The Singapore Parliament announced the Special Select Committee's nominations to fill the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) vacancies, in a press release on Thursday (Jan. 14)

The nine nominees were selected out of 61 proposal forms that the select committee received.

The committee's nominees include Mark Chay, an ex-national swimmer who represented Singapore in the Olympic Games in 2000 and 2004. Chay is also a multiple gold medallist and a record holder at the Southeast Asian Games.

Currently, Chay is a national para swimming coach at the Singapore Disability Sports Council, and the Director of Secretariat of Global Esport Federation.

Among the eight other nominees is also Koh Lian Pin, a globally recognised conservation scientist who is currently helming the new Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions at NUS.

Koh is also a member of the Emerging Stronger Taskforce to guide Singapore's economic recovery out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tan Yia Swam was also included on the list. She is a medical doctor and clinical director at Thomson Breast Centre. Tan is one of the youngest persons and the first female to be elected President of the Singapore Medical Association in 2020.

Nominees from diverse fields

Here are the other nominees, from backgrounds such as the labour movement, the private sector, academia and law:

• Abdul Samad Bin Abdul Wahab — one of three Vice-Presidents of NTUC, General Secretary of the Union of Power and Gas Employees, and Chairman of the NTUC Oil, Petrochemical, Energy and Chemical Cluster of Unions.
• Janet Ang Guat Har — the current chairperson of SISTIC.com and non-executive director at Singapore Press Holdings.
• Cheng Hsing Yao — the current group managing director at GuocoLand Singapore Pte Ltd, first Vice-president of the Real Estate Developers Association of Singapore, and Executive Committee Member of the Urban Land Institute Singapore.
• Hoon Hian Teck — Dean of the School of Economics at SMU. He was also a Member of the Tripartite Committee for Low-wage workers and Inclusive Growth from 2015 to 2017.
• Joshua Thomas Raj — a lawyer who is a partner at Tang Thomas LLC and Director of security agency TwinRock Pte Ltd.
• Shahira Binte Abdullah — Associate Consultant with the Dental Surgery Team in Khoo Teck Puat hospital and member of the 16th National Youth Council.

President Halimah Yacob will appoint them as NMPs for a term of two-and-a-half years, starting on Jan. 21, 2021.

Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Committee Tan Chuan-Jin said: "Collectively, [the nominees] have creditable accomplishments in their individual fields and a good grasp of issues they are passionate about.

"I thus look forward to the rich diversity of insights and experiences they can bring to the House when we debate matters concerning Singapore and Singaporeans," he added.

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Top image from International Management & Sports College, Thomson Breast Centre, and Uni of Adelaide Sciences Facebook pages.