Nominated Members of Parliaments, or NMPs in short, are sometimes a blink-and-you-will-miss-them bunch of people. To ensure that Parliament does not become a white echo chamber, the NMP scheme was supposed to give non-partisan suggestions and feedback in Parliament.

Nine new NMPs were sworn in as Parliament reopened yesterday.

We highlight 9 NMPs who either made a difference or stuck out like a sore thumb, depending on where you stand:

1. Eunice Olsen

Famous for being: The winner of the Miss Singapore Universe 2000

Parliament: Guess Eunice Olsen is one who will literally make people sit up and take a second look. She was also the youngest ever NMP at 27 years old and actually served two terms as NMP in parliament.

In her maiden speech in parliament, she said that Singapore must long be a "land of opportunity" for its people and, more importantly, that it would need the participation of all Singaporeans. She called for all to "plant the seeds of volunteerism among our people in order to help give Singapore the roots it needs as a nation". Her dream is "for Singapore to be a nation of volunteers".

2. Laurence Lien

Famous for being: The boss of National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre and the grandson of the late banker and philanthropist Lien Ying Chow

Parliament: Lien spoke extensively in Parliament about issues regarding Singapore’s social compact as well as the plight of low-income Singaporeans.

He pointed out over two speeches in 2012 and 2013 that Singapore’s in a social recession where there is generally a weakening of individual resilience, the loosening of family bonds and a decline in community cohesiveness.

In 2012, he called for a social review committee to address the social recession. The Our Singapore Conversation was set up in 2013.

3. Viswa Sadasivan

Source: The Online Citizen

Famous for being: The Online Citizen’s Face to Face debates between the four Presidential candidates, and the presenter of a number of current affairs television programmes including Feedback, Talking Point and Today in Parliament.

Parliament: Viswa gave a speech in 2009 drew a response from MM Lee Kuan Yew who said it was "dangerous to allow such highfalutin ideas to go undemolished and mislead Singapore", which was made in response particular to Sadasivan’s observation that self-help groups exacerbates race issues.

In that speech he suggested that major policies and practices be reviewed on whether they contradict the tenets of the National Pledge.

He pointed out practices such as race classification on the NRIC, application forms for cooking courses on CCs has made Singaporeans race-conscious. Self-help groups like Mendaki, Sinda and CDAC further exacerbates the issue.

He noted there is a lack of rootedness and commitment to Singapore amongst young Singaporeans – a problem he attribute to the loss of the oral tradition of sharing experiences. He opined that National Education is best conveyed through informal activities and there should be an open-minded review of how NE was taught.

In view of how Singaporeans were becoming politically apathetic, he called for a conscious and proactive start of the process of re-politicisation – to get people, especially the youth, interested and involved not only in social work but political matters.

4. Joscelin Yeo

Source: Joscelin Yeo Instagram

Famous for being: Singapore's swim star. Yeo  won 40 gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games and represented Singapore in the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Summer Olympics.

Parliament: She gained a bit of infamy online for giving only 7 speeches during her tenure as the Sports NMP.

However she did bring an athlete’s voice to Parliament. She was not against the foreign sporting talents but she did not “believe that we should be relying solely on them for immediate results. I believe that we can have a foreign talent pool but that we need to work even harder and dedicate more time, effort and resources to nurture local talent.”

She gave an anecdotal account of how her friend was treated unkindly by some foreign sporting talents, Balakrishnan said he will look into the incident, after Seah Kian Peng raised a point about the mistreatment.

5. Siew Kum Hong

Famous for being: A supporter of socio-political website The Online Citizen

Parliament: One of the most memorable speeches he gave: an almost flawlessly argued petition and appeal in 2007 on why Section 377a should be repealed.

He argued along the lines that the repeal of 377 without repealing 377a was unconstitutional under Article 12(1) of the Constitution, which provides that “All persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law”.

He also raised the point that criminal law’s proper function is to protect others from harm by punishing harmful conduct. He noted that private consensual homosexual conduct between adults does not cause harm recognisable by the criminal law.

He noted that the Government’s stance that 377a was "sign-posting" which reflects the majority view of Singaporeans was flawed. In the same strand, he highlighted that the majority of Singaporeans are likely to be against prostitution and adultery but both are legal.

6. Calvin Cheng

Source: Calvin Cheng Facebook

Famous for being: One of the directors of JUICE magazine, an ex-Young PAP member and a share-holder of a modelling agency.

Parliament: During the Budget Debate in 2011, Calvin Cheng spoke about his concern for Singapore's cultural identity.

He said that Singapore needed to recognise that being a global city does not mean being a Western city. He added international recognition will not come from aping the West. He criticized the media industry for "being stuck in a time warp from our colonial days".

7. Faizah Jamal

 Source: Faizah Jamal

Famous for being: Awarded the Super Passion Award by Straits Times journalist

Parliament: ST journalist Robin Chan said that Faizah was "single-minded in her focus on environmental issues' from her very first day in Parliament.

A member of the Nature Society Singapore since 1984, she called for all parliamentarians to "raise environment issues in this House because it is the right thing to do, it is the mature and wise thing to do" at the opening debate after the President's Address this May.

8. Janice Koh

Famous for being: A television and stage actress and this year's Pink Dot Ambassador

Parliament: Koh expressed her interest to become a NMP to represent the arts community in Parliament and she did not disappoint.

According to a recent Straits Times interview, "Koh fuelled hearty public debate on several issues", including shining the spotlight on the fall in numbers of students taking Literature as an O-level subject today. Koh was especially vocal on the issues of censorship and regulation.

9. Nithiah Nandan

Famous for being: Featured in a book.

Parliament: In 2002, Nithiah was selected by the labour movement to be their representative in parliament. Nithiah did not mince his words in Parliament. He argued during the Public Transport Fares (Motion) in 2002 that it was not the best time to increase bus and MRT fares after a recession.

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