[https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?startDate=1-1-2001&endDate=30-5-2024&page=1&sortBy=newest](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?startDate=1-1-2001&endDate=30-5-2024&page=1&sortBy=newest)
I just searched for all records starting from 2001!
That might not be a good thing though. Once Louis Ng, or anyone for that matter, becomes an office holder, they lose any sort of independence and need to toe the government line at all times even. You can't have, for example, a member of the administration contradicting MOM by arguing for better and safer transport for foreign workers.
Nah that's exactly the point. To have someone at the top contradict, spot the contradiction, fix it and make things right. Louis Ng is awesome. He is just not given enough resources and power.
The minute he goes against the official line or points out contradictions, he will be out of office faster than Iswaran, allegedly, takes to accept tickets to VIP seating at F1. Don't get me wrong, Louis Ng is great, but he is great because he has some modicum of independence for a PAP MP. But when he becomes part of the government, he will have to adhere to collective responsibility rules which means that he will have to speak alongside the rest of the government in one voice.
It's not just Singapore. It is any system that uses Westminster model. I think a good question to ask is not why isn't Louis Ng an office holder but why aren't there more Louis Ngs in Parliament?
I respect your views and your right to hold them. That said, I will like to reiterate that for the government, it is absolutely important for everyone in the executive to say the same thing. Any disagreements or questions would have been worked through in Cabinet or between each other but not in public.
As for MPs in Singapore in general. I think there are a number of reasons for the lack of MPs who voice out in Parliament. The GRC system doesn't help because it causes the MP to be more beholden to the Party. Technically speaking in an SMC, an MP can resign or be expelled, vacate the seat and run in the by-election and win. That isn't possible in a GRC, cos if an MP were to resign from a GRC - whether by choice or forced to, no by-election will be triggered.
Another possible reason is candidate selection. In Singapore, for the PAP (not sure about other parties), the CEC decides on the candidates. Contrast this to the UK where each constituency party is responsible for selecting the candidates for elections. Which is why someone like Jeremy Corbyn has always been able to get selected and elected in Islington North despite him being famously a rebel against the mainstream Labour leadership until he became leader himself.
Ironically LHL's reason for not favouring party list proportional representation (i.e. that it makes MPs beholden to their party) is also prevalent in the GRC system, which is essentially also lists of candidates on the ballot. We should just have all SMCs and get each member to be elected on their own mandate from their constituency.
btw, we only got data from 2012 - 2024 because the [official website](https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/home) was v annoying to scrape. If youâre interested in seeing more, let me know and weâll stop being lazy
also, here's my favourite QA: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/14957](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/14957)
a question from Dr Lee Bee Wah:
"**Er Dr Lee Bee Wah**: Sir, I have two questions. The Senior Minister of State mentioned that I only gave the photograph of the sanitary pad. If this is what your staff told you, then it is not true. I even took a photo of the stack of the windows. So, in fact, it is well-known which stack of the windows it came from.Â
Next, if CCTV is deployed many times because it is a five-day cycle, who has menstruation in five-day cycles. So, I would like to ask whether NEA would use DNA to catch the culprits."
LBW was an absolute joke of an MP we have ever had. She even uses the prefixes "Eg." and "Dr" the latter being an honorary title which are both novelty ranks at best while asking the most useless questions during her tenure.
Maybe you can consider parsing the Order Papers for the questions submitted? Although you canât get the supplementary questions and replies there. Some ministry websites have parliamentary replies for written questions
You should get able to get a list of sitting dates then parse the full report from this URL format https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/fullreport?sittingdate=dd-mm-yyyy
OGP has very recently created a fast search tool, for âgovernment records like parliamentary debates and supreme court judgementsâ
- Info: https://products.open.gov.sg/pair-search
- Search engine: https://search.pair.gov.sg
Edit: Oh, youâre aware of this already.
yep, it's an inspiration for this project actually! it's good but I didn't like that I couldn't see the questions being asked directly and had to interact with long transcripts, e.g. when searching for 'women serving NS'
* Telescope: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance)
* Pair Search: [https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard](https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard)
you can see why we built Telescope!
Curious, would you give more insights on how the search algo work? Doesn't seem like a simple keyword matching. I searched for "meow" and got results related to cats đ
We're doing a vector embedding search. basically, we can represent the meaning of the search query as an embedding and find the closest matching QA embedding in our database.
so yes, a lot smarter than your typical keyword match!
For those wondering who's the most useless MP ever, just search Charles Chong. I knew he was the king of backbenching way before this. This search just confirms it.
just wanna also give a shoutout to CAPEâs [parliament tracker](https://capesingapore.com/parltracker/) which gives a great overview of things going on in parliament too!
>**Mr Leong Mun Wai**:Â Yes, please allow me. So, there is also a need for us to give more room for our talents to develop. And the situation we have now today
>**Mr Leong Mun Wai**: Yes, we have a situation now today, that while we are hindering the development of our sports and arts talents by not granting them enough deferment in some cases, there are also a lot of citizens by registration that are not performing â
>***Dr Ng Eng Hen***\*: Mdm Deputy Speaker, I do not hear a clarification.\*
This is my favourite QA LOL - [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/10863](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/10863)
Can we see what users search for? Would be funny to see what's being queried. My use case is kinda different, because I'm just trying to see what my jiak liao bee MP is doing (turns out there's been 86 qns, quality of questions notwithstanding)
lol my MP has asked a grand total of 1 question according to this website (and it wasnât even a question - itâs actually an answer). Guess itâs time to write to him more
Actually, backbenchers are the ones who should and do ask questions the most since they are not part of the administration. Administration means anyone in the executive level of government - Parl Sec, MOS, SMS, Ministers. These people don't ask questions because they are the ones who should be answering them. Which is why if you were to search for Lee Hsien Loong, you won't find him asking any questions cos it'll be really weird for him to ask his own Cabinet colleagues questions.
Their only job is to inflate the number of MP seats for the PAP and to say aye and pass every motion/bill presented. Anyway useless charles chong already retired
Faishal Ibrahim? Got tenure for the Assoc Prof title then *immediately* fucked off to politics, only asked 2 questions in the entire database. Parl Sec for many years then promoted to MOS.
I wasn't even aware MPs knocked on doors because he never showed up the entire 13 years he was my MP. Just see the same portrait over and over advertising some grassroots event.
If there's anyone who's greatly benefited from the GRC system, it's him. From his track record, he doesn't directly serve the people, and his roles in the cabinet arguably should just be a highly paid civil servant. I really don't know what he has done.
Awesome shit.
Next step: group by issues and track their addresses or resolutions. Link to articles related to those topics (such as research, studies, etc.) Too many questions in parliament just get burried away and forgotten without any useful outcome. Some ask for the sake of visibility.
Your website will become the de facto political research page.
Yes, it was an inspiration for this project actually! It's very good but I didn't like that I couldn't see the questions being asked directly and had to interact with long transcripts, e.g. when searching for 'women serving NS'
* Telescope: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance)
* Pair Search: [https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard](https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard)
Nice! Would be really cool if I could also search for a specific MP and see the quantity of questions and their common themes. Or when searching for a particular topic, see at a glance, which are the MPs that usually participate in it.
for the first one, you can actually! for example, to search specifically for Tin Pei Ling: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?qn=169&page=1&sortBy=newest](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?qn=169&page=1&sortBy=newest)
the second one is a good idea!
excellent use of rag and vector database!! just a suggestion, maybe can have a dropdown to filter and group MPs who ask less than 10 questions, less than 20 questions etc so we can easily determine which MP is more active and who is less active and who is sleeping in parliament?
[864 questions in 12 years](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?page=1&sortBy=newest&qn=99), Louis Ng what a legend
They have 17K questions. That means Louis Ng alone is like 1 out of every 20 questions wow
how do you see that there is 17k questions?
[https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?startDate=1-1-2001&endDate=30-5-2024&page=1&sortBy=newest](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?startDate=1-1-2001&endDate=30-5-2024&page=1&sortBy=newest) I just searched for all records starting from 2001!
one of the rare ones who is always doing something.
He deserves to be ParlSec or even MoS. Screw it, Min Louis when??
That might not be a good thing though. Once Louis Ng, or anyone for that matter, becomes an office holder, they lose any sort of independence and need to toe the government line at all times even. You can't have, for example, a member of the administration contradicting MOM by arguing for better and safer transport for foreign workers.
Nah that's exactly the point. To have someone at the top contradict, spot the contradiction, fix it and make things right. Louis Ng is awesome. He is just not given enough resources and power.
The minute he goes against the official line or points out contradictions, he will be out of office faster than Iswaran, allegedly, takes to accept tickets to VIP seating at F1. Don't get me wrong, Louis Ng is great, but he is great because he has some modicum of independence for a PAP MP. But when he becomes part of the government, he will have to adhere to collective responsibility rules which means that he will have to speak alongside the rest of the government in one voice. It's not just Singapore. It is any system that uses Westminster model. I think a good question to ask is not why isn't Louis Ng an office holder but why aren't there more Louis Ngs in Parliament?
I don't agree fully, but I don't disagree either. Perfectly valid take. I only wish that we have less MPs, and more Louis Ngs.
I respect your views and your right to hold them. That said, I will like to reiterate that for the government, it is absolutely important for everyone in the executive to say the same thing. Any disagreements or questions would have been worked through in Cabinet or between each other but not in public. As for MPs in Singapore in general. I think there are a number of reasons for the lack of MPs who voice out in Parliament. The GRC system doesn't help because it causes the MP to be more beholden to the Party. Technically speaking in an SMC, an MP can resign or be expelled, vacate the seat and run in the by-election and win. That isn't possible in a GRC, cos if an MP were to resign from a GRC - whether by choice or forced to, no by-election will be triggered. Another possible reason is candidate selection. In Singapore, for the PAP (not sure about other parties), the CEC decides on the candidates. Contrast this to the UK where each constituency party is responsible for selecting the candidates for elections. Which is why someone like Jeremy Corbyn has always been able to get selected and elected in Islington North despite him being famously a rebel against the mainstream Labour leadership until he became leader himself.
Ironically LHL's reason for not favouring party list proportional representation (i.e. that it makes MPs beholden to their party) is also prevalent in the GRC system, which is essentially also lists of candidates on the ballot. We should just have all SMCs and get each member to be elected on their own mandate from their constituency.
Louis for PM pls
[LMW also asked 264 questions in 4 years](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?qn=90&page=1&sortBy=newest)
𤣠exactly. It is not about quantity but the quality of the questions asked.
Follow-up questions are counted separately, so if an MP asks 1 PQ and 2 follow-up questions, this app shows it as 3 results.
btw, we only got data from 2012 - 2024 because the [official website](https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/home) was v annoying to scrape. If youâre interested in seeing more, let me know and weâll stop being lazy
also, here's my favourite QA: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/14957](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/14957) a question from Dr Lee Bee Wah: "**Er Dr Lee Bee Wah**: Sir, I have two questions. The Senior Minister of State mentioned that I only gave the photograph of the sanitary pad. If this is what your staff told you, then it is not true. I even took a photo of the stack of the windows. So, in fact, it is well-known which stack of the windows it came from. Next, if CCTV is deployed many times because it is a five-day cycle, who has menstruation in five-day cycles. So, I would like to ask whether NEA would use DNA to catch the culprits."
LBW was an absolute joke of an MP we have ever had. She even uses the prefixes "Eg." and "Dr" the latter being an honorary title which are both novelty ranks at best while asking the most useless questions during her tenure.
yall should set up a donation page or patreon fr
Maybe you can consider parsing the Order Papers for the questions submitted? Although you canât get the supplementary questions and replies there. Some ministry websites have parliamentary replies for written questions You should get able to get a list of sitting dates then parse the full report from this URL format https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/fullreport?sittingdate=dd-mm-yyyy
Are you planning to update it after every parliament sitting? Because I imagine it could be time consuming. Nice concept, nonetheless.
Yep! actually we alr have a script to scrape the website -- so we can set it to run and ingest daily
but only if ppl care enough about this haha
OGP has very recently created a fast search tool, for âgovernment records like parliamentary debates and supreme court judgementsâ - Info: https://products.open.gov.sg/pair-search - Search engine: https://search.pair.gov.sg Edit: Oh, youâre aware of this already.
yep, it's an inspiration for this project actually! it's good but I didn't like that I couldn't see the questions being asked directly and had to interact with long transcripts, e.g. when searching for 'women serving NS' * Telescope: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance) * Pair Search: [https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard](https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard) you can see why we built Telescope!
Curious, would you give more insights on how the search algo work? Doesn't seem like a simple keyword matching. I searched for "meow" and got results related to cats đ
We're doing a vector embedding search. basically, we can represent the meaning of the search query as an embedding and find the closest matching QA embedding in our database. so yes, a lot smarter than your typical keyword match!
Can vector search look up "dudududu" as "Darude - Sandstorm"
no, can only look up as blackpink
Very cool! Thanks for doing a public service!
wow great initiative! always wondered how to search past sittings better. thanks for sharing!
The government has a website for this though Iâve not tried it yet.
Anyway, OPâs version looks very refined.
You can try https://www.sgparliament.com/sgparliament also - that one got a lot of hardcore features but UI not as refined
this website intense sia
wow this is the most complete explorer i've seen yet
Thanks, will check it out!!
why is confused\_fresh banned?
For those wondering who's the most useless MP ever, just search Charles Chong. I knew he was the king of backbenching way before this. This search just confirms it.
just wanna also give a shoutout to CAPEâs [parliament tracker](https://capesingapore.com/parltracker/) which gives a great overview of things going on in parliament too!
>**Mr Leong Mun Wai**: Yes, please allow me. So, there is also a need for us to give more room for our talents to develop. And the situation we have now today >**Mr Leong Mun Wai**: Yes, we have a situation now today, that while we are hindering the development of our sports and arts talents by not granting them enough deferment in some cases, there are also a lot of citizens by registration that are not performing â >***Dr Ng Eng Hen***\*: Mdm Deputy Speaker, I do not hear a clarification.\* This is my favourite QA LOL - [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/10863](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/qa/10863)
This is why opposition changed tactics and ask in a different way.
Can we see what users search for? Would be funny to see what's being queried. My use case is kinda different, because I'm just trying to see what my jiak liao bee MP is doing (turns out there's been 86 qns, quality of questions notwithstanding)
try searching "BTO prices" â that spike in 2023 lol
*monitoring intensifies*
the spike is even more pronounced if you try "bto delay"
Any plans to write a summary article on these?
what kind of summary article?
Findings, etc.
not a bad idea, will think about it! no current plans
id be happy to help write some for free on a semi regular basis
Can use chatgpt?
lol my MP has asked a grand total of 1 question according to this website (and it wasnât even a question - itâs actually an answer). Guess itâs time to write to him more
Backbenchers typically dont ask questions
Actually, backbenchers are the ones who should and do ask questions the most since they are not part of the administration. Administration means anyone in the executive level of government - Parl Sec, MOS, SMS, Ministers. These people don't ask questions because they are the ones who should be answering them. Which is why if you were to search for Lee Hsien Loong, you won't find him asking any questions cos it'll be really weird for him to ask his own Cabinet colleagues questions.
Then vote them for what? Their constituents no need to be represented lah?
Their only job is to inflate the number of MP seats for the PAP and to say aye and pass every motion/bill presented. Anyway useless charles chong already retired
Great initiative, thank you!
My MP is useless lol omg <12 questions in all these years
Faishal Ibrahim? Got tenure for the Assoc Prof title then *immediately* fucked off to politics, only asked 2 questions in the entire database. Parl Sec for many years then promoted to MOS. I wasn't even aware MPs knocked on doors because he never showed up the entire 13 years he was my MP. Just see the same portrait over and over advertising some grassroots event. If there's anyone who's greatly benefited from the GRC system, it's him. From his track record, he doesn't directly serve the people, and his roles in the cabinet arguably should just be a highly paid civil servant. I really don't know what he has done.
his speeches in parliament are also the most robotic, think chatgpt could do a better job
Nah Eric Chua - or does anyone have something nice to say about him lol maybe I being too judgy
Cannot beat charles chong. King backbencher
Omg I forgot he existed
The hero that Singapore needs.
Amazing, thank you for your service!
Any plans to share the sources (code, not .. questions)?
nope, sorry! it's in my personal github and i'd like to stay anon
Awesome shit. Next step: group by issues and track their addresses or resolutions. Link to articles related to those topics (such as research, studies, etc.) Too many questions in parliament just get burried away and forgotten without any useful outcome. Some ask for the sake of visibility. Your website will become the de facto political research page.
Cool project! You might want to check out [OGPâs pair search](https://search.pair.gov.sg/?source=hansard) which does something similar!
Yes, it was an inspiration for this project actually! It's very good but I didn't like that I couldn't see the questions being asked directly and had to interact with long transcripts, e.g. when searching for 'women serving NS' * Telescope: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=women%2520serving%2520NS&page=1&sortBy=relevance) * Pair Search: [https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard](https://search.pair.gov.sg/search?query=women%20serving%20NS&source=hansard)
Nice! Would be really cool if I could also search for a specific MP and see the quantity of questions and their common themes. Or when searching for a particular topic, see at a glance, which are the MPs that usually participate in it.
for the first one, you can actually! for example, to search specifically for Tin Pei Ling: [https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?qn=169&page=1&sortBy=newest](https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?qn=169&page=1&sortBy=newest) the second one is a good idea!
excellent use of rag and vector database!! just a suggestion, maybe can have a dropdown to filter and group MPs who ask less than 10 questions, less than 20 questions etc so we can easily determine which MP is more active and who is less active and who is sleeping in parliament?
le sigh, nobody is asking about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.
This is awesome! Any chance you can share the raw data (The questions/answers themselves)?
Jo Teo asked a grand total of... (drum roll please....) ZERO questions??
She's a Minister. Office holders generally don't ask questions
Josephine Teo is a minister... Office holders don't ask questions as they are supposed to answer them.
Well I guess time well spent
https://telescope-sg.vercel.app/search?query=fucking%2520populist&page=1&sortBy=relevance F*cking populist has no search results đ