Ng Chee Meng Can Still Be NTUC Head & Labour Chief Even When He’s Not Elected into Parliament

If you find the name “Ng Chee Meng” familiar, that’s because you’ve been paying attention to GE2020.

Here, let me jog your memory a bit:

Now that he has lost in the contest to become a member of parliament, and is officially out of the government, is he jobless?

Ng Chee Meng Can Still Be NTUC Head & Labour Chief Even When He’s Not Elected into Parliament

In case you’ve forgotten, Mr Ng here is also the Labour Chief of NTUC.

And while NTUC, Singapore’s one and only Unusual Labour Movement works closely with the government as tripartite partners, they are their own organisation.

Which is why, while he’s not able to regain the position of Minister in the Prime Minister Office, he is still the Secretary-General of NTUC.

He was elected into the position back in 2018 by NTUC’s central executive committee (CEC) and the next election (for NTUC Secretary-General) is in 2022.

Analysts Questioned If He Can Still Do His Job Now

Analysts had raised up the question of whether Mr Ng can still be an effective labour chief since he has no political clout now.

After all, he used to be able to sit at the big boys’ table and represent the voices of the Singaporean workers.

But now, he can’t.

One even speculated that he might follow the path of Education Minister Ong Ye Kung who left politics to join the corporate sector when he lost in Aljunied GRC during 2011.

Not all analysts think the same way, however.

Union Leaders Supportive Of Mr Ng

Professor Eugene Tan of the Singapore Management University (SMU) felt that it would be “silly” for the Ministry of Manpower to disregard NTUC just because its Secretary-General isn’t a Cabinet Minister.

He added that NTUC is given a “key role in protecting Singaporeans who have lost their jobs during this pandemic” and it’s likely that Mr Ng would still be very involved in this.

Another thought that it might be a good thing since now, he is able to devote more of his time and energy to helping the workers in Singapore.

Meanwhile, NTUC CEC also said they stand “in full support” of Mr Ng as Secretary-General of NTUC.

NTUC President Mary Liew also added that the position of Secretary-General (NTUC) is one that is “independent of political appointments”.

She also pointed out that throughout the past two years, Mr Ng has pushed through various initiatives that have helped Singaporean workers.

“To date, some 12,000 workers have been matched to new roles. Time and again, he has shown his heart in caring for workers and proven his mettle.”

The Importance Of Tripartite Partnership

The government and NTUC have always enjoyed close ties with each other in the shared mission of making Singaporeans’ lives better.

NTUC’s various social enterprises were also set up to “regulate” many different segments of Singaporeans’ lives – FairPrice to regulate prices of daily essentials, NTUC Income to provide good coverage, My First Skool as an affordable option for working parents, so on and so forth.

PM Lee’s iconic lunchtime rally at Fullerton for GE2020 also mentioned the importance of tripartite partnerships in Singapore where the unions, the government and the employers work together to create more opportunities.

He pointed out that the partnership is one of the reasons why many people are willing to bring their money to invest in Singapore.

Seeing as the PAP had promised to bring in more investments and create more jobs for Singaporeans in the aftermath of GE2020, it’s highly unlikely that NTUC will be shoved aside just because of the lack of political appointment on the labour chief’s front.

In the same press conference, PM Lee also endorsed Mr Ng Chee Meng’s position as NTUC chief, which makes it likely that he will not be left out all alone in the “political wilderness”.

And on a side note, politicians have been talking about NCMP (Non-Constituency Member of Parliament) in recent days. So, what’s an NCMP? Do you know that it’s just like an MP but the allowance is much lower? Watch this video to find out more: