Attend 7th Month Dinner
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Yahoo http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/chen-show-mao-barred-events-paya-lebar-154517076.html
Member of Parliament for Aljunied, Chen Show Mao, said on Saturday that invitations for him to attend events at the Paya Lebar division of the GRC have lately been withdrawn by organisers over concern they would not get venue approval from the People's Association (PA) otherwise.
In a Facebook post at 2:06pm on 20 August 2011, Chen, a member of the opposition Workers' Party, recounted that he had been scheduled to attend a Seventh Month dinner in the Paya Lebar ward last week but organisers had called him a few weeks earlier to let him know that they could no longer have him show up.
"The organizers as in previous years had planned to hold the festivities on a hard court in the HDB estate, but this year were told by the Paya Lebar CCC (Citizens' Consultative Committee under the People's Association) that, as a condition for receiving CCC approval to use the venue, they may no longer invite their MP to the event," Chen wrote.
Future approvals would be withheld from errant organisers, he said, adding that the organisers were profusely apologetic.
"It pains me that they felt so embarrassed to pass me the news. Regrettably, this is not the first time it has happened since I was elected," Chen said.
He pointed out that August is a month of festivities, including that of National Day, a "day of our progressive nationhood."
Many residents have talked to him about the events they are organising in the neighbourhood, and some of them wish to invite him, while others do not see the need to, he shared.
"That is all fine by me... there is really no call to force our residents into a quandary over whom they may invite as guests to their own events," he concluded.
Yahoo! Singapore sought a reaction from the PA on Saturday evening and is awaiting a response.
The PA was established as a statutory board on 1 July 1960 to promote racial harmony and social cohesion in Singapore. It has a network of 1,800 grassroots organisations.
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In contrast, PAP MP Tin Pei Ling attended a 7th month dinner in Aljunied Crescent (under Marine Parade GRC) last night and even made a speech on stage.
Ms Tin also attended a 7th month dinner in MacPherson on 11 August 2011:
Why are PAP MPs allowed to attend 7th month dinners to mingle around with their residents but not non-PAP MPs? How are they supposed to perform their duties as MPs if they are not given the opportunity to know their residents better?
The People’s Association is supposedly a statutory board funded by taxpayers’ monies, but has been ‘converted’ to become the PAP’s de facto ‘grassroots’ branch over the years.
CCCs, CCs and RCs are usually led by PAP branch secretaries and members. In the case of Aljunied GRC, losing PAP MP Ong Ye Kung was appointed as an ‘adviser’ of its grassroots organizations though Aljunied voters had clearly rejected him in the May election.
Speaking to a delegation of visiting Chinese officials two years ago, PAP supreme leader Lee Kuan Yew boasted that “all CCCs, CCs and RCs are part of the PAP.”
While Aljunied residents are not allowed to invite their elected MPs to grace their 7th month dinners, RC boards are allowed to hang banners of PAP-endorsed presidential candidate Tony Tan:
According to a tip-off we received, grassroots resources were also mobilized to support Tony Tan in his ongoing election campaign.
(An article will be published tomorrow on this. Still waiting for verification of some information from our informants)
With the CCCs, CCs and RCs under the iron-fisted control of the totalitarian PAP regime, it will be an impossible task for Singaporeans to vote the PAP out of office via the ballot box in the future especially with the increasing number of new citizens the PAP is currently recruiting into these “public” organizations funded by taxpayers’ monies.