Meet-the-People Sessions
The Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) is a series of one-to-one meetings between elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and their constituents in Singapore. The sessions are usually held once a week at a local constituency office staffed by partisan volunteers. Constituents visit their representative in the hope of resolving their various problems encountered in daily living. The MP will write petition letters to the relevant ministry, statutory board or any concerned parties to appeal on behalf of the resident. These letters are usually accorded a higher priority by the civil service as they come  from elected Members of Parliament, regardless even from elected Opposition MPs as the Singapore Civil Service is ought to accord MPs equally and democratic as based and sworn by the Singapore National Pledge. Cases deal with a wide range of issues. The list is not exhaustive such as family financial problems (e.g. health-cost issues, jobs seeking, financial assistance), CPF matters, various licenses, HDB-related problems (e.g. subsidized rental housing, obtaining a subsidized HDB flat), immigration issues, and appeals for school admissions and school fee subsidy, neighbor and any other relational disputes. Almost all Meet-the-People sessions start after  7 pm and can routinely last past midnight based on queue, and are staffed by volunteers. History. The establishment of these sessions can be traced back to then Chief Minister of Singapore, David Marshall of the Labour Front in the 1950s. Rationale. The rationale for the Meet-the-People Session is so that Members of Parliament can get a feel of the ground. Even cabinet ministers are required to go to their weekly sessions, although sometimes they may seek help from other MPs to cover duties when they have ministerial or other work duties to attend to. The 1966 Wee  Chong Jin Constitutional Commission had recommended an Ombudsman to deal with complaints against the bureaucracy, but Parliament rejected the recommendation and instead preferred that such cases were handled by the Members of Parliament themselves or the national Feedback Unit. This need to perform an ombudsman function is probably another rationale for having the Meet-the-People Sessions. Process. The process of meeting the Members of Parliament varies from constituency to constituency, but follow a general pattern: Criticism. There has been criticism that MPs do not give sufficient time allowance to each individual resident. There has also been criticism that volunteers  at Meet-the-People Sessions are unable to connect with residents and that the general attitude of volunteers has changed with time, to the organisations detriment. Criticisms include the use of standard templates for many of the petition letters which are repetitive, an inability to accommodate residents with disabilities and a lack of empathy towards fellow Singaporeans. To counter the criticism the organisation has begun to redesign the "Meet-the-People" sessions to actually feel the ground in reality, to try and gain back the trust and support of the people that the people entrust to them. Meet-the-People