Arasu Duraisamy to Be Next Labour NMP

Veteran union leader Arasu Duraisamy, 50, has been chosen to represent the interest of workers as a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP).

The Special Select Committee on Nominations for Appointment as NMPs of the 13th Parliament made this announcement on 17 September 2018.

Mr Arasu is one of nine individuals who have been chosen to fill the NMP vacancies in Parliament. There were a total of 48 names submitted to the committee.

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore and the Chairman of the Committee said: “The Select Committee has thoroughly deliberated and we are satisfied that these nine nominees have fulfilled all Constitutional criteria and requirements for eligibility. We are also confident that these passionate and committed individuals will ably represent the views within and across their communities, thus expanding and deepening perspectives shared at Parliamentary debates”.

When appointed, Mr Arasu will be the 12th person since 1992 to represent the unions as Labour NMP.

He is currently an NTUC Central Committee member and General Secretary of the Singapore Port Workers’ Union. He has been with the union for 25 years.

Thoughts on Being Chosen

When first approached by a few union leaders to consider the post, the general secretary of the Singapore Port Workers Union (SPWU) and NTUC Central Committee member said he was apprehensive.

“But they worked their magic on me. My main aim as a unionist is to better the lives of our workers and members and so if there is another platform for me to air the members’ views, why not. So, I said I will take up the challenge,” he said.

Promoting Tripartism

One area he plans to focus on is entrenching tripartism in Singapore. He described this as a burning issue.

According to Mr Arasu, while the top management in companies and at the national level amongst government leaders and the top echelon in the ministries and statutory boards recognise the importance of tripartism, the same cannot be said of those at the middle management level.

He said more needed to be done to emphasise the importance of tripartism and he hoped this could start at the schools by making the topic as part of the curriculum. He intends to talk about this in Parliament.

Attention to Training

With the 23 Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) being implemented in full swing, training is another area which also needs more attention and workers must know what they are training for.

“Seventy percent of our workers are in the small- and medium-sized companies and for them, they don’t see the impetus to upskill or upgrade their systems and processes because for them it is a day to day survival. This is the group of workers who are not well-versed in the importance of the ITMs and we need to do more to reach out to them and engage them,” said Mr Arasu.

His Constituency

As an NMP, Mr Arasu may not have a constituency of voters to turn to for views and feedback on issues but coming from the Labour Movement, every worker in the economy is his constituent.

He plans to reach out to the various arms of the Labour Movement – from the unions to tripartite partners and the social enterprises – to gather feedback about concerns that he can raise in Parliament.

He will also be working closely with the team of Labour MPs in Parliament who often focus their speeches on specific themes.

Past Labour Nominated Members of Parliament