SINGAPORE: There is “no priority queue” for permanent residents (PRs) at Bukit Batok meet-the-people sessions (MPS), Member of Parliament (MP) Murali Pillai said on Saturday (Mar 3) in response to queries from Channel NewsAsia.

His comments followed photos circulating online of a notice requesting that PRs intending to attend such sessions at Bukit Batok SMC identify themselves at the registration counter “without the need to queue”.



In reference to a post on a Sammyboy forum suggesting that the notice implied a priority queue for Indian permanent residents, Mr Murali said: “The news is false. There is no priority queue for PRs, let alone Indian PRs, at our weekly MPS.”

“Anyone who attends our MPS would know that this simply not true. It is sad that someone has twisted the facts for his own reasons and, at the same time, tried to inflame race relations as well,” he added.

He further clarified that the notice was to inform permanent residents upfront that for petitions to be written on their behalf, they would need to provide details such as their Singaporean sponsors.

This is to prevent them from queueing in vain, he added.



Mr Murali said that an unnamed individual had taken a photograph of the notice after an MPS session on Feb 23, and proceeded to make “false and misleading claims”.

“We believe though that the person who made the post fully knows this fact,” he said, calling the claims “outrageous” and “purely aimed at creating mischief”.

When asked if he would consider taking follow-up action on the person who posted the claims on the Sammyboy forum, Mr Murali noted that he will “carefully consider the next steps”.

He added that the notice was also put up at the queue area on Friday and would be placed there for future sessions.

“No one attending the MPS misunderstood the notice. We will continue to use the notice as and when necessary,” he said.

“Most importantly though, I will not allow this incident to distract me from my task to continue to serve Bukit Batok residents,” added Mr Murali.



