SINGAPORE – Newly-elected Member of Parliament Tin Pei Ling, who was subjected to intense criticism online in the run-up to the polls, held her first Meet-the-People Session (MPS) yesterday.
Ms Tin, 27, told reporters that the caseload in MacPherson, the ward she is helming, was higher than when she was helping out previously in Ulu Pandan. But having had a feel of the broad-ranging cases in MacPherson after shadowing former MP Matthias Yao for about a month, Ms Tin said she was confident about working with the residents in MacPherson.
Many of those who turned up were low-income families seeking financial assistance and help to secure rental flats, said Ms Tin, one of the five People’s Action Party (PAP) MPs in Marine Parade GRC.
Madam Maimunah Jaffar told MediaCorp: “I came to ask for a rental flat, on behalf of my mum, then for me. I’m very confident that she can help the residents here.”
Another resident Meera Manja said: “Personally I think she’s okay. We expect her to help us, who are needy.”
On Sunday, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, the anchor minister for the GRC, acknowledged that sentiment around Ms Tin had affected the PAP vote in the GRC. However, he added that he had no doubts that Singapore’s youngest MP in three decades could do the job.
Earlier, before her MPS session, Ms Tin told reporters that more needed to be done to engage the young and to listen to what they had to say – through face-to-face interaction and the use of social media.
When asked how the PAP could listen more to the ground, especially the youth, Ms Tin said: “We need to empower them by giving them space as well as the resources for them to do so.
“I think this is something we’ve been doing but we can do it better, to continue to reach out to more young people. And not just student leaders but down to every young resident.”
