Daily Lesson from Life 28 August 2008

"Thu, Aug 28, 2008 The New Paper

'I needed to shout for these people'

HAD it been Taiwan's boisterous parliament, yesterday's little moment might have gone unnoticed. But in Singapore, where Parliament is as proper as they come, the incident was no less than an outburst.

Halfway through the marathon parliamentary session, Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC) suddenly waved a piece of paper frantically at the Speaker, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, like a latecomer flagging a departing bus.

When she got no response, she stood up, walked to the rostrum and stopped the Speaker from moving on to the next question.

Then, with eyes flashing, she said in a terse tone that she needed to rehash a previous point. Backs stiffened. All held their breath.

Okay. No shoes were hurled and no fists thrown. But a fellow parliamentarian had - by Singapore's yardstick - exploded.

The House had been debating a question raised by Dr Neo. She had asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, a three-point question.

One, whether his Ministry is monitoring how lower-income Singaporeans are being affected by inflation and the stagnation of wages.

Two, whether the available assistance is lessening their difficulties.

And three, whether there will be other measures to ensure that no one falls through the cracks."

This is a very rare situation indeed. One that should be welcome though someone might say we should not let it happened at all lest the dignity of the parliamentary debate will be ruined!

The reasons provided by Dr Neo on why she did what she did were: she did not need to be reminded of all the various help schemes the government has as she already know them. She wanted to know how can the government help those that fell through the cracks and are considered, by her, genuinely need public help - financially on an immediate basis and on a long term basis getting these folks better paying jobs!

I do not know Dr Neo well but I thought she would be the last person to truly fight for the poor as she is a relatively wealthy medical doctor! She is always so well dressed and groom. Well, I should have known better. One cannot judge a book by it's cover. I am glad someone in the parliament really try to get the government to respond until he/she is reasonably satisfied.

Lessons for me:

1. do not judge a book by it's cover. Before I form my opinion, I should always endeavour to understand more and find out more. This is especially so when I am forming an opinion about a fellow human being!;

2. if I am the government, I will applaud what Dr Neo had done and NOT blacklist her as the 'renegade' or 'rebel', or worse, 'traitor' to the government cause! Such behavior must be encouraged so that those in charge of solving the problems of the citizens of Singapore get to do a better job or a thorough job! It will be tragic if the one who spoke out and seek a higher standard of responses in parliament is struck down!;

3. helping the poor and outs are a delicate task as we don't want to weaken their resolve to help themselves if there are too much and too generous a handout. It is important to focus on the monitoring what happened after the helps were given and track them. In this way, the fear that the generous handout trapped the poor and outs it intended to help will be addressed properly. It will be real case, real money, and real withdrawal of the money IF the results are indeed the worst fear realized!

I salute Dr Neo for her maverick way and her determination and courage to stand by her conviction. I hope the government will respond positively and proactively find out HOW TO ADDRESS her concerns for her constituents!