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Tin Pei Ling (simplified Chinese: 陈佩玲; traditional Chinese: 陳佩玲; pinyin: Chén Pèilíng) is a Chinese Singaporean who is one of five Singapore People's Action Party (PAP) Members of Parliament for the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency. She is in charge of the MacPherson ward.

Besides being the youngest MP in Parliament, she was also the PAP's youngest candidate in the Singapore general election, 2011. She is also currently serving as the Chairperson of the Ulu Pandan Youth Executive Committee for the Young PAP (YPAP), the PAP's youth wing.

Political career

In the 2011 general election, Tin was selected as a candidate for the Marine Parade GRC alongside former prime minister Goh Chok Tong among others. Having been a member of the Ulu Pandan branch of the Young PAP for 7 years, she was originally fielded by the PAP as a candidate to attract the "unpredictable" youth vote via social networking site and YouTube, but this effort backfired and resulted in a large backlash online from all Singaporeans, especially amongst young Singaporeans.

During the campaign, Tin Pei Ling garnered the limelight due to various incidents with the press. She became infamous after her video for PAP Party Awards event, where she exclaimed "I don't know what to say!" and stomped her feet like a child. The video went viral in various forums and social network medias, where she was heavily criticized for her display of immaturity. A widely-circulated Facebook photo of her "act cute" pose with a Kate Spade-branded gift from her husband, also led to widespread accusations online of ignorance, materialism and privilege. When asked if there was a policy she would change, she replied that there were no policy that she felt strongly against. When asked what her "greatest regret" was, she said it was not having brought her (still living) parents to Universal Studios Singapore.

Some Singaporeans were concerned that as an "undeserving ," she had a high chance of being elected "not on own merit, but rather on the back of established MPs" since the 5-member PAP team would be voted in or rejected as a group under Singapore's Group Representative Constituency system.

The public's online hostility towards her was so great that her team comrade Goh Chok Tong defended about his team member in the press. He said he had taken Tin Pei Ling in when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had offered her to be fielded as a candidate in his GRC. He had accepted her as he did not think Tin Pei Ling was a weak candidate. He dismissed the online criticisms as "distortion" and even though "some sound bites of her which pitted her as a rather light-weight person", it was just "a superficial view". He still believed that she " reach out to the young, and the not so young," and that and in particular, he "would like her to do more to help the old people in MacPherson."

On election day, the PAP took Marine Parade GRC with 56.65% of the votes, defeating National Solidarity Party's team led by Cheo Chai Chen Goh Chok Tong admitted after election that Tin Pei Ling's youth and negative image perceived by the public was a "factor" for the People's Action Party's weaker performance this elecion compared to their 72.9% win in 1992.

On 1st June 2011, she announced on her Facebook account that she had resigned from her business consultant job in Ernst & Young, where she had worked for 4 years. She said the decision was made in order to focus on her responsibilities as full time MP in her MacPherson ward and the Marine Parade GRC.

Cooling-off day controversy

Nicole Seah from NSP team in Marine Parade GRC filed a complaint to the Elections Department on 6 May stating Tin Pei Ling had violated the state-mandated cooling-off period 24 hours before polls by posting a Facebook comment on Seah crying during her walkabout. When questioned, Tin replied that one of her administrators, Denise He, had posted the comment under her account and that Denise had meant to post in her own capacity from her phone, but had forgotten to log out of Tin's account. The NSP team was advised by the Elections Department to file a police report before the Elections Department could investigate. Investigators for independent Singaporean news blog Temasek Review noted that according to Tin Pei Ling's publicly available nomination forms on the Election Departments website, Tin Pei Ling was listed as the sole approved moderator/administrator of her facebook profile.The Singapore Police have confirmed that a police report has been lodged against her. Under the Singapore Parliamentary Elections Act, canvassing on Polling Day and Cooling Off Day is prohibited and the offence carries a fine or imprisonment or both.

References

1. Tin Pei Ling CV, PAP, 28 March 2011. Template:WebCite
2. Jermyn Chow (8 May 2011). "Celebrating the PAP's win in Marine Parade GRC". The Straits Times (Singapore).
3. "Young PAP 17th Executive Committee". Young PAP web. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
4. Russell, Jon (27 April 2011). "Nicole Seah and the social media effect". Asia Sentinel. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
5. Koh, Hui Theng (11 May 2011). "Tay Ping Hui's Kate Spade spoof stirs online buzz". The New Paper. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
6. Alicia Wong (14 April 2011). "My conscience is clear: Tin Pei Ling". Yahoo Singapore. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
7. "PAP's youngest candidate faces online criticism". 31 March 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
8. Ting, Victoria. "Tin Pei Ling: New blood or bad blood?". Very Fine Commentary. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
9. "Video: Tin Pei Ling's greatest regret".
10. Sim, Fann (6 April 2011). "Online petition against PAP's Tin Pei Ling". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
11. Siow, Maria (4 May 2011). "GE: SM Goh defends quality of new PAP candidates". Retrieved 18 April 2011.
12. "PAP takes Marine Parade". The Straits Times (Singapore). 8 May 2011.
13. "GE: Tin Pei Ling "a factor" for weak results, says SM Goh". Channel News Asia. 8 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
14. "MP Tin Pei Ling resigns from Ernst & Young". Straits Times. 1 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
15. "Nicole Seah files complaint against Tin Pei Ling". AsiaOne. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
16. "NSP advised to make police report". Straits Times. 7 May 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
17. Loh, Andrew (7 May 2011). "TOC Breaking News: NSP makes complaint to Elections Dept over Tin Pei Ling Facebook posting". The Online Citizen. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
18. http://app.elections.gov.sg/data/candidatesForm/C00068/TIN%20PEI%20LING_
19. "Tin Pei Ling is the ONLY approved moderator of her Facebook". Temasek Review. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
20. "Police report lodged against Tin Pei Ling over cooling-off day complaint". Channel News Asia. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
21. Parliamentary Elections Act (Cap. 218, 2007 Rev. Ed.)

• Members of the Parliament of Singapore
• People's Action Party politicians
• National University of Singapore alumni
• Singaporean people of Chinese descent
• Politicians of Chinese descent
• Singaporean people of Fuzhou descent
• 1983 births
• Living people