Nine NMPs appointed
(UPDATED 2 Feb at 11.25pm, adding NMP Eugene Tan's reaction to nomination)
Nine Singaporeans have been appointed Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) by the government on Thursday.
They are Faizah Haji Ahmad Jamal, Nicholas Fang, Janice Koh, Laurence Lien, Mary Liew, R Dhinakaran, Eugene Tan, Tan Su Shan and Teo Siong Seng.
The general public and functional groups were invited by the Special Select Committee to submit nominees for appointments as NMPs on 2 November, 2011. The deadline for submissions was 8 December, 2011, where a total of 50 proposal forms were received.
The committee considered 47 candidates, as three forms were invalid, in its assessment of suitable candidates for appointments as NMPs.
On how they chose their nominees, the chairman of the Special Select Committee said: “We wanted NMPs who could bring their specialised knowledge and experience to add to the depth and breadth of the debates in Parliament. This will help Singapore as we address together key challenges ahead.”
Ng Eng Hen, Leader of the House and member of the Committee added that they had many high quality candidates from which to choose nine NMPs.
However, the Committee’s final selection was to ensure the “widest representation possible, so that the varied interests and needs of different groups of Singaporeans would be heard in Parliament.”
Former national fencer Nicholas Fang, who was the only individual applicant, shared with Yahoo! Singapore his plans as an NMP.
“The nominees in the functional groups tend to represent constituencies such as sports, media, art and tertiary institutions. [But] personally, my own interests lie in sports and media, among other issues such as business and international affairs.”
The 36-year-old added that it is good to have a strong show of the select committees to have a diverse range of voices in Parliament to raise a broad range of issues.
“It’s [also] good to have healthy and intelligent debate on all issues that matter to Singaporeans. A slate of people with different interests will ensure the debate is robust and representative of the people as well,” said Fang.
Meanwhile, in an email interview with Yahoo! Singapore, Eugene Tan, an assistant law professor from Singapore Management University, said that it is a privilege and an honour to be appointed as an NMP.
Commenting on his role as an NMP, Tan said that "[he] sees it as being no different from [his] being an academic and regular commentor on Singapore government, politics and society. Sure it's a larger platform but the motivations are the same -- to add to the debates and to be non-partisan."
"Indeed, I hope to use my non-partisan standpoint to bring forth views that may not be expressed by the three political parties represented in Parliament," he adds.
Tan also highlighted areas that he will focus on, such as pre-school and lifelong education, political development, civil society as well as "issues that affect Singaporeans but don't get enough attention".
"I intend to use the first couple of parliamentary sittings to see where I can contribute most effectively. But I won't want to be a mono-issue NMP, focusing exclusively on one area. That would not be using the potential of the NMP scheme fully. It's a platform to contribute and I should make the best of it for the benefit of Singaporeans," said Tan.
President Tony Tan will present the Instruments of Appointment to the nine NMPs next Thursday. The NMPs will take their oath at the next Parliament sitting on 14 February.
