"PAPஇன் மக்கள் சந்திப்புக் கூட்டங்களின்போது சிலர் இடையூறாக இருக்கின்றனர்" - அமைச்சர் சண்முகம்

[Deliberate rowdyism, rudeness at MPS last night]

[Deliberate rowdyism, rudeness at MPS last night] Over the last few months, we have noted a small number of persons going around to different Meet The People Sessions run by PAP MPs to be deliberately confrontational, create incidents, try and provoke. They then put out a version of what happened, to put the MP and his team in as negative light as possible. Last night this was tried at MPS. Two sisters came to see me. They were not my residents. Their photo is below in comments. I was walking around outside my Branch office, greeting the persons waiting for MPS, and spoke with them. I asked if they were my residents. They didn’t give a clear answer. I asked again, and one of them said that they were from Punggol. I said that MPS is for residents – for us to help our residents. She then asked me where is it written down, that we will only see our residents. They wanted to talk about POFMA. I was accused of lying because other MPs had seen persons who are not residents. (They accused me of lying, more than once, through the night). Their accusation, that I was lying, was typical of the way the engagement proceeded, through the night. MPS is run by the Branch, by the MP and volunteers. The Branch can decide that it will only see residents, though the MP can exercise some discretion in seeing non-residents. Most people will understand this – and if they didn’t know, they might ask why. They won’t be aggressive and accuse the MP of lying. The antagonistic way in which they spoke, behaved, interrupted, threw accusations of lying, suggested that they wanted to make a scene, get some material to put out, rather than engage in a genuine discussion. I told them that there were a lot of residents waiting to see me, with serious personal issues. I will deal with them first. If there is time, I will see the two sisters and discuss POFMA. If there is no time, then they would be given a time for either me or someone else to see them, discuss POFMA. I also had to step out for a while to join my Malay community leaders, to launch a Hari Raya light-up in my constituency. I explained to them that it was a busy night, I had a lot of office work pending as well – so they had to understand if I was not able to see them that night. After telling them that, I turned around to walk into my branch office. They then shouted very loudly “Coward”. Another person joined them in this shouting. I went back to them to tell them off for behaving in this way – I was quite unhappy with the disruption they were causing. I pointed to them to behave. I also pointed out to them that they were disrupting the MPS. They can’t, as non-residents, come to MPS and insist that their political discussion take priority over the needs of the waiting residents. They said they were prepared to wait. I think I also told them there was no basis for them to shout in a nasty way. Meanwhile, they were showing their middle finger, making scenes. Photo below in comments. I told them that their behaviour was being recorded. They then became very aggressive towards the lady volunteer who was recording. They told her that she should delete the video, and she should not have recorded without their consent. I told them that sometimes, my volunteers will follow me on my rounds, including at MPS, video my interactions, take photos. Those who have seen my FB page would have seen such photos, videos. And it was a public place, outside my branch. As a result of the commotion and noise, several of my volunteers had gathered around. There was a lot of concern. People are not used to this sort of rowdy behaviour, at MPS. The waiting residents were also shocked. Some of them (including a Malay lady) came to apologise to me for the behaviour of these two sisters. I understand that people may feel strongly about some issues. But MPS is not a protest venue. It is where residents go to their MPs to seek help. Many have acute concerns — housing, jobs, medical needs, family issues, and would wait patiently, often for hours, to speak with their MP. Hijacking these sessions is unfair to residents. There are appropriate avenues for advocacy — but disrupting sessions meant to help residents who are struggling with everyday challenges crosses a line. As I walked into my branch, again there was a question of whether I will see them – from the doorway of my branch, I said loudly enough for them to hear, that I will deal with them – I wanted to see them, speak with them, see if we find some common ground. I eventually spent a fair bit of time, about 30-45 min, towards the end of the MPS to speak with the two sisters and two others who came in with them. I told them that we were recording the discussion – because I know what had happened in other MPS sessions. I asked them if they had gone for any other MPS to discuss. I didn’t get a clear answer but think one or both said they had been to one other MPS. I asked if they were recording – and they said they were not recording. I treat discussions at MPS as confidential, so won’t go into what was discussed. Watch the video for what happened outside the Branch.

Posted by K Shanmugam Sc on Thursday, March 13, 2025