After GE2011, PAP started a OurSG Conversation to better engage Singaporeans in housing, jobs, education and National Service which were hot button issues brought up by opposition politicians.
Yet on the other hand, we heard from some netizens that some places are fully booked in conversations pertaining to jobs and education so they were unable to register.
REACH Forums were organised on a quarterly basis with Dr Amy Khor charing each session. I have been to a few such as Budget and healthcare sessions and sadly, there are just too many participants trying to air their views but due to the constraint of time, Dr Khor always restrict the audience to just one question for each speaker.
And even so, PAP politicians are quite defensive and have always tried to think of reasons to justify or defend their positions or policies.
For example, when one lady during REACH forum wanted to know why single mothers are not entitled to the same benefits as married couples, Ms Grace Fu said that they want to promote a full family union and to give the same benefits would be one step backwards, the argument got quite heated up.
WP's Tea Sessions are held on a quarterly basis and they usually announce this to engage their residents more. They are held with a tea-makan session and as well as a sit down talk with everyone.
During these sessions, many residents bring up national issues and estate issues so MPs do know the ground level well. Click on attached.
And WP MPs do seem to listen better and be more responsive to our needs, based on their track record in Parliament debates.
For many in PAP held wards, many of us only know our MPs through bursary awards, Countdown festivals or walk-a-jog events. Many of us cannot raise our issues to PAP MPs because these are not appropriate sessions to do so and even if we were to meet our PAP MPs at MPS, it is just not enough and there are just too many in the queue.
WP's Tea Sessions clearly outclasses all the PAP Our SG Conversations and REACH Forums.
CJ
TRS Contributor