Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has come out to say on Facebook, that MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling has worked hard and 'won over the hearts and minds' of her residents.
In lavishing praise on her, he said he was always confident that despite her age, she could build rapport with the older residents there. He added:
"The last three years have proved this so. Pei Ling and her team of activists and volunteers have worked hard. Some were sceptical at first, but she and her team have won over many hearts and minds."
He cited the reopened Macpherson Community Club (which he presided over) as an example of the work done by her and her team, and thanked them for 'building on the work done by the pioneer activists in the ward and its former MPs - Chua Sian Chin and Mathias Yao. The Asiaone report stated that the FB post was shared 21 times and had 741 likes, the vast majority in agreement with the PM and proceeded to share 3 examples of this effusive praise.
All this is well good but let's consider a few things in the proper perspective. No one is saying that Ms Tin has NOT done anything good in MacPherson or failed to assist some of the residents. This is 1 criticism we cannot use to describe all PAP MPs, whether it's Ms Tin or other not so popular MPs like Foo Mee Har, Vikram Nair, Lee Bee Wah and Janil Puthucheary. Of course every MP, be they PAP or WP, have done some form of good or helped some, maybe even a large number of residents, that's besides the point isn't it? Why do we elect MPs and pay them an allowance of nearly $14k? To do nothing? To just walk around and smile, open community projects and celebrate community and national events? Of course not, they were elected to do a duty, to serve the residents and take note of their concerns besides being a lawmaker. These are the basics and I'm sure you'll find residents in every ward, who'll testify to some of the good work their respective MP has done. Even some opposition supporters will concede this.
Next is his point of the new MacPherson CC. I happened to pass by this venue a few nights ago and was indeed impressed by its design and look. But the same can said of all the CCs that are undergoing refurbishment. I noticed that former PM Goh Chok Tong's Marine Parade CC is also undergoing refurbishment. It was already one of the grandest CCs and I'm sure it'll be even grander. Can we give all the credit for this to Mr Goh? Of course not, this is a public place paid by state funds. It's not as if Mr Goh will part with a large sum of his own money to upgrade the CC. So if we cannot lavish effusive praise on Mr Goh for Marine Parade CC, how can we lavish such praise on Ms Tin for MacPherson CC?
A sight to behold - Marine Parade CC. Are we supposed to praise former PM Goh Chok Tong for this as well? Might as well praise every CC on its incumbent PAP MP.
Did she design the new CC? No. Did she finance the CC? No. Did she have control over the budget, the architecture and all the work done to upgrade it? Of course not. Maybe she might have received some feedback from residents or gave some of her input, I say maybe, perhaps she can clarify this point. But the fact of the matter is that its upgrading and the costs lie with the People's Association which manages CCs and the respective ministries that provide the budget, approval and are responsible to ensure it comes into being as stipulated. At the end of the day, all of them are responsible to the public, since it's a public project designed for public use. Perhaps instead of praise, some might even criticise the need to utilise public funds for this purpose, eg: Marine Parade CC didn't look in a state of disrepair, it was already very large and grand, did it require an upgrade at this juncture? But let's give MacPherson CC the benefit of doubt, it was upgraded in order to provide better facilities for residents and other Singaporeans. Ok good job, well done, but don't push it to the extent that the whole thing was the work of 1 woman - Ms Tin Pei Ling.
And finally to this FB thingy. so there have been a vast majority of praise and agreement. But is this the whole picture? Isn't the PM's FB page managed by 1 of his assistants? Try posting some nasty remarks (not slanderous of course) about the PM or PAP policy and see how long it'll remain there or whether the user will be allowed to make similar posts in future? Obviously the page is managed and non-supportive or disagreeable comments will be deleted. So at the end of the day, all but a few of the replies to the PM's post will be positive. And by the way, didn't the PM say that 'people who go online to post stuff' are all frustrated or something similar? It cuts both ways Mr PM, you can't on the 1 hand say, 'Hey we don't really bother with online comments, they are just a small minority of frustrated people' and the on the other choose to accept the comments of those who are in agreement. Either both are to be dismissed or both given the same amount of weight and credence.
And so it brings me to the $150,000 (the approximate yearly MP allowance) question:
Since you are confident and convinced that Tin Pei Ling has won over the hearts and minds of MacPherson residents, there's only 1 actual way to confirm this - Why not carve MacPherson out of Marine Parade GRC and let Ms Tin run alone in a single member constituency?
No amount of FB praises and comments, no amount of 'interviews' with residents (some might not even be residents), no amount of op-eds and articles in the Straits Times, TNP, Wanbao (oh yes, we've already been told by these 'eminent, unbiased' news sites a number of times about Ms Tin's sterling work), no amount of remarks by Goh Chok Tong and the other MPs and no amount of opinion polls can give us clarity and confirmation of your assessment except by way of the ballot box.
If she's really doing such a good job, I'm sure she'll win re-election on her own merit and go on to become of the PAP's best ever MPs. She won't need to slip in via a GRC helmed by a former PM or Minister, or to be mollycoddled by other senior MPs. And don't forget this is MacPherson we're talking about - a ward with a high number of older voters, normally a reliable bastion of support for the PAP. This is also a ward that even SDP chief Chee Soon Juan couldn't win in the 1997 GE and last but certainly not least, you have all the instruments of state and party at your disposal to ensure Ms Tin's re-election. It's up to your discretion as to how to carve out this ward, you will know which were the precincts that had a higher vote percentage for the PAP and those of the neighbouring precincts in another ward. It's really up to you to have a ward in place comprising a solid block of PAP supporting precincts.
Riding on their coattails - Tin Pei Ling won her seat purely because she was in a GRC in 2011. If she's so good now, then she'll have no worries defending her seat on her own.
With all these and your assessment of Ms Tin, she should have no worries of winning re-election. Maybe there might be a 3 or 4 cornered fight even, splitting the opposition votes further. So what's there stopping you from doing this, Mr PM? There's a saying - 'put up or shut up.' If Ms Tin has really succeeded and done a marvellous job, put her up in a MacPherson SMC, and if she retains her seat, a lot of people who questioned the wisdom of fielding her in 2011 or her credentials, will have no choice but shut up and respect the wishes of the majority of residents there.
John Major challenged those against his leadership to 'put or shut up' by resigning as party leader and offering himself for re-election in a party ballot in 1995. He handily won re-election. This is the only 1 way the PM can answer Ms Tin's critics, by letting her defend her seat alone.
Until and unless this is done, it's very much up for debate about her qualities and suitability to be an MP. No amount of lavish praise from whatever or whoever, can paper over these doubts. For the moment, us sceptics will read your FB post and the propaganda that surrounds it with a large pinch of salt.