Serving residents takes a team, not just one man: Murali

SINGAPORE — Taking a swipe at opposition candidate Dr Chee Soon Juan’s comments that Bukit Batok residents require a full-time Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Murali Pillai, who is People’s Action Party’s candidate for the by-election, said that running a town council efficiently does not solely depend on one man but requires a network of partners and teamwork.

Speaking to the media after visiting residents on Thursday (April 28) evening, Mr Murali said: “We need a team, not just a single person working full-time ... and in Bukit Batok, we are quite fortunate to have a dedicated pool of volunteers with whom I have been working for the past 16 years.”

Together with experienced town council workers, there is also a network of partners such as Fei Yue Family Service Centre and St Luke’s Hospital, among others, who were brought in by the late MP Ong Chit Chung, and they have helped take care of residents’ needs, Mr Murali added.

“So if anyone has the notion that a single person working full-time as an elected representative would be able to address the needs of Bukit Batok residents, I’m afraid he may have to reassess the situation. It does not accord with my own experience having spent 16 years here,” he said, having served in the constituency personally for that period in various capacities.

Mr Murali, a lawyer, was responding to Dr Chee, who said on Nomination Day that he would serve Bukit Batok as a full-time MP to make the constituency the “envy of Singapore”.

As for the Singapore Democratic Party chief’s claims that it was not “humanly possible” to juggle a day job and be an MP, Mr Murali said this is what MPs from the People’s Action Party have been doing all along, and he too has done the same as the party’s Paya Lebar branch chairman for four years.