PA gets dragged into the politics ever since opposition parties won 7 seats in Parliament.
I joined PA briefly for in a Constituency before I left. Below is my confession.
1) Yes. It is true that PA Constituency Managers are paid a lot. Their starting pay is already close to $4000 a month and their bonus can be more than 5 months a year. In fact, those Constituency Assistants with only O levels are paid $2.2K a month after a few years of service.
But on the other hand, they are required to work shifts, weekends and on big events such as National Day celebrations or festivals, they can work more than 6 days a week.
2) Yes. It's true that many PA grassroots volunteers can be political.
Some volunteer due to their children as they want to get into their top primary school and want to collect points. Even simple things like who gets to seat near the MP/ Grassroots Advisor during National Day celebration dinners can be political. Those who seat on the same table and near the MP will be a good judgement on whether you are important or not.
3) Yes. There are many foreigners too who take up PA Courses. In PA, we organise many lessons such as belly dancing, zumba, piano lessons, cookery classes and they charge the same rates for citizens, PRs and foreigners.
When a PRC foreigner is keen to take up zumba dancing classes, she insisted that the trainer speak to her in Chinese and not English as she is not fluent in English. When I replied that we cannot do that as there could be some non-Chinese in the class, she said that majority of the people are Chinese and should bend towards her favour....
4) And Yes again, most foreigners admire Lee Hsien Loong. When Mr Lee was invited to open the inaugural inter-Constituency sports games, many foreigners want free tickets to the event and most say that the major selling point is to see Lee Hsien Loong in person.
5) Yes. We are PAP's mouthpiece. Many policies such as raising transport fees, ERP gantry rates and helping to spread certain interest groups such as balloon sculpting get sent from HQ and down to grassroots level. But sometimes, I wonder how effective these focus groups are. For example, PA organised some grassroots focus groups to invite people to sit down and discuss about White Paper and Singapore Conversation.
Even the most hard-core PAP supporter opposed the White Paper during such closed door focus group meetings but ultimately, all the PAP MPs in Parliament voted for the White Paper.
So do they even bother to organise such grassroots feedback dialogue when they aren't even listening?
6) Yes. PA do work very closely with business groups especially when we need them to sponsor events such as Integration Family Day etc. That's why most business owners such as Hyflux, Crescendas Group and Charles and Keith are pro-PAP.
7) Generally, PA is still a good place to work in. Most people are fun, family oriented and when I first reported to work, one of them even bought me free donuts to welcome me.
Unfortunately, I was only given a one year contract with PA and will need to leave after that.
8) PA has many temps and events-driven, so they prefer to hire people on short-term contracts. After the event is over, you say goodbye. Getting a temp job or a contract job with PA is easy but getting a perm job in PA is very hard.
The most absurb thing is that PA gives you a one year contract without any bonus. Don't take up the job unless you are really hard-up for a job. So far, nobody has been converted from temp to perm in PA.
9) Volunteering and participating actively in PA during your youth days will increase your chances of getting a job in PA. Most PA people do volunteer with PA in their youths. Too bad I didn't so my chances are very low. Now, I am in mid-30s so even if I start volunteering now, it's too late as I am too old.
10) PA does not like opposition parties. It's anathema and a taboo subject in PA. Don't even raise this issue during lunch as it is really sensitive.
CJ
TRS Contributor