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Was she retired?

Ng Tze Yong Thu, Aug 28, 2008 The New Paper 'I needed to shout for these people' HAD it been Taiwan's boisterous parliament, yesterday's little moment might have gone unnoticed. But in Singapore, where Parliament is as proper as they come, the incident was no less than an outburst. Halfway through the marathon parliamentary session, Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar GRC) suddenly waved a piece of paper frantically at the Speaker, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, like a latecomer flagging a departing bus. When she got no response, she stood up, walked to the rostrum and stopped the Speaker from moving on to the next question. Then, with eyes flashing, she said in a terse tone that she needed to rehash a previous point. Backs stiffened. All held their breath. Okay. No shoes were hurled and no fists thrown. But a fellow parliamentarian had - by Singapore's yardstick - exploded. The House had been debating a question raised by Dr Neo. She had asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, a three-point question. One, whether his Ministry is monitoring how lower-income Singaporeans are being affected by inflation and the stagnation of wages. Two, whether the available assistance is lessening their difficulties. And three, whether there will be other measures to ensure that no one falls through the cracks. In her reply, Minister of State Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, who was standing in for Dr Balakrishnan, listed the different assistance schemes available, and cited examples of families which benefit from the schemes. Then, before she knew it... 'Question 8!' The Speaker had signalled the House to move on to the next question, tabled by Dr Lam Pin Min (Ang Mo Kio GRC). In the row above her, Dr Lam was already rising to acknowledge the Speaker. That was when Dr Neo lost her cool. She reiterated her call for more to be done (the Speaker kept silent) and Mrs Yu Foo rose to clarify a few points. But the question remained: What made the usually-polished Dr Neo flustered? When The New Paper caught up with her after parliament ended, she explained she was speaking up for low-income families who are not eligible for Public Assistance because one or both of the parents are working. These are the needy ones, she said, who have fallen through the cracks. They are the cleaners, the hawker assistants who, despite the Government's mantra of helping citizens help themselves, are so down and out they have no way of helping themselves, she said. 'They see the rich, and they see Singapore progressing,' said Dr Neo. 'But then they say, look at me, what chance do I have?' Dr Neo's gripe is this: The existing assistance schemes are all temporary and ad-hoc. 'We need something permanent for these people that can lift them out of the poverty cycle, like getting the kids to pre-school or getting the parents better jobs,' she said. Why wasn't she satisfied with the answer? 'I didn't need to be told what policies we have. I know that already,' said Dr Neo. Trying her luck Half of Dr Neo's constituents live in rental flats. 'There are many questions that have to be addressed in Parliament, and the Speaker has to give everyone a chance,' she said. 'But I wanted to try my luck. I was waving my paper at the Speaker already but he skipped me! 'So I told myself I had to get to the rostrum before the next person could start speaking.' Some of her fellow MPs were amused. 'They were asking me afterwards, how come you wave like that? Some others were saying... yah yah yah, did you see her, I couldn't see her head but I could see her paper!' she said. 'But I just felt I needed to shout for these people. I think I did, and I wanted to.' This article was first published in The New Paper on Aug 26, 2008. Where have all these type of MPs gone?????? Rare creature.