NMP appointee Haresh Singaraju says he's not a member of any party after photo of him in PAP shirt surfaces

The Special Select Committee included Haresh Singaraju in the list of names who will be appointed as a Nominated Member of Parliament on Jan. 8.

Who is Haresh? According to the committee, he is a family physician at National University Polyclinics.

Haresh's Instagram page features photos of himself and his family, both at work and on holiday.

What you won't find, however, is a photo of Haresh wearing a shirt with the logo of the People's Action Party (PAP) on it.

Photo on Instagram page

On Jan. 6, The Online Citizen reported that Haresh's Instagram page included a photo of himself wearing said shirt.

The caption on the photo referred to LPA (Lasting Power of Attorney) certification and thanked "Tampines West Grassroots" for the opportunity, according to a screenshot of the Instagram post by TOC.

TOC added that the photo was later removed from his Instagram page.

Haresh told South China Morning Post (SCMP), a Hong Kong media outlet who first broke the news on Jan. 5, that he was formerly a PAP member but not anymore.

Later on Jan. 6, Haresh shared a photo of himself and stated that he had received "queries" about his political affiliation.

He clarified the following points:

• He is, at the moment, not a member of any political party.
• The photo was taken at a party activity where he volunteered. He added that the activity did not involve the People's Association, contrary to a response he made to SCMP.
• The photo was archived as part of a "clean-up" of his Instagram to protect the privacy of some individuals as he made his account public.

NMP scheme

Established in 1990, the NMP scheme was designed to have non-partisan voices in Parliament.

NMPs also provided valuable perspectives from other sectors of society that may not necessarily be represented by our elected representatives.

For instance, there may be a lot of lawyers and businesspeople elected to Parliament during a particular election, but not an athlete. Therefore, an NMP with a background in athletics could provide a useful voice in debates about the sports world.

NMPs resign ahead of GE2025

The NMP scheme came under greater scrutiny in 2025, when two NMPs resigned on Feb. 14, raising speculation they would be running in the expected upcoming general election.

One of them, Syed Harun Alhabsyi did so. He is today a PAP Member of Parliament for Nee Soon GRC and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and National Development.

The other, Joshua Raj Thomas, did not.

During his candidate introduction, Syed Harun described his entry into politics as an extension of his willingness to serve others.

"I present myself as someone who is earnest in wanting to serve my residents, who wants to serve my community, as well as my country."

Reactions

However, questions were asked about whether this was going against the spirit of the NMP scheme.

Local academic and political commenter Walid Abdullah speculated that the public could view future NMPs as having "one eye" on becoming a partisan MP in the future.

Previously, former NMP Anthea Ong spoke about possible reform of the NMP scheme, such as having a "cooling-off" period before a former NMP could run for Parliament.

In a post on Jan. 6, Ong shared the SCMP article on Haresh and wrote:

"The NMP scheme rests on a fragile but vital premise: that non-partisan voices can speak freely, and be seen to be doing so.

Once that default lens of independence is lost, every contribution is filtered through suspicion - not because of what is said, but because of what people assume may come next.

That is not fair to the NMPs. And it is not healthy for Parliament."

Mothership has contacted the PAP and Haresh for comment.

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Top image from social media and Haresh Singaraju IG page.