Thread by @visakanv

Just spent a couple of hours sitting in on Singapore’s Parliament, which is a thing you can do if you’re a citizen. Quite an interesting experience and I’m glad I finally got around to doing it

The 1st funny thought I had was “wow this meeting could’ve been an email” 😂 which is a bit of a childish thought, I know. But it does seem broadly inefficient somehow, so many people sitting in a room for hours talking turns to talk. Need to read+think more to have a better POV

The 2nd funny thing is the decorum and ritual. Everybody - from members of the public to the Prime Minister - is expected to bow to the Speaker when entering and exiting Parliament. I appreciate the effect it has, but it’s also funny to me. Ministers gotta bow before they can pee

Jokes and laughs aside, I actually felt something being in that chamber. Just, it’s cool that I can literally walk into the room (well, a viewing gallery upstairs) where my Prime Minister and elected representatives are talking about issues of governance and public concern

I showed up today in particular to witness MP Louis Ng talk about his recommendations for public housing policy re: single unwed parents and their children. It’s an issue that we could be dealing with better as a nation. I appreciated his speech and I appreciated the response

There’ll probably be a news article about it soon. But what the news doesn’t tell you is that you can see that the people in the chamber do care. In her response, Sun Xueling put in real effort to empathise + agree with Louis Ng and the points he raised. I see that + respect it

After Parliament adjourned (~7 hours after it convened?), I saw Louis Ng talking with members of the public who were in attendance, listening to them and answering their questions. 😍 It’s cool that this is my country. I’m glad to be a part of it and I want to help it be better