The Special Select committee of Parliament has invited the public to propose candidates to be the next batch of Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs).

The NMP scheme was introduced in 1990 to bring into Parliament diverse voices from civil society. The President may appoint up to nine NMPs nominated by the Committee. An NMP serves a fixed term of two and a half years.

How does one qualify as an NMP?

- He/she is a citizen of Singapore;

- He/she is of the age of 21 years or above on the day of nomination;

- His/her name appears in a current register of electors;

- He/she is resident in Singapore at the date of his/her nomination and has been so resident for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than 10 years prior to that date;

In other words, about 2,462,926 Singaporeans are eligible to be a NMP, if we based this on the number of Singaporeans who were were eligible to vote in last year's election.

Of course, it is not so simple.

The Office of the Clerk of Parliament said that nominated persons should have "rendered distinguished public service, or who have brought honour to the Republic, or who have distinguished themselves in the field of arts and letters, sports, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service or the labour movement".

You also need at least six friends/fans - a proposer, a seconder, and at least four assentors - to support your nomination. And they have to be registered as electors.

Who was in the most recent batch of NMPs? They are:

1. Chia Yong Yong, President, SPD

2. Thomas Chua, President, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry

3. K Karthikeyan, Vice-President, National Trades Union Congress

4. Kuik Shiao-Yin, Co-Founder, The Thought Collective

5. Mohd Ismail Hussein, Director, Association of Muslim Professionals

6. Rita Soh Siow Lan, President, Singapore Board of Architects

7. Benedict Tan, Chief and Senior Consultant, Changi Sports Medicine Centre, Changi General Hospital

8. Randolph Tan Gee Kwang, Deputy Director, Centre for Applied Research at SIM University

9. Tan Tai Yong, Vice Provost (Student Life), National University of Singapore

Feel free to nominate sabo your super-smart, super-on friend to Parliament. At least this was what the friends of CPF blogger Roy Ngerng did in the last round:

He was not nominated as an NMP. And everything went downhill from there.

Anyway, the closing date is 4.30pm, Feb 23. And the forms are available here.

Related article:

9 notable NMPs who made us sit up and listen

Top photos from various sources.

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