Two thirds of illegal hawkers caught were foreigners. The Rest Are Oppos?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Two thirds of illegal hawkers caught were foreigners

July 14th, 2014 | Author: Editorial

Minister Grace Fu

Last Monday (7 Jul), 2nd Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu told Parliament that some 655 illegal hawkers were caught in the first six months of this year and two thirds of them were foreigners.

Ms Fu was replying to an MP’s question asking her Ministry to give an overview of the extent of illegal hawking in Singapore.

Ms Fu said, “NEA has to take action against illegal hawking in order to ensure that food and goods sold do not pose a risk to public health and the act of illegal hawking does not cause public nuisance.”

“Two thirds of the 655 illegal hawkers found in the first six months of this year were foreigners,” she added.

Under the current regime, composition sums of $300, $400 and $500 will be offered for the first, second and third-time offenders respectively. Upon the fourth and subsequent offences, the illegal hawkers will be prosecuted in Court.

Illegal foreign hawkers may also be banned from entering Singapore, she said.

With regard to Singaporeans engaging in illegal hawking, Ms Fu said that the financial circumstances of these Singaporeans will be investigated.
“Where appropriate, they are referred to the Social Service Offices of the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and Community Development Councils (CDCs) for job and financial assistance,” she assured.

Opposition members have been summoned for “illegal hawking” before

It’s not known out of the 655 illegal hawkers caught in the first 6 months this year, how many were opposition politicians.
Four years ago, some opposition politicians from NSP were summoned for “illegal hawking”.

At the time, then secretary-general of NSP, Goh Meng Seng, and his colleagues were doing their usual political outreach in constituencies and promoting their newsletter publications at the same time.

They were warned for “illegal hawking” and NSP Vice President Christopher Neo was eventually charged for the offence.

Mr Goh wrote on his blog at the time [Link], “It is pretty bizarre that political activists who make sacrifice of their time and effort to be involved in public service of politics were charged for ‘illegal hawking’.”

“It is pretty insulting actually. Most probably someone in National Environment Agency doesn’t really know what exactly an illegal hawker is,” added Mr Goh.

Mr Goh further added:
The survival of NSP is being threaten now due to this “illegal hawking” summon. The only difference is that WE ARE NOT HAWKERS but VOLUNTEERS in Political Public Service. The law is inappropriately applied to us and it would mean that politically, NSP will face closure if its political activity of promoting its messages and publications are being curtailed.
Just today, I have met an old gentleman who accused us of appearing just before elections. I explained to him that we have been selling our North Star all around Singapore for years! PAP has always sneered at opposition parties by saying we only work when elections come. That is totally untrue and PAP knows it. Be it walkabout on the ground or various press releases on policies and current issues, NSP has been pretty active doing all these.
It is now NEA trying to curtail our political activism on the ground by issuing such silly summon of “illegal hawking”. Choosing between becoming a totally law abiding of silly law which make us politically inactive and being an effective political party actively engaging the ground but risks being summoned as “illegal hawkers” by NEA, I would choose the later. I am not here to make NSP just a flower vase of PAP’s farce pseudo Democracy. I am here to make NSP an effective party that would actively challenge and put proper checks and balances on PAP’s dominance of power.
This is not only about the survival of NSP or any other opposition parties alone. It is about the sustainability of the healthy political development for Singapore. If there is a small price to be paid as being insulted as “illegal hawkers” by the unreasonable PAP’s rule, so be it.



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