“Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah said the priority system for children going through Primary One registration is not linked to the government.” –TODAY, 13 May 2013.
The Senior Minister was responding to a suggestion by Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), Lina Chiam, to abolish the primary school registration priority scheme for community leaders which she says is linked with the government.
Ms Indranee added that community leaders who get priority include those serving the Residents’ Committee, Neighbourhood Committee, Citizen’s Consultative Committee, Community Club Management Committee and the Community Development Council.
Ms Indranee’s statement that this is not linked to the government is a curious one for several reasons.
All the organisations she mentioned fall under the purview of the People’s Association (PA). You can view them here on the PA website. The PA, in turn, falls under the purview of the Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), as mentioned here in the Straits Times in December 2012:
“THE board of management of the People’s Association (PA) has been reappointed for another three-year term, with Mr Lawrence Wong replacing Mr Chan Chun Sing following the restructuring of their ministries last month.
“Mr Wong is the Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, whose ministry oversees the organisation tasked to promote racial harmony and social cohesion in Singapore.”
The Board of the PA includes 5 ministers (including PM Lee as its chairman), one former minister as its advisor, and one current PAP MP. It is therefore hard to believe that the scheme which gives priority to community leaders of the PA’s grassroots organisations is not linked to the government.
To further confuse the matter, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew made statements which confirm the relationship between the PA and the Government and the PAP.
“I make no apologies that the PAP is the Government and the Government is the PAP,” Lee said in 1982.
In December 2009, Lee confirmed the relationship between the ruling PAP and the grassroots, when he spoke of how the Chinese had been studying Singapore, as reported by the Straits Times here:
“They discover that the People’s Action Party (PAP) has only a small office in Bedok. But everywhere they go, they see the PAP – in the RCs (residents’ committees), CCCs (citizens’ consultative committees), and the CCs (community clubs).”
So, to put it simply:
The PAP – which “is the Government” – permeates the grassroots organisations which fall under the PA. The PA has five ministers, including PM Lee Hsien Loong as chairman of its Board. The PA, in turn, falls under the MCCY. The MCCY is a ministry under the government.
Maybe Ms Indranee would like to explain how the priority scheme for community leaders of the grassroots organisations is not thus linked to the government.
Andrew Loh
*Article first appeared on http://andrewlohhp.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/indranees-curious-claims/