SINGAPORE: The Members of Parliament in Sengkang appear to have a collaborative leadership style, with The Workers’ Party’s He Ting Ru, Louis Chua and Jamus Lim regularly involving residents in finding solutions not only on a community level but also for the whole of Singapore.
Ms He, who chairs the Sengkang Town Council and oversees the Buangkok ward, wrote about the latest round of Sengkang Conversations in a Facebook post on Wednesday (April 2).
She noted that these town hall meetings have “evolved into a space for residents to not only openly share concerns and opinions, but also meet with us and others in the community to work on crowdsourcing ideas and solutions for our town and nation to thrive.”
The session first worked together on an exercise involving a neighbour dispute, which is all too common in Singapore, where space is limited and people from diverse cultural backgrounds live closely together in small spaces.
Ms He wrote that in the exercise, residents together thought of ways regarding what they could do in such a dispute before they shared the issue with a larger group.
“This helps us develop creative and new ideas that can help make things a bit better. After all, solutions that work in real life are often made up of many small things within both our control, as well as the control of others we team up with,” the MP added.
She also wrote that the residents and MPs tackled varying issues, ideas, and proposals that ranged from concerns regarding accessibility in Singapore’s new buses, food and beverage industry workers being required to wear masks or spit guards even in hot kitchens, and the availability of lifts for people with mobility challenges during busy hours.
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The MP wrote reassuringly that some of the issues above are already being addressed either in Parliament or at the Town Council level, while newer issues are being looked into.
Ms He’s post has been met with many positive comments, including one Facebook user who expressed appreciation that “residents have their voices heard” in Sengkang.
Another commenter praised Sengkang’s “down-to-earth MPs” and others encouraged them to keep up the good work.
On The Workers’ Party’s Facebook account, where Ms He’s post was shared, one user on the platform wrote, “Crowdsourcing of ideas – this is great, everyone can take ownership as well.”
“This is ‘partnership’ where there’s engagement and the people are ‘listened’ to,” another noted.
This is not the first time in recent months that netizens have expressed their approval of the Sengkang MPs. In a post in January, Reddit users noted how often they see Ms He, Mr Chua and Assoc Prof Lim on the ground.
“There’s an aspect to judging their performance that wasn’t included, which I think is important: their actual presence in their wards,” a Redditor wrote, adding that the three MPs, hold in-person town halls, Sengkang Conversations, regularly.
They found it “amazing” that the MPs could answer specific questions related to requests for minor improvements at the block level, recall case requests, and explain limitations right then and there.
“If you’re in Sengkang, you know how much work they put in; they are consistent with the meet-the-residents session under the block till late night,” another chimed in, noting that the MPs do so despite not having “an actual office.”
Another agreed, saying the team “really does put in the hours.”
One commenter saluted the three WP MPs for their “Pure SG gold work ethics.” /TISG
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