harishpillay

Tilting the playing field

I was reviewing the information at the Elections Department site on what are the terms and conditions for standing for election.

If you look at the section entitled “Registers of Electors“, it says:

“The register of electors contains, amongst other things, the following:

  • name of the constituency and its sub-division known as polling districts; and
  • particulars of the electors:
    • serial no;
    • name;
    • address;
    • sex.”

What are the “among other things”? I have just sent an email to eld_feedback@eld.gov.sg asking just that.  Hopefully it will not be a stock non-reply.

Now, if you look at another section entitled “Notice of Election“, it says in part c:

“the payment of deposit (a sum equal to 8% of the total allowances payable to MPs in the preceding year, rounded to the nearest $500).”

I am amazed that they cannot even place an actual dollar value.  Are the allowances paid to an MP (nice way of saying it instead of “salary”), such a moving target that it cannot be quantified? And why should it be pegged at anything like that? This is yet another example of how over the years, the ruling party has skewed and tilted the playing field in their favour.

2 comments


  2. Here’s the email I sent the elections department:

    To: eld_feedback@eld.gov.sg
    date: Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 6:23 PM
    subject: Questions about Register of Electors and Deposit

    ELD Feedback –

    Hi. I refer to [0], and the section entitled “Register of Electors” which
    says:

    “The register of electors contains, amongst other things, the
    following: name of the constituency and its sub-division known
    as polling districts; and particulars of the electors: …”

    Can you please tell me what “amongst other things” would be? What are
    the other things that the register of electors contains?

    Further down on the same page, under the heading “Notice of Election”,
    section c, it reads:

    “the payment of deposit (a sum equal to 8% of the total allowances
    payable to MPs in the preceding year, rounded to the nearest $500).”

    Why is there no fixed amount indicated on your page? What is the
    actual amount?

    Thanks.

    [0] http://www.elections.gov.sg/elections_parliamentary.html
    —

    Their reply:
    to “h.pillay@ieee.org”
    cc “ELD Feedback (ELD)”
    date Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 10:11 AM
    subject Re: Questions about Register of Electors and Deposit

    Dear Mr Pillay,

    Thank you for your email to Elections Department. The Registers of Electors contain the particulars of the voters such as the NRIC number, gender, address, name of constituency, polling district and voter serial number.

    The amount for the election deposit is based on 8% of the total allowance payable to a Member of Parliament and this may change with every year. The actual amount can only be made known after election is called. For your own reference, the election deposit amount in GE2006 was $13,500.

    Regards,
    [I’ve taken out the name and designation]
    Elections Department
    Prime Minister’s Office

    Visit our website at http://www.elections.gov.sg/

    —

    and my reply (which has not been replied to):

    to [email address removed]
    cc “ELD Feedback (ELD)”
    date Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 10:50 AM
    subject Re: Questions about Register of Electors and Deposit

    [salutation removed] –

    Thanks for the reply.

    > Thank you for your email to Elections Department. The Registers of Electors contain the particulars of the voters such as the NRIC number, gender, address, name of constituency, polling district and voter serial number.

    Could you put that info on your website please? Keeping these things clear and specific is important.

    > The amount for the election deposit is based on 8% of the total allowance payable to a Member of Parliament and this may change with every year. The actual amount can only be made known after election is called. For your own reference, the election deposit amount in GE2006 was $13,500.

    I am puzzled. Surely, the allowance is a known quantity isn’t? It cannot be something that changes on a monthly basis.

    Thanks again for replying.

    Regards.
    —
    Harish Pillay h.pillay@ieee.org gpg id: 746809E3

    Reply

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