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SINGAPORE: People's Action Party Members of Parliament (MPs) must expect sharper questioning in Parliament now that there are more opposition MPs and a Leader of the Opposition, and be prepared to engage in robust exchange, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Aug 1).
Mr Lee said this in a eight-page letter outlining the Rules of Prudence to PAP MPs. The letter, which was also released to the media, is traditionally sent out by the Prime Minister to PAP MPs after every general election.
Singapore's most recent polls were held on Jul 10, with the PAP securing 61.2 per cent of the votes and 83 out of 93 availabe seats in Parliament.
Singapore’s 14th Parliament will have 10 elected MPs from the Workers’ Party and two Non-Constituency MPs from the Progress Singapore Party.
WP secretary-general Pritam Singh was officially appointed Leader of the Opposition last month, a first for Singapore.
Political office holders were sworn-in on Jul 27 at the Istana and Parliament House.
"With more opposition MPs in the new Parliament, and a Leader of the Opposition formally designated, we must expect sharper questioning and debate in Parliament," said Mr Lee.
"PAP MPs should express their views frankly, whether for or against Government policies. During debates, speak freely and with conviction. Press your points vigorously, and do not shy away from robust exchange," he said.
He also said that PAP MPs should be prepared to engage the opposition, clarify their interventions and scrutinise their ideas.
"However, please exercise judgment when putting your points across, and do not get carried away playing to the gallery," he said.
The Rules of Prudence contained a new section on social media, with Mr Lee saying that MPs may use it as a platform to inform the public about their work and share their views, but that they must also be mindful of decorum and accuracy.
"Be mindful you are a public figure elected by your residents. So observe decorum, ensure factual accuracy as this is an absolute requirement for us, and remember every social media post will be permanently associated with you and the Party," said Mr Lee.
He also cautioned MPs against using social media to attack others or engage in extended engagement online.
"Be honest, empathetic, positive and affirming in all your messages. Know your audience and be sensitive to how they feel. Do not use social media to attack another person," said Mr Lee.
"While social media is another way to connect with people, do not end up in long and extended engagement online. You also need to interact with your residents and attend to their needs in person," he added.
Here are some of the other points PM Lee made in the letter:
UPHOLDING REPUTATION AND INTEGRITY
Mr Lee stressed the importance for every MP to uphold the rigorous standards the party has set for itself, and that they cannot be compromised.
"One vital factor that has enabled the PAP to retain the trust of Singaporeans all these years is honesty and integrity. The PAP's reputation for clean, incorruptible government is one of our most precious assets," he said.
"Never give cause for allegations that you are misusing your position, especially your access to Ministers. That would discredit both you and the Party."
SEPARATE BUSINESS AND POLITICS, DECLARE GIFTS
MPs must separate their public political position from their private, professional or business interests, said Mr Lee.
They must not exploit their position as MPs, their contacts with ministers or access to government departments and civil servants for their personal or business interest.
"Do not use Parliamentary questions as a means to lobby the Government on behalf of your business or clients," said Mr Lee.
MPs should also not accept gifts that might place them under obligations that conflict with their public duties.
Gifts that are not from close friends or relatives must be declared to the Clerk of Parliament, who will have them valued. Should an MP wish to keep the gifts, they must pay the Government for them at the valuation price.
PARLIAMENT
MPs are expected to attend all sittings of Parliament and should seek permission from the Government Whip if they have to be absent," said Mr Lee.
"I have asked the Speaker to give all MPs, particularly new MPs, ample opportunity and latitude to speak in Parliament. Your first opportunity will be during the debate on the President's Address at the opening of Parliament in August 2020. Following that, at the Budget Debate, all MPs should speak up," said Mr Lee.
"Your honest, informed views are an important political input to ministers when they formulate and review policies. Ministers will accept valid, constructive suggestions, but they have to challenge inaccurate or mistaken views. Over time, the public will see that PAP backbenchers are as effective as opposition MPs, if not better, at holding ministers to account, getting issues fully debated, and influencing policies for the better," he said.
FUND-RAISING AND FINANCIAL PRUDENCE
Party branches should not raise funds on their own without permission, for example, by soliciting advertisements for a souvenir magazine or a carnival.
For constituency and grassroots organisations that need to raise funds, for example for a new community club or to sponsor community events, effort should be made to gather multiple small contributions, rather than one or two large donors.
MPs should also manage their personal finances prudently and not over-extend themselves or become financially embarrassed.
"This would be not only a potential source of personal embarrassment, but also a weakness which may expose you to pressure or blackmail," said Mr Lee.
DIRECTORSHIPS AND DECLARATION OF INCOME
While the Party allows MPs to serve on the boards of private and publicly listed companies, MPs should not solicit directorships lest they appear to be exploiting their political position for benefit.
MPs should also not accept directorships where the role is just to "dress up the board with a PAP MP or two, in order to make the company look more respectable".
"Before accepting, consider the possible impact of the directorship on your political life," said Mr Lee.
Mr Lee also told MPs to declare their business and professional interests, present employment and monthly pay, retainers and fees to him by Aug 28.
GENERAL BEHAVIOUR
As a whole, MPs must always uphold the high standards of the Party and not have lifestyles or personal conduct that will embarrass themselves and the Party, said Mr Lee.
"Any slackening of standards, or show of arrogance or indifference, will erode confidence in the MP, and ultimately in the Party and the government," he said.
"Always conduct yourselves with modesty, decorum and dignity, particularly in the media. You must win respect, not popularity, to stay the course."
SINGAPORE - People's Action Party MPs must expect sharper questioning and more robust debates in Parliament with more opposition MPs and a Leader of the Opposition in the House, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Aug 1).
In a letter on how the ruling party MPs should conduct themselves, he told them to be prepared to engage the opposition, to clarify their interventions and scrutinise their ideas.
"PAP MPs should express their views frankly, whether for or against government policies. During debates, speak freely and with conviction. Press your points vigorously, and do not shy away from robust exchange," he said in the eight-page "rules of prudence" traditionally issued to PAP MPs after each general election.
The ruling party won 83 out of 93 seats and 61.2 per cent of the votes in the July 10 polls in which all seats were contested.
Noting this, PM Lee, who is the head of the PAP, said: "The people have endorsed what we have done in our previous term, and given us a clear mandate to take Singapore forward, through the crisis and beyond.
"Now we must work with Singaporeans to keep Covid-19 in check, protect jobs and livelihoods, and make sure everyone comes through safely together."
In a new section in the letter, PM Lee also specifically addressed the use of social media by MPs.
Social media has become a part of daily life and MPs are free to use it to let the public know about their work or their views, he said, urging MPs to "have some fun" and to "try out different platforms".
But he also asked them to be mindful as elected officials and public figures.
"So observe decorum, ensure factual accuracy, as this is an absolute requirement for us, and remember every social media post will be permanently associated with you and the Party," he said.
"Be honest, empathetic, positive and affirming in all your messages. Know your audience and be sensitive to how they feel. Do not use social media to attack another person."
PM Lee also reminded MPs that social media is but one way to connect with people, and they have to attend to residents' needs and interact with them in person.
In the rest of the letter, he reiterated points he has been making over the years on the need for PAP MPs to uphold the party's reputation for clean and incorruptible government.
To this end, they should separate their public political status from their private business or professional interests, PM Lee said.
This means that MPs should, among other things, be careful of the invitations and gifts they accept, and ensure they do not lobby public officers on behalf of friends, clients or the like.
MPs also should not solicit directorships or accept those where the company wants to "dress up the board with a PAP MP or two, in order to make the company look respectable".
As MPs, they must also always listen closely to Singaporeans and help them to tackle pressing needs, and express their worries and aspirations to the Government.
"Never break faith with the people," he said.
Sharing the letter on Facebook, PM Lee said: "Whether or not we are in a pandemic, our responsibility as MPs is clear. We are servants of the people, and will carry out our duties with integrity, honesty and incorruptibility. We will always be sensitive to the views and attitudes of the people we represent, and conduct ourselves with humility, modesty, decorum and dignity."
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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday (Jul 31) he would sign an executive order as soon as Saturday to ban fast-growing social media app TikTok in the United States, as American authorities have raised concerns the service could be a tool for Chinese intelligence.
US officials and lawmakers in recent weeks have voiced fears of the wildly popular video platform being used by Beijing for nefarious purposes, but the company has denied any links to the Chinese government.
Media reports circulated earlier Friday saying that Trump would require the US operations of the app be divested from its Chinese parent firm ByteDance, but the president announced a ban.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said: "As far as TikTok is concerned, we're banning them from the United States."
He added he would take action as soon as Saturday using emergency economic power or an executive order.
The move would be the culmination of US national security concerns over the safety of the personal data that TikTok handles. It would represent a major blow for TikTok's owner, Beijing-based ByteDance, which became one of only a handful of truly global Chinese conglomerates thanks to app's commercial success.
Trump's announcement followed frantic negotiations on Friday between the White House, ByteDance and potential buyers of TikTok, including Microsoft.
They failed to produce a deal that would result in the Chinese company shedding the app's US operations, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are expected to continue in the coming days.
While Microsoft already owns professional social media network LinkedIn, it would face fewer regulatory hurdles in acquiring TikTok than its more direct competitors, such as FaceBook, one of the sources said.
But ByteDance's valuation expectations for TikTok of more than US$50 billion, and its insistence on retaining a minority stake in the app complicated deal talks, another source said.
"Not the deal that you have been hearing about, that they are going to buy and sell... and Microsoft and another one. We are not an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) country,” Trump said.
It was not immediately clear what authority Trump had to ban TikTok, which has up to 80 million active monthly users in the United States. It was also not clear how the ban would be enforced and what legal challenges it would face.
ByteDance, Microsoft and the US Treasury Department, which chairs the government panel that has been reviewing ByteDance's ownership of TikTok, declined to comment.
"While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok," TikTok said in a statement.
As relations between the United States and China deteriorate over trade, Hong Kong’s autonomy, cyber security and the spread of the novel coronavirus, TikTok has emerged as a flashpoint in the dispute between the world’s two largest economies.
Last week, the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs unanimously passed a bill that would bar US federal employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices. It will be taken up by the full Senate for a vote. The House of Representatives has already voted for a similar measure.
ByteDance has been considering a range of options for TikTok amid pressure from the United States to relinquish control of the app, which allows users to create short videos with special effects and has become wildly popular with U.S. teenagers.
ByteDance has received a proposal from some of its investors, including Sequoia and General Atlantic, to transfer majority ownership of TikTok to them, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The proposal values TikTok at about US$50 billion, but some ByteDance executives believe the app is worth more than that.
ByteDance has also fielded acquisition interest in TikTok from other companies and investment firms, Reuters has reported.
ByteDance acquired Shanghai-based video app Musical.ly in a US$1 billion deal in 2017 and relaunched it as TikTok the following year. ByteDance did not seek approval for the acquisition from CFIUS, which reviews deals for potential national security risks. Reuters reported last year that CFIUS had opened an investigation into TikTok.
The United States has been increasingly scrutinizing app developers over the personal data they handle, especially if some of it involves US military or intelligence personnel. Ordering the divestment of TikTok would not be the first time the White House has taken action over such concerns.
Earlier this year, Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech sold Grindr, a popular gay dating app it bought in 2016, for US$620 million after being ordered by CFIUS to divest.
In 2018, CFIUS forced China's Ant Financial to scrap plans to buy MoneyGram International Inc over concerns about the safety of data that could identify U.S. citizens.
VALUABLE STARTUP
ByteDance was valued at as much as US$140 billion earlier this year when one of its shareholders, Cheetah Mobile, sold a small stake in a private deal, Reuters has reported. The startup's investors include Japan's SoftBank Group Corp.
The bulk of ByteDance's revenue comes from advertising on apps under its Chinese operations including Douyin - a Chinese version of TikTok - and news aggregator app Jinri Toutiao, as well as video-streaming app Xigua and Pipixia, an app for jokes and humorous videos.
Some of the company's other overseas apps include work collaboration tool Lark and music streaming app Resso.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, a former Walt Disney Co executive, said in a blog post on Wednesday that the company was committed to following US laws, and was allowing experts to observe its moderation policies and examine the code that drives its algorithms.
JAKARTA: When archaeologist Candrian Attahiyat heard that the Jakarta city government was planning to widen the flood-prone Ciliwung River last year, he was immediately alarmed.
Part of the river cuts through Jakarta’s heritage area and the normalisation project would see the capital’s main waterway broadened by up to 15m, threatening the few remaining sections of the 400-year-old perimeter walls built by the Dutch East India Company.
Only less than 500m of the 4.6km fortified walls still stand today.
While some sections are well preserved, others are left in varying stages of decay, overrun with trees and vegetation.
In one area, the walls are sinking into the subsiding ground below with more than two-thirds of their 8m body now sitting below sea level. Jakarta has one of the worst subsidence rates in the world due to over-extraction of groundwater.
But the walls' biggest threat is modern development. Throughout their history, huge parts of the walls have been dismantled to make way for houses, buildings, streets, railways and toll roads.
Mr Attahiyat and other archaeologists are racing against time to have the walls declared as conservation sites.
“Right now, we are able to keep various development projects from damaging the walls. But we need the heritage site status because future administrations might not be so attentive about the walls’ presence,” the 62-year-old archaeologist told CNA.
But even after more than a year of advocating for the walls' heritage status, they still have not succeeded and the plan to have the Ciliwung River widened has been merely postponed but not repealed.
Meanwhile, Mr Attahiyat would soon end his tenure as one of Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan’s advisers on cultural preservation, a position which had provided him leverage in the mission to keep the walls intact.
STEEPED IN HISTORY
The walls represented a time when Jakarta, or Batavia as it was known at the time, was a small seaside town no bigger than 1.3 sq km.
The Dutch East India Company intended Batavia to be its regional headquarters, complete with houses, buildings, facilities and city planning modelled after those found in the Netherlands.
After a series of confrontations with the locals and attacks from neighbouring kingdoms, the company decided to build defensive walls in 1620 to protect itself. The walls were completed in 1650.
The company wanted Batavia to be occupied exclusively by Europeans and selected Arab and Chinese merchants. Meanwhile the local population were evicted and made to live outside of the walls in poor living condition.
The only indigenous people allowed inside the walls were slaves, mercenaries and those facing execution.
“The town was very exclusive and very segregated. Trespassers would be severely punished. In fact, the indigenous people would get shot for even approaching the walls,” Mr Attahiyat said.
“The walls served as a reminder of how the city came to be. An edifice of the struggle of the indigenous people living outside of the walls. A reminder of what life was like back then. They are a part of our history which need to be preserved for future generations.”
The walls stand about 6m to 8m tall. Their thickness ranged between 1.5m and 1.8m, complete with footpaths to allow heavily armed guards to patrol the perimeter. A system of moats and ditches was dug around the walls for extra protection.
The fortified walls were linked to a total of 27 bastions equipped with cannons, strategically placed to keep enemies at bay as well as to protect the entrances into the city. Only two of the bastions remain today.
The fortification subsequently became obsolete in the beginning of the 19th century.
Batavia, with its Dutch-style architecture and city planning, proved to be unsuited for Indonesia’s tropical climate and weather. The town was often flooded since its canals and drainage system were not designed to handle torrential rains during the archipelago’s rainy season.
By 1790, Old Batavia was virtually abandoned by its European inhabitants who moved into the suburbs to build villas with large front lawns and porches.
Meanwhile, the Dutch government took over control of the archipelago after the Dutch East India Company became entangled in financial woes. The company eventually ceased operation at the end of 1799.
The new ruler was not interested in keeping Batavia as a small segregated town and wanted a thriving colonial capital.
Between 1808 and 1811, all of Batavia’s important administrative buildings were relocated further south in what is now Jakarta’s city centre. To save cost, much of the fortified walls were dismantled to serve as materials for the new buildings.
“For the first time, Old Batavia became desegregated,” Mr Attahiyat said.
UNDER THREAT
The Dutch, the archaeologist said, only allowed the original defensive walls to stand if they were part of existing warehouses. These centuries-old warehouses were located on the seaside northern section of Old Batavia.
“The rest were dismantled, right down to the foundation,” Mr Attahiyat said, adding that for the last 34 years, he had been trying to find remnants of the demolished walls with very little luck.
But today, the 400-year-old warehouses are largely abandoned and the perimeter walls protecting them are crumbling.
The only pristine and well-preserved sections of the walls are the 155m stretch which protected the northern part of what is now the Indonesian Maritime Museum and the 70m walls surrounding a 19th century watchtower built on top of a 17th century bastion.
The walls there survived because the museum and the watchtower has been declared as cultural heritage sites.
However, even the well-preserved walls are under threat from land subsidence.
At the Maritime Museum, only the upper half of the 8m walls are visible from street level and the moat surrounding the museum has long been paved.
The average land subsidence affecting Jakarta is 1.15cm a year, with some parts of the city sinking as much as 25cm annually.
According to a model conducted by Indonesia’s Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), 95 per cent of the coastal areas in Jakarta could be entirely submerged below sea level by 2050, including parts of Old Batavia.
The subsidence affecting the walls just west of the museum was worse.
The 184m walls there were almost completely buried underneath sediments, reclaimed land and trash, with only 1m to 2m of the massive walls sticking out of the ground.
But despite being flooded by salt water and rain and overrun with thorny shrubs and tall trees, the walls still stand, as abandoned warehouses next to them crumbled and decayed.
Meanwhile, the walls running through the western, southern and eastern parts of Old Batavia are pretty much gone, replaced by busy streets, houses, buildings and apartment blocks.
But a 50m stretch of the wall survived at the ancient town’s north eastern corner, sandwiched between densely populated housing areas and a mud-covered lorry parking lot.
Unaffected by land subsidence, the section is now the only place where visitors can appreciate how massive and tall the defensive walls were.
Although the area is not facing land subsidence, the north eastern section is under threat from the Ciliwung River normalisation plan.
LONG BATTLE AHEAD
Mr Attahiyat said the government has agreed to postpone plans to widen a particular offshoot of the river which straddles near the north eastern wall. "But they need to conduct further studies before formally changing the normalisation plan," he said.
But the archaeologist is not content with a postponement adding that the only thing which would protect the walls’ future is for them to be granted a heritage site status.
“A heritage site status would ensure that the walls would be preserved the way they are now regardless of regime and policy changes,” he said.
Parts of the walls were destroyed as recently as 1992 to make way for a toll road. And until now, there are locals who damage the walls by fastening makeshift tents onto their surfaces or stealing exposed bricks and using them as building materials.
“But getting the walls declared as heritage sites is not easy,” Mr Attahiyat said. “The warehouses have been abandoned for so long, no one is sure who owns them any more.”
The archaeologist said many of the warehouses are owned by companies which no longer exist. Officials also need to unearth long forgotten documents to see if the walls are part of their properties or not.
“It is a slow process but we have to do it. We have to preserve these walls,” he said.
SINGAPORE: When Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali issued his ruling on Tuesday (Jul 28), convicting former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak of seven counts of money laundering, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power, there were distinctly different reactions among groups of political players.
Najib’s hardcore supporters, especially those he rallied and recruited to his political comeback cause in a well-organised “Bossku” campaign after his fall from power two years ago, were utterly devastated. Teary scenes and shouts of disbelief were aplenty outside the courthouse.
Meanwhile, a celebratory mood over Najib’s convictions descended on the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) camp.
They had raised Najib’s involvement in the 1MDB scandals on numerous occasions, as a major campaign platform in the 2018 Malaysian general election that ushered the coalition into power, and had been aggrieved at having the reins of government snatched from them earlier this year by the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, which includes Najib.
Scores of PH politicians posted on social media satirical photos of themselves eating Superings, poking fun Najib having done the same with the popular snack previously following news of PH’s loss of power.
A more nuanced response to Najib’s conviction was issued by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, calling broadly for the course of justice and, more specifically, for Najib’s rights to appeal to be respected.
Perhaps more than many other senior politicians, Muhyiddin would have the moral high ground to laud Najib’s conviction.
After all, five years to the day of Najib’s conviction was when Muhyiddin was unceremoniously fired from the Malaysian Cabinet by Najib for publicly questioning his role in the 1MDB debacle.
No love was lost but political expediency and the passage of time saw them both accept moving into the same ruling coalition, making the last couple of months since Muhyiddin was ushered into the top office awkward and strained.
THE SHAKE-UP IN UMNO
Still, it was somewhat astonishing to see UMNO president Zahid Hamidi to express strong disappointment with the verdict. “Surely UMNO will do something about it. What we are going to do will decide the direction of the current government,” he said.
He sounded as if he had expected a vastly different verdict and was holding the PN coalition responsible, not just only for this particular case against Najib, but possibly with an eye on the other corruption-related charges levelled against him and a number of other senior UMNO politicians awaiting trial.
Will Zahid seek out some way to exact some form of political retribution?
His announcement on Thursday that UMNO as a bloc, would no longer be a part of PN, although UMNO’s members of parliament (MP) would, at least for the moment, support Muhyiddin as prime minister, suggests he has kicked some wheels into action.
In this same announcement, Zahid also revealed UMNO will focus on strengthening its Muafakat Nasional (MN) alliance with the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), which Bersatu has expressed interest in joining.
While this purported political realignment does not immediately threaten the viability of the PN government, the stage has been set for a “reverse takeover” within the admittedly loose ruling coalition to take place.
UMNO REVEALS ITS AMBITIONS
UMNO is the backbone of the governing coalition with the highest number of MPs. Sentiments for UMNO to assume the driving seat instead of continuing to play second fiddle to Muhyiddin and his much smaller Bersatu have been simmering since the PN takeover earlier this year.
Najib’s conviction may just be a convenient excuse for this dissatisfaction to be released. But UMNO must be careful to manage the situation gingerly, lest it risk destroying the very government its support is holding up and create an opening for the opposition PH to seize back power.
After all, UMNO may not be as politically monolithic, speaking with one voice through Zahid, as Zahid makes it out to be.
There are numerous other competing factions in UMNO, some of which are unhappy seeing longstanding party figures such as Najib, Zahid and those embroiled in corruption scandals maintain power, and would be contented for them to be marginalised.
If that happens, these other factions hope to rush in to fill the political vacuum and grasp the reins of the party, which still wields a resourceful and formidable political machinery.
Khairy Jamaluddin, former UMNO Youth Chief, who is also the current Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, and a prominent figure in the party, called for UMNO to move forward with leader rejuvenation that will “take the party into a new era” on Tuesday.
A DELICATE BALANCE
For the time being, the PN government will survive this delicate balance, amid a relentless onslaught from the opposition, which continues to mount motions of no confidence against Muhyiddin and an UMNO that has its eye on the top job.
After all, Muhyiddin is a seasoned politician with a highly flexible bent. After getting the sack from Najib in 2015, Muhyiddin joined Dr Mahathir Mohamad in forming Bersatu. When the PH government was formed, he was willing to accept a somewhat more junior position of Home Affairs Minister.
When opportunity presented itself to topple the PH administration earlier this year, Muhyiddin was quick to seize it to cap his political career with the premiership.
His application to join MN speaks to his political flexibility. I would not rule out the possibility of him working with some of the friendlier UMNO factions, or even with some disgruntled factions from PH, to ensure a political coalition that includes Bersatu.
UMNO is pushing for Muhyiddin to call for a general election expeditiously, as it believes it can win more seats that would enable it to unseat Bersatu’s prime position, working together with PAS under MN.
Muhyiddin knows this. He is at best ambivalent. He’s not likely to warm to the prospect of Bersatu being overwhelmed in both seat allocation and subsequent performance in any snap polls that are called.
Oh Ei Sun is a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
