January 27, 02:57 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 A total of 16 MPs spoke on day two, with 8 of them making their maiden speeches in Parliament following the 2015 General Election (GE).
Here are the awards for Day 2
The First Shots Fired Award:
Screenshot from video
Winner: Leon Perera, NCMP.
Perera delivered his speech better, and poked the government and the People's Action Party (PAP) more. But Dennis Tan was perhaps more constructive in his criticisms. He offered suggestions on how Singapore could be improved, such as the introduction of a Freedom of Information Act; setting up an Office of Ombudsman, and reviewing the limits under the means test for all applications for legal aid under the Legal Aid Bureau.
Anyway, here are some of Perera's jibes:
1. "I find that casting the election result as a badge of national unity is deeply unhelpful for our nation-building. It suggests that what unites us as Singaporeans is our support for one political party."
2. "How can we face the future as a developed country if we are dominated by a very powerful state that is in turn dominated by an entrenched single political party? This structure creates too much dependence on a small group of people. The risk is too high."
3. "When the leadership core comes overwhelmingly from one kind of career background – life-long civil servants – the risk becomes far greater...But to have a core leadership that has very few with any other kind of career profile (in civil service) – that opens up the danger of groupthink, self-rationalization and self-congratulation."
4. "When too much power becomes entrenched in one party or group of persons or individuals, inevitably that power breeds complacency and a tendency to be self-serving. It is only a matter of time."
Best speech Award
Screenshot from video
Winner: Chee Hong Tat, Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information & Ministry of Health, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
The delivery can be improved - he still reminded the audience of a colourless bureaucrat speaking - but the content was one of the more compelling among the 16 MPs who spoke. Chee spoke about innovation and the spirit of enterprise.
Chee had a good sense of history as he name-dropped founding fathers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee and their achievements. He also paid tribute to path-breaking civil service pioneers such as Tan Gee Paw and PUB, Philip Yeo and Jurong Island.
Chee shared examples of how challenges can viewed as opportunities for breakthrough and related examples of companies (British technology company Dyson, and Tan Seng Kee Foods) that encouraged risk-taking and experimentation.
He also poked the WP on talk about the importance of transparency and having the Freedom of Information Act. He urged them to put those ideas into practice, including the running of their Town Council.
You can read his full speech here.
Most Hong Lim Park speech Award
Grassroots'>
Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Winner: Darryl David, Ang Mo Kio GRC
Mr Pyramid Game called for the government to introduce pre-citizenship requirements, such as making English language proficiency mandatory and mandating annual community service hours for a local neighbourhood or with an NGO of their choice.
Thought it was a White Paper Population protester sprouting some populist rhetoric.
The WITS Award
Screenshot from video
Winner: Foo Mee Har, West Coast GRC
Foo went all K-pop. Foo suggested how South Korea created "an ecosystem that enables targeted growth clusters to proliferate, multiply and develop depth in capabilities that are competitive internationally". For instance, the Korean government targeted the movie, drama and music industry as a new cluster after the Asian Financial Crisis and partnered with the private sector (Chaebols) to enter the entertainment industry to produce blockbusters.
Foo also urged the government to scrap generic government support schemes that served more as "subsidy schemes" to help businesses defray fixed and equipment costs, rather than to address their underlying lack of competitiveness. She added that schemes should also be tailored at sectoral level, and streamlined for easy access.
*WITS: The Work Improvement Team Scheme (WITs) is a government programme, where individuals are asked to provide suggestions to help improve the Public Service through cost savings and waste reduction.
The Halimah Yacob Last Warning Award
Screenshot from video
Winner: Mohamad Maliki Osman, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence & Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East Coast GRC
Maliki Osman tested the limits of our attention with a whopping 31-minute speech, and shattered them. To be fair, he spoke in both English and Malay. He spoke about about the danger of ISIS, the importance of social cohesion, and a holistic approach towards external threats and extremism. He ended the English portion of his speech at around 17 mins, and continued on in Malay.
The Halimah Yacob Gold Standard Award
Screenshot from video
Winner: Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Finance & Ministry of Law, Tanjong Pagar GRC
Indranee Rajah had the shortest speech at 9 minute 20 seconds, but it was far from the most interesting as most of it was about legal stuff. She spoke of expanding coverage of legal aid, celebrated more people taking up pro-bono work for accused persons, and making the legal system simpler and more accessible to Singaporeans. Then she rambled on about all the things they were doing right.
Yawn.
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