Raviphilmon.net, 9 Sep 2012"Even if 8 out of the 26 members of this PAP Government's initiative are PAP members, The Minister in-charge of National Conversation, Mr Heng Swee Keat, reportedly said that this 'is not a partisan exercise'.
As the blogosphere was being set abuzz by this comment of Mr Heng's and by another Committee member Sim Ann's comment about slaughtering 'cow-peh, cow-bu', which seemed to indicate that crtiics were just a lot of noise, another member of the Committee, Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin, came in to give more clarity to what Mr Heng had actually said.
This National Conversation cannot be a grounds-up effort, it cannot be led by thought leaders, even parliamentarians from the opposition cannot be in the Committee (or even its sub-committees). They can only be participants because this is a PAP Government initiative, and so, only the PAP can lead it. Full story
