Assoc Prof Paulin Straughan to serve as a Nominated Member of Parliament

16 Jul 2009

Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Assoc Prof Paulin Straughan has been appointed as a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) by President S R Nathan today. Assoc Prof Straughan, together with the other eight appointed NMPs, will serve a 2 1/2 year term.

On her new appointment, Assoc Prof Straughan said: "It is a tremendous honour to be nominated by NUS and I am thankful for this privilege to serve."

Drawing on her experience as a sociologist and as a Vice Dean at FASS, Assoc Prof Straughan will speak on issues affecting families and youth. She hopes to raise the issue of how young people can be continually engaged through other means besides the Internet so that they do not get disenchanted with the system.

Besides Assoc Prof Straughan, the other eight NMPs are:

• Three-time Sportswoman of the Year Joscelin Yeo, 30
• Fashion and media entrepreneur Calvin Cheng, 33
• Arts manager Audrey Wong, 41
• Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Teo Siong Seng, 54
• Consultancy firm CEO Viswa Sadasivan, 49
• Labour unionist Terry Lee, 57
• Gerontological Society immediate past president Laurence Wee, 63
• Ernst & Young Advisory managing director Mildred Tan-Sim Beng Mei, 50

The new NMPs will be taking their oaths of allegiance in Parliament on 20 July 2009. The term of service of the current nine NMPs will end on 17 July 2009.

First introduced in 1990, the NMPs scheme is aimed at providing an avenue for neutral, non-partisan feedback on issues. The Constitution was changed in July 1997 to allow the maximum number of NMPs to be raised from six to nine.