According to a tabulation by Chinese papers Lian He Zao Bao, Jurong GRC PAP MP Rahayu Mahzam is the dumbest MP of 2017, making only 8 speeches in a year. Defending her “record”, the part-time MP on a S$192,000/year salary who works full-time as a lawyer told reporters that she does not see the need to repeat questions filed by others:
“Most of my questions are related to the law profession, and I would normally ensure that my questions have not been raised by others.”
The Chinese papers did not give a ranking of who spoke the least as the data is highly embarrassing to the ruling party government.
The list of most vocal MPs are as follow:
1) WP NCMP Leon Perera (151 times)
2) PAP MP Louis Ng (103 times)
3) WP NCMP Dennis Tan (94 times)
4) WP NCMP Daniel Goh (83 times)
The most vocal MP in Parliament is NCMP Leon Perera from the Workers’ Party, who made 151 speeches and questions in a year – or an average of about 3 speeches a week. When interviewed by the media, MP Leon Perera said that there is a lot of questions to ask the government.
However, MP Leon Perera is currently in trouble after the Leader of the House, PAP Minister Grace Fu, demanded that he apologise for misleading the Parliament. The PAP Minister claimed that MP Leon Perera insulted the integrity of the 154th-ranking propaganda state media Mediacorp. According law professor Eugene Tan, MP Leon Perera may be jailed or fined if the PAP government conveys a special disciplinary committee to over-ride his MP-immunity privilege in Parliament.