Who's that in Parliament?

Parliament has just adjourned till 3 April 2006 - "barring unforeseen circumstances", as the Mah Bow Tan mentioned last night. I have been watching Parliament proceedings on TV news almost every night this past week, and one thing struck me: Many MPs that rose to speak (and some more faces the camera zoomed into) looked new to me. Just last night alone, I found 5 or 6 faces that were totally unfamiliar to me. A name or two sounded familiar, but certainly not their faces. And to think that these elected MPs (err...sorry, some got elected through walkovers) were brought in in the last election about 4 years ago.

I can think of some reasons for my lack of familiarity.

1. I have not been observant enough when Parliament proceedings are broadcast; or


2. Mediacorp has missed them on their cameras all these years; or


3. The newspapers have ignored them completely, in which case they should get themselves noticed somehow; or


4. These MPs have not spoken in Parliament at all - from day one; or


5. They were not in Parliament when Mediacorp was around; or


6. When these MPs did speak, there weren't impactful enough, unlike Tan Soo Khoon, who makes the most entertaining speeches which, and this is important, mirrors the sentiments of the man in the street.

Maybe they are now turning up to get noticed when they have not been noticed before because the General Elections are coming? Hmmm...such last minute effort won't cut it with the electorate. But then, there is the GRC behemoth they can take shelter in, so no worries?