‘Was I making any difference?’
He realises his viewscould influence juniorpolicymakers
Wednesday • April 8, 2009
Loh Chee Kong
HE WAS the first Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) to proclaim his intention to re-apply for a second term.
But as Mr Siew Kum Hong (picture) revealed, he “struggled” for months before coming to a decision because he kept asking himself the same question: Was he making any difference?
Mr Siew, 34, told Today: “I ask myself why am I doing all this?”
After an eventful two-year term that included a failed petition and futile objections to the recent changes to the Film’s Act, the staunch advocate of civil liberties believes he has found the answer, somewhat.
Optimistically, from his perspective, his views would influence “junior policymakers” who would shape government policies in time to come. At worst, his dissenting views would go down in the history books — or at least in the Hansard — in place of a “near-uniform chorus of voices in Parliament endorsing everything”.
Having had no inkling at all what to expect in Parliament, Mr Siew confessed that it did not take too long for the former lawyer, who is now a senior legal counsel for Yahoo! South-east Asia, to find himself in the thick of the action.
Memorable exchanges are aplenty, said Mr Siew, as he recalled how his calls for greater public spending to help the needy saw him labelled as “reckless” — and even “dangerous” — by some of the ministers.
“I had to be on my toes in a way that I haven’t been since I stopped going to court,” said Mr Siew.
Ruling out the possibility of joining any political party — because of various reasons, including his inability to “toe the party line” — Mr Siew revels in his role of challenging underlying assumptions and principles of Government policies.
“I actually made a very conscious decision to question the fundamentals ... if you want to talk about policy refinements, the PAP MPs would almost always do a better job than me,” said Mr Siew.
Which brings him back to his first conversation with the Prime Minister whenMr Lee Hsien Loong met the fresh batch of NMPs over lunch in May 2007.
Mr Siew said: “That was just after theParliamentary debate on the ministerial salaries. So I asked PM: ‘After all the debate ... nothing’s changed ... so what is the purpose?’”
According to Mr Siew, Mr Lee pointed out the primary function of Singapore MPs is to make a “political contribution” — which Mr Siew understands to mean “putting on record” what citizens feel — unlike their counterparts in the Western democracies who, with the help of their own policy staff, dissect the nuts and bolts of policies.
Taking PM’s stance “to heart”, it is something he “consciously bears in mind” these days.
In fact, it was partly what drove Mr Siew to start a petition to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code — which criminalises homosexual acts — even though he already knew what would be the outcome.
“I didn’t expect anything to change,” he said. Still, “if my role is to make a political contribution, then I will do my best to provide one,” Mr Siew added.
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