inSing.com, 10 Sep 2012Seven People's Action Party members are among the 26-member committee, such as Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, and Senior Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong.
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Lina Chiam, who spoke to Today newspaper, said the Singapore People's Party (SPP) was "deeply disappointed" that the committee only included PAP politicians. She is the chairman of the party.
She also noted that there is a need for alternative voices on the committee, such as those from bloggers. "Otherwise, Singaporeans will regard this as yet another publicity stunt by the Government (and) not regard it as a sincere or genuine conversation, let alone a national one. Given these circumstances, the SPP will be deliberating whether we even have a role to play in this or not.”
On its website, the Singapore Democratic Party told Channel NewsAsia in an unpublished interview that the government is “using this exercise to manage their discontent instead of making a sincere effort of reforming the political system and allowing Singaporeans a genuine say in how the country is run”. It added that “the biggest challenge for this dialogue is how to pretend to have a conversation with only one side talking”. Full story
