It’s official: ‘Duckweed’ Daniel Goh is the third NCMP
The Workers’ Party’s Daniel Goh, a candidate for East Coast GRC at GE 2015. Yahoo Singapore file photo
It took a heated two-hour Parliamentary debate, a controversial amended motion and accusations of dishonesty and even hypocrisy from both sides of the political divide, but it’s now official: Daniel Goh of the Workers’ Party will be the third Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP).
In a declaration dated Thursday (4 Feb), Returning Officer Ng Wai Choong of the Elections Department said, “In accordance with section 52 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, I, Ng Wai Choong, Returning Officer, declare Daniel Goh Pei Siong of The Workers’ Party as the candidate elected as a non-constituency Member of Parliament.”
Goh, a sociology professor and WP candidate for East Coast GRC, now joins his fellow NCMPs Leon Perera, who also contested in East Coast, and Dennis Tan, who lost in Fengshan SMC.
The seat was vacant as former Punggol East MP Lee Li Lian declined to take up it. She cited her work commitments and the need to “give respect to the voters’ decision”.
Hackles rise in Parliament as MPs from both sides clash
Last week in Parliament, MPs from the ruling People’s Action Party and WP crossed swords over the coming amendments to the NCMP scheme. This will see fulling voting rights in Parliament extended to NCMPs, and the minimum number of opposition MPs, including NCMPs, raised from nine to 12.
WP chief Low Thia Khiang had said NCMPs have “no muscle”, and are like “duckweed on the water of a pond”, having no roots because they did not have a constituency or run a town council. Nevertheless, the WP had filed a motion asking for Lee’s seat to be declared vacant and filled by Goh.
The motion was eventually passed, but not before an amendment was added by Government Whip Chan Chun Sing saying, “The WP supports this political maneuver to take full advantage of the NCMP seat, even as its secretary-general criticises NCMPs as just ‘duckweed on the water of a pond’”.
All eight WP MPs abstained from voting on the motion.
In a Facebook post dated 30 Jan, Daniel Goh cited his own opposition to the NCMP scheme as well. He said, “But for me, personally, at this point in my life, and as I see it, at this point in Singapore’s history, the principle of national service trumps the political principle of opposing the NCMP scheme. If my country sees fit that I contribute as duckweed, then it is my honour to be duckweed Goh. It is no insult; it is a privilege.”
