"What sort of MP do voters want? - CNA 14 August 2015
SINGAPORE: With Singapore in “election season”, what sort of Member of Parliament do voters want?
This was one of the areas tackled in a wide-ranging, face-to-face survey of 2,000 voters commissioned by MediaCorp and conducted by Blackbox Research between Jul 11 and Aug 6. The survey sample is representative of the national voting population across key demographics such as gender, age, ethnicity and housing. The study has a margin of error of less than 2.5 per cent, said Blackbox Research.
The answer: The ability to solve problems flagged by constituents.
This was the top choice of nearly half of the respondents to the survey when they were asked to rank six potential roles according to which they felt was most important for their MP.
“Taking care of important local or municipal issues” was a distant second followed by an MP's ability to "raise concerns of constituents with relevant Ministers" in third place.
Voters who were interviewed put significantly less emphasis on an MP’s ability to explain Government policy, his ability to help govern the country as well as his contribution to Parliamentary debates.
The survey also asked respondents to rate – from poor to excellent – how their MP had fared in several areas, including raising residents' concerns in Parliament and keeping a visible presence on the ground.
What the MPs did best, according to those surveyed: Ensuring the upkeep of their estates and surrounding, with 76 per cent of respondents giving their representatives at least a "good" rating.
About 68 per cent felt that their MPs had done well at maintaining strong community bonds within the neighbourhood, while 60 per cent felt that they had done a good job voicing residents' concerns about local public transport issues, and also in keeping a visible presence on the ground.
Asked how closely they follow how their local MP is performing his job – 66 per cent admitted that they did not track their MP's performance very closely."
Interesting survey results.
The learning points for me are:
1. the biggest anomaly for me is: The top 6 tasks the voters measured their MPs on are a bit detached from how they rate their MPs' performance on! e.g. upkeep of their estate and surrounding is part of 'solving issues raised by the voters' or 'important local or municipal issues'?;
2. I have been helping in Meet-the-People (MPS) sessions and I noted that MOST voters or residents who seek help from their MPs are UNLIKELY to be those polled since those who seek help are normally unable to help themselves properly. It is debatable if they will be articulating so 'clearly' as required by the survey. Of course, I could not wrong to make that assumption too. Still, even if I am wrong, the MPS issues I learned are many things like: settling parking/speeding fines, neighbours disputes, application for long term pass or PR for foreign spouses, getting first kid into a kindergarten or primary school near their homes, etc. Nothing of that sort described in the Top 6 tasks a MP do!;
3. It is a bit sad that the survey revealed that voters don't care too much if the MPs are able to explain national policies well to them or not. If true, the burden or primary obligation will fall on the civil servants who had to execute the policies? If so, how are we doing here? The recent PG Ambassadors revealed that to truly help the 'intended beneficiaries' of government subsidies and hand-out, community based approach on a wide scale is the way to go! Q. who do this? Each political party to recruit their own volunteers or the existing grassroots organizations funded by government without any peculiar identity to any political parties? I definitely goes for the latter as that will be efficient and effective without any waste of limited resources from duplication!
MPs of whatever political parties must be seen to be 'elected MPs of Singapore' and national efforts MUST not make any political party distinction. Am I being too idealistic?
SINGAPORE: With Singapore in “election season”, what sort of Member of Parliament do voters want?
This was one of the areas tackled in a wide-ranging, face-to-face survey of 2,000 voters commissioned by MediaCorp and conducted by Blackbox Research between Jul 11 and Aug 6. The survey sample is representative of the national voting population across key demographics such as gender, age, ethnicity and housing. The study has a margin of error of less than 2.5 per cent, said Blackbox Research.
The answer: The ability to solve problems flagged by constituents.
This was the top choice of nearly half of the respondents to the survey when they were asked to rank six potential roles according to which they felt was most important for their MP.
“Taking care of important local or municipal issues” was a distant second followed by an MP's ability to "raise concerns of constituents with relevant Ministers" in third place.
Voters who were interviewed put significantly less emphasis on an MP’s ability to explain Government policy, his ability to help govern the country as well as his contribution to Parliamentary debates.
The survey also asked respondents to rate – from poor to excellent – how their MP had fared in several areas, including raising residents' concerns in Parliament and keeping a visible presence on the ground.
What the MPs did best, according to those surveyed: Ensuring the upkeep of their estates and surrounding, with 76 per cent of respondents giving their representatives at least a "good" rating.
About 68 per cent felt that their MPs had done well at maintaining strong community bonds within the neighbourhood, while 60 per cent felt that they had done a good job voicing residents' concerns about local public transport issues, and also in keeping a visible presence on the ground.
Asked how closely they follow how their local MP is performing his job – 66 per cent admitted that they did not track their MP's performance very closely."
Interesting survey results.
The learning points for me are:
1. the biggest anomaly for me is: The top 6 tasks the voters measured their MPs on are a bit detached from how they rate their MPs' performance on! e.g. upkeep of their estate and surrounding is part of 'solving issues raised by the voters' or 'important local or municipal issues'?;
2. I have been helping in Meet-the-People (MPS) sessions and I noted that MOST voters or residents who seek help from their MPs are UNLIKELY to be those polled since those who seek help are normally unable to help themselves properly. It is debatable if they will be articulating so 'clearly' as required by the survey. Of course, I could not wrong to make that assumption too. Still, even if I am wrong, the MPS issues I learned are many things like: settling parking/speeding fines, neighbours disputes, application for long term pass or PR for foreign spouses, getting first kid into a kindergarten or primary school near their homes, etc. Nothing of that sort described in the Top 6 tasks a MP do!;
3. It is a bit sad that the survey revealed that voters don't care too much if the MPs are able to explain national policies well to them or not. If true, the burden or primary obligation will fall on the civil servants who had to execute the policies? If so, how are we doing here? The recent PG Ambassadors revealed that to truly help the 'intended beneficiaries' of government subsidies and hand-out, community based approach on a wide scale is the way to go! Q. who do this? Each political party to recruit their own volunteers or the existing grassroots organizations funded by government without any peculiar identity to any political parties? I definitely goes for the latter as that will be efficient and effective without any waste of limited resources from duplication!
MPs of whatever political parties must be seen to be 'elected MPs of Singapore' and national efforts MUST not make any political party distinction. Am I being too idealistic?
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