The social entrepreneur and labour economist have become mainstays on the podium since they were appointed officially on Sep 26, 2018 as part of the 14th batch of nine NMPs.Among their peers, Ms Ong and Associate Professor Theseira have spoken the most number of times on bills and filed the most number of parliamentary questions .
His research areas of applied microeconomics, as well as public and labour economics are often relevant to issues that come up in Parliament, he added. However, he also questioned how an NMP’s performance is measured since they are not elected representatives. Mr Irshad gave some examples of bills he felt he added value to during the debates. Between October 2018 and February 2020, he spoke on eight of them.
In his case, a"tangible output" would mean highlighting issues that have a national impact, is of public interest or surfaces people's concerns. For instance, representatives from religious or youth communities have in the past came to him with the hopes of getting a problem heard or fixed.His appointment extends beyond parliamentary sittings, he said.
“If you’re going to speak up on something which is not relevant or in the pipeline or agenda, I feel that that’s wasting your own research time and Parliament time.”Mr Douglas Foo, founder and CEO of Sakae Holdings and vice chairman of the Singapore Business Federation, noted that aside from speaking up in Parliament, NMPs also take on other roles in committees and workgroups behind the scenes.
Notably, Ms Ong, who said that she advocates for civil society, often brings up mental health and climate change issues. This is no accident, she said, noting that she has brought up either issue in every bill she has spoken on. Being persistent does bear fruit, Ms Ong attested. She said she has been engaging the Ministry of Health on mental health issues for the upcoming Budget.
Stressing that he does not have pet causes, he explained that he often speaks up on the topic because he felt it was important that LGBTQ individuals and issues are represented in Parliament. “When I entered the position I felt that it would mean basically having a larger classroom and a very interesting position from which to share academic insights in a way that was productive and constructive to policy-making,” said Prof Lim, who spoke on the Protection from Harassment Act.
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