Update: I went and he wasn’t there, but there was about 10-15 volunteers helping out over 70 residents. I ended up volunteering, and helped write a court case, do a job application, and hand out food and other sustenance for people who had fallen on hard times. My most interesting observation was that the one person who was paid to do this was absent, but it worked because he provided the office and the legitimacy that could draw out all these people who needed help, as well as the volunteers who wanted to help. I was asked to join the Young PAP but gently declined to do so.
I wondered if opposition ward MPs bothered to show up for their Meet-the-People sessions.
Original post:
I can has ur vote? Plz? O wait nvm no need lolx!
(Please take some Sense of Humour pills before you continue reading.)
The horrific attack on Seng XXX XXXX yesterday made me have a whole new perspective on the meaning of life. Political life. Like any good civil servant I never get too political, but I suddenly realized that one day we in our sheltered little world could be enjoying the good life provided by our MP’s out of their infinite wisdom and goodwill, and then all of a sudden be plunged in to a dark and uncertain age when the MP comes to terms with his/her own mortality.
I live in the Kampong Ubi-Kembangan electoral division, in the Marine Parade GRC. (Trust me, I looked it up.) I know my MP is Dr. Ong xxx xxxx ’cause his face is plastered on a permabanner conveniently hung right outside the MRT station I have used for what must be coming to 10 years of my life now (I recall running around my old Astoria Park condominium getting all excited when my sister was born). I harbor the vague suspicion that he might actually be a medical doctor. I do know he’s awfully good at beaming next to ecstatic multiracial Singaporeans wearing their shiny everyday ethnic dresses.
I seldom pause to give thanks for the great good he has done for our community.
With some effort I have discovered that he has been our MP from 2001-2006 when we were in Aljunied GRC, and from 2006-Present when we became Marine Parade GRC. (Funny, I don’t recall having moved that far) Crushing my hopes for a free health checkup, he is actually a psych doctor. In his illustrious 16 year career he has been various types of doctor in SAF, MOH, Woodbridge, Ren Ci, and the UK. (Well technically he spent 7 years as a “registrar” in the UK and Woodbridge. uh. yeah.) Oh, and earning a Masters in Applied Finance got him a brief stint at GIC as – wait for it – a HR manager and a VP of “Corporate Services” (dept no longer exists). As an MP he has served on three committees with no immediately obvious function, earning him a “PBM” (some medal that’s good to have, I’m vaguely aware).
He likes reading, swimming, and travelling.
My mum says he has played important roles like giving the official mumble at our condominium’s National Day little party, right before the juggler came on stage, and has made striding improvements in our community like giving the nod to establish a Cheers outlet next to the MRT station, as well as giving the nod to lay down the 4 feet of concrete needed so our condominium could have a footpath to the nearest provision shop.
As the chosen (well, sort of) representative of a constituency with a significantly higher wealth/income profile than average, I imagine the honorable Dr. Ong has not a lot of worries in his life. But I haven’t met the guy.
So I decided to go for a “Meet the People” session to see what’s up, maybe ask him what it’s like to be an MP and why he chose to be an MP. And to give thanks for a job well done this past decade. No crime, property values could be improved but thats quibbling, and that footpath has served us well.
It will be an interesting meeting.
The session is tomorrow, more details in a bit.
