election". TKL would say be "positive". So our public servants plus MPs are not??? Or are they pushing and blaming the Law Minister? LOL.
Could see PAP MP Sri Nair did not do his homework well.
ReplyDeleteIt is our constitutional right to be able to vote, GE or by-election the same.
Eugene Tan, this is one NMP, who made us sit up and have a really good look at him, unlike the rest of the NMPs who are just decorative icing on the cake.
Ha Ha ! Talking about MP Nair, SC no less, giving us his understanding of our Constitution and the English language !
ReplyDeleteIf the PM were to base his decision on the By-Election for Hougang SMC with his learned colleague opinion, I am afraid Singapore may end up a laughing stock among City-States & Countries.