Josephine Teo recounts similar encounters at her MPS in Jalan Besar, following activists’ confrontation with Shanmugam

Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, who is also a Jalan Besar GRC Member of Parliament (MP), took to Facebook on Mar. 14 to detail two similar incidents with a group of Monday of Palestine Solidarity activists who showed up at the PAP Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Branch in Jalan Besar GRC.

Just a day prior, a video showed a tense encounter between the activists and Nee Soon GRC MP K Shanmugam on Mar. 12 during his Meet-the-People session (MPS).

The group had demanded to talk about the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), which resulted in the individuals calling the law and home affairs minister a "coward".

Similar incidents happened at Teo's MPS

Teo shared that in recent months, small groups of individuals have been observed attending MPS run by PAP MPs to advocate for issues instead of seeking help.

The weekly MPS are meant for MPs and their constituents to meet and resolve residents' various problems encountered in daily living.

"Some of these activists go to MPS in their constituencies, knowing this gives them confirmed access to the MPs, while others, as in Minister Shan's case, were not residents of the constituency," said Teo.

Teo said she had not intended to talk about the two similar incidents but felt compelled to after what happened to Shanmugan recently.

2 women voiced concerns about Singapore's stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict in November 2024

Two women had gone to Teo's MPS in November 2024 to voice their concerns about Singapore’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

While there are broader national issues that are worthy of discussion, Teo said MPS was not designed as a platform to address them, and such sessions are meant to prioritise residents with urgent, municipal, or personal matters.

"Nonetheless, I was prepared to see the two women after attending to other residents," she said.

"For nearly an hour, I listened to their concerns. I also offered to write to the relevant ministries on their behalf so that the authorities could hear their feedback."

Teo noted that as MPS exchanges are meant to be confidential, and MPs generally do not publicly divulge their contents, she was surprised when an online article was published a few weeks later on the encounter.

"Although the article acknowledged that I had engaged the two women empathetically, it was difficult to see any reason for publishing the piece other than to spread the word that they had successfully made a move at my MPS," she remarked.

"Mother-daughter" duo pretended to seek financial assistance in January 2025

A similar incident happened in January 2025, where a mother and daughter attended Teo's MPS at Upper Boon Keng.

During registration, the women said they were seeking financial assistance, with the younger one claiming she needed to accompany her "mother," who could not speak for herself.

"When they informed volunteers that they had a confidential matter to raise directly with me, I wrapped up another conversation to attend to them immediately," Teo said.

She said the younger woman then opened a notebook containing several documents and passed a three-page typed statement to the older woman.

"Looking slightly unsure", Teo said the older woman proceeded to recite the statement.

"It soon became clear that the pair were not mother and daughter, and that the contents were unrelated to the financial assistance they had initially claimed to be seeking," she said.

Teo did not specify what the contents were.

She added that she and her volunteers had been supporting the older woman, who was a resident of the area, for some time, including providing monthly groceries and weekly food rations.

"To respect her privacy, we did not question how there was suddenly a 'daughter' accompanying her to MPS," she said.

Teo noted that she and her volunteers also referred the older woman to a relevant organisation, which offered financial assistance for her studies, after learning of the latter's aspiration to become a religious teacher.

"To this day, my volunteers and I continue to support [her] by delivering her weekly rations," said Teo, adding:

"During a ration distribution not long after the incident, she told us that her youngest son has qualified for a government scheme supporting his education, and that she does not require other forms of financial assistance."

Teo also noted that in the last month alone, she has seen the older woman at least twice at their constituency events where donations were shared with residents.

Teo thanks volunteers, says such "ambush" affects her and her

volunteers' sense of safety

Teo also thanked her volunteers, many of whom she said have dedicated years of their lives to serving their residents and are deeply rooted in the community.

"It goes without saying that my volunteers were perturbed and saddened by such incidents — especially when they respond to help-seekers with sincere intent, never expecting to be led to an 'ambush'," said Teo.

Noting that such incidents affect her volunteers and their sense of safety as they carry out their duties, Teo said it becomes hard to let their guard down when they do not know if they might be treated with hostility, called names, or be secretly recorded and featured in articles designed to paint them in a bad light.

"I also appreciate that residents may raise broader concerns about Singapore besides their own issues. They do so in the hope that we will reflect their views to government and not as a way to publicly pressurise it into submission," said Teo.

"While my volunteers and I will do our best to bounce back from such incidents, I am saddened that, in my nearly two decades as an MP, the tone of MPS seems to have shifted because of episodes like these," she remarked.

Teo said her hope is for MPS to return to their truest purpose, not to be protest platforms but a channel for MPs to engage their residents openly and attend to their most acute needs.

Related article

Top image via K Shanmugam Sc and Josephine Teo/Facebook.