Public invited to submit nominations for Nominated Members of Parliament till Apr 19

Submission of names from members of the public for nomination as a Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) is now open till 4.30pm on Apr 19. 

The names have to be submitted to a Special Select Committee of Parliament, consisting of eight members. It is chaired by Speaker of the House Tan Chuan-Jin, and includes Minister of Education Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, Minister of State for Education and Manpower Gan Siow Huang, Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah and Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan and Aljunied GRC MP Leon Perera. 

Only names of persons who qualify for appointment as NMP should be submitted to the Committee for consideration, said the Office of the Clerk of Parliament in a press release on Wednesday (Mar 15). 

Nominees should have rendered distinguished public service or brought honour to the country, or have distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, sports, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service or the labour movement.

An NMP will need to be a Singaporean citizen whose name appears in a current register of electors, at least 21 years old on the day of nomination, has been a Singaporean resident for at least 10 years, and is able to take an active part in the proceedings of parliament. 

The NMP will also have to be able to read or write in at least one of the four main languages in Singapore, and is not disqualified from being a Member of Parliament. 

The NMP scheme was introduced in 1990, to ensure a wide representation of views in Parliament. Each NMP term lasts for two and a half years, and there are up to nine NMPs each term. 

Former prominent NMPs include Yip Pin Xiu, a five-time Paralympic gold medallist, and labour economist and associate professor Walter Edgar Theseira. 

The current nine NMPs, who started serving their terms in January 2021, are Abdul Samad Abdul WAhab, Janet Ang, Mark CHay, Cheng Hsing Yao, Professor Hoon Hian Teck, Professor Koh Lian Pin, Joshua Thomas Raj, Dr Shahira Abdullah, and Dr Tan Yia Swam. 

There were 61 NMP proposal forms submitted then. 

Mr Tan will meet also representatives from the seven Functional Groups, namely the business and industry, labour movements, the professions, social service organisations, the civic and people sector, tertiary education institutions and media, arts and sports organisations to inform them of the procedure in submitting nominations to the Special Select Committee.

A Coordinator has been appointed by Mr Tan for each Functional Group to submit names of suitable candidates to the Special Select Committee for consideration. 

The invitation for submission of names to the Special Select Committee is open to the general public and a person not selected by a Functional Group may be nominated by another proposer. 

Following this, the Special Select Committee will consider all applications.

Submission of names must be made using the prescribed forms that are available for download from the Parliament website.

The completed forms and supporting documents must be submitted and received by the

Office of the Clerk of Parliament by 4.30 pm on Apr 19.