After Workers ‘ Party ( WP ) chair Sylvia Lim raised concerns about the redirection of parliamentary questions and the speedy passage of urgent bills, House Leader Indranee Rajah defended parliamentary procedures.
Ms. Lim said during the Committee of Supply debate on Monday ( Mar 3 ) that MPs may direct questions posed by MPs to one ministry to be answered by another ministry without making any prior reference to the MP.  ,
The Member of Parliament for Aljunied said,” Maybe, the redirection is determined, such as when the MP may have unintentionally asked the question to the wrong ministry.
” But, it seems to me that issues may also be redirected because the state finds it convenient to do so. This may destroy the primary goal of problem time: government accountability.
Ms. Lim noted that he had requested the Land Transport Authority’s ( LTA ) assessment of the demand for the special shuttle bus services at Marine Parade GRC by citing an example from a parliamentary question that Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh had submitted in August.  ,
Nevertheless, she claimed that the inquiry had instead been redirected to the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth (MCCY), adding that when Mr. Singh later posed additional questions in relation to transportation, he was given the opportunity to ask questions of LTA.  ,
The Minister for Transport did intervene shortly after that period to address the ( Leader of the Opposition’s ) queries, she said.” The question still lingers as to why a query was first directed to MCCY?  ,
The Women’s Association, which falls under MCCY, is the owner of the shuttle bus company.
Ms. Lim asked if moving forward, MPs had been consulted on any designed redirection of questions given the limitations of issue time in parliament as well as probable legal objections to refilling questions.
It’s not really the MP’s responsibility to decide who has the appropriate information, Ms Indranee responded. Who among the agencies and ministries is the one concerned, who has the information, or is in the best position to respond, should look at the question and determine who among us, who among the ministries, is looking at it.
In the end, “what is really important is that the question is answered, and that essentially is what is done because no matter who the question is directed to, which company, or which government, an answer will be provided.”
In relation to Ms. Lim’s indication of the bus services in Marine Parade GRC, Ms. Indranee claimed that the People’s Association, rather than MOT or LTA, had made the decision in that particular situation.  ,
Because the shuttle bus was a project carried out by the People’s Association and the People’s Association is a legal board that is a part of MCCY, she said, “it was not for MOT to discuss why,” she said.  ,
The Leader of the Opposition asked the Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat to understand a question that was relevant to the MOT-related vehicle communication development program. The Minister for Transport responded to that because that single came under MOT.
Ms. Indranee said MPs may make their queries clear when filing them in response to Ms. Lim’s advice to read Votes before redirecting questions.
We would not like to establish a procedure whereby you must go back to an MP and ask them what their core intentions were. She continued.
The participant is often free to reach out to the appropriate minister and explain that if Ms. Lim describes a situation where the member feels like it should not come because the member’s original intention was to question the other ministry something. ”  ,  ,