Angered by the increasing number of criticisms against the ruling party, PAP Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan Jin hit back claiming that Singaporeans are always finding faults with the government:
“But having understood some of these things, a rational individual would be like… ‘All right, that’s fair’, and then find other things to disagree about.'”
The demoted-PAP Minister who now draws only half his previous million-dollar salary then complained about Opposition MP Sylvia Lim, saying she is blocking the PAP MPs from filing questions:
“Last year, some people claimed PAP MPs had filed adjournment motions to block that of Workers’ Party MP Sylvia Lim on the presidential election. There was some talk about Mr Vikram Nair and Mr Murali Pillai blocking Ms Lim. Conversely, if you use the same logic, one could argue she was blocking them.”
Tan Chuan Jin continued his attack on the opposition, complaining that they are making too many questions above their minority numbers:
“Opposition MPs actually raise more than one-third of the questions, although they make up only nine out of the 100 members of the House.”
The former army general then stated his reluctance to having live-streaming in Parliament, saying that viewership is low and no one is interested in watching parliamentary debates. The PAP Speaker said Singaporeans who want the live-streaming are just in for the gossip and not the debate:
“The annual Budget statement is shown live, but viewership is low. I suspect that what they want to see is what happens in between speeches. This could include MPs speaking to one another or how many attend the scheduled sittings that are typically held once a month.”