By A record 50 Singaporeans have submitted their names for consideration to be selected for nine Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) positions, said Singapore's parliament house Tuesday.
This is the highest number of applications for the scheme since its introduction in 1990, the previous record for which had been set five years ago, with 48 submissions.
In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Singapore’s parliamentary office said that 34 of the submitted applications are from members of the public, while the remaining 16 are from various sectors of society.
These are divided into seven functional groups, namely:
• Business and industry
• The professions
• The labour movement
• Social service organisations
• Civic and people sector
• Tertiary education institutions
• Media, arts and sports
The panel deciding on the nine NMPs, known as the Special Select Committee, will convene early next month to consider and nominate the 50 applications for the nine seats. Once the nine selected candidates have been finalised, the list is forwarded to the President to appoint them accordingly.
Eight members of parliament (MPs) currently sit on the committee, chaired by parliament speaker Michael Palmer, include:
• Defence Minister and Leader of the House Ng Eng Hen
• Senior Minister of State for the Ministries of Information, Communication and the Arts and Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu
• Minister of State for the Ministries of Home and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli
• Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministries of Education and Law Sim Ann
• MPs Ellen Lee, Low Thia Khiang and Janil Puthucheary
The statement also said that as part of the selection process, the committee consulted with other elected MPs for views on the 50 candidates, and have collected the views of their respective referees.
Applications for the nine NMP positions were open from 2 November to 8 December this year.
Singaporean director Anthony Chen described as “surreal” the 15-minute standing ovation that followed the world premiere of his debut feature film "Ilo Ilo" at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. Though the ending of the premiere couldn’t have been more perfect, the 29-year-old Chen said the beginning was quite “nerve-wrecking” as it was marred by technical glitches.