First Class Sarcasm

I stumbled upon this blog post:

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Today’s Straits Times Forum published a letter from the Government Whip, Mr Lim Swee Say on the attendance of Members of Parliament for this year’s Budget Debate. The letter is reproduced below:

The Straits Times, Feb 28, 2009
PAP MPs IN PARLIAMENT
Duties taken seriously
I REFER to Miss Rhea Tan’s letter on Wednesday, ‘Why so many empty seats at Budget Debate?’

I would like to assure Miss Tan that PAP MPs take Parliament sittings seriously. They have to seek the Speaker’s permission in writing to be absent from a sitting. They also have to inform the Government Whip if they are unable to attend Parliament on time or have to leave early.

For the Budget Debate, Parliament sits from noon to 7pm. This year’s Budget Debate was attended by 90 elected and Nominated MPs on Feb 3; 86 MPs on Feb4; and there was full attendance of 93 MPs on Feb 5.

While PAP MPs are expected to be in Parliament, they are not able to stay in the Chamber for the whole seven hours. They need to leave the Chamber from time to time for lunch and breaks, to do research and revise their speeches in the library as the debate progresses, and to attend urgent calls and meetings which they are unable to reschedule. The Government Whip ensures there is sufficient quorum in the House at all times.

So even if MPs are not in the Chamber, it does not mean they are not in Parliament or not carrying out their duties as MPs. The effectiveness of PAP MPs should not be judged by the hours they remain seated in the Chamber but by their participation in debates, the contents of their speeches and how well they serve their constituents.

Lim Swee Say
Government Whip

It’s seemed to be a routine letter but if you take a deeper look, it said that “there was full attendance of 93 MPs on Feb 5“. A quick check on the parliament website showed that we have indeed 93 MPs in total.

But wait!!! I thought Mr Seng Han Thong was hospitalised after the vicious attack? News report showed that he was only discharged on 7 Feb. So that means that he attended the all important budget debate on 5 Feb despite being on hospitalisation leave.

How could the act of this dedicated and responsible MP go unreported in the mainstream media? Hats off to Mr Seng who showed tremedous courage to attend the parliament session despite obviously still recovering from the horrendous attack. Mr Seng is my idol!"

-Taken From http://thetimeisnowsg.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/mr-seng-han-thong-is-so-garang/