SINGAPORE: The impending elections did not distract the Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) from her work. “Even with speculation abound[ing] over the timing of the next election, our work in Parliament continued,” she posted on Facebook on April 14, just the day before Parliament was dissolved and elections called for May 3.
Ms He summarised what she did in last week’s sittings, which turned out to be the final deliberations of Singapore’s 14th Parliament,
Despite the election buzz, legislation work has gone on. Last week, Ms He, a longtime advocate for mental health, followed up in Parliament on the issue of regulation in mental health services through data release-style questions.
She was also among the parliamentarians who asked questions about “finfluencers” – specifically if the government sees the need to review safeguards against non-licensed influencers who provide financial advice – after a finance provider temporarily suspended withdrawals early last month.
Additionally, she acted on recommendations in a recent report from the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) concerning transporting foreign workers in lorries. She asked the Minister for Transport whether the government would consider a phased timeline towards a ban on lorries transporting workers, with subsidies to support the transition for smaller businesses.
“Unfortunately, the Minister argued that it is ‘not operationally possible’ to do so,” noted the Sengkang MP.
Ms He, who chairs the Sengkang Town Council, said that following feedback from residents, she filed a question asking for more clarity and understanding about the regulations on the Early Childhood Development Agency’s oversight and role in addressing child abuse cases.
She added that they had also received questions regarding when an HDB flat would be subjected to a fresh minimum occupancy period (MOP) in the case of a divorcee buying a part-share of their flat from their ex-spouse pursuant to a court order.
“The Minister of National Development clarified that HDB approves any MOP waiver on a case-by-case basis,” added Ms He.
Her post has been well received by social media users, one of whom called her “one of the most hard-working MPs among all constituencies” and added that Sengkang’s constituents “lucky.”
“Keep up the excellent jobs. Best wishes in this coming GE,” they added.
Another agreed, writing, “And humble. No entourage, no PA, no grassroots, and no influencers when the WP MPs did their rounds to visit residents and not just at MPS.”
“Thank you for asking about the MOP waiver,” wrote a Facebook user, who added that they feel that MOPs cause “unnecessary hurt” to Singaporeans.
Over the weekend, Ms He, together with her fellow Sengkang MPs Louis Chua and Jamus Lim, were out and about at the Rivervale Shores coffee shops, saying hello to the residents having lunch.
“While most of the patrons were our #SengkangGRC residents, we met several diners who were from the non-Sengkang GRC part of Sengkang, Fernvale too!” wrote Mr Chua. /TISG
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