Murali Pillai

Murali Pillai
MP
கே முரளிதரன் பிள்ளை
穆仁理

Pillai in 2016
Member of Parliament
for Bukit Batok SMC
Assumed office
9 May 2016
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Preceded by David Ong
Personal details
Born K. Muralidharan Pillai
(1967-10-30) 30 October 1967
Singapore
Political party People's Action Party
Alma mater National University of Singapore
University of California, Los Angeles

K. Muralidharan Pillai (Tamil: கே முரளிதரன் பிள்ளை, born 30 October 1967), better known as Murali Pillai (Standard Chinese: 穆仁理), or Ah Mu (Standard Chinese: 阿穆), is a Singaporean lawyer and politician, as well as a former police officer.[1][2][3] Pillai worked in the Singapore Police Force before his admission to practice law in 1996. In his legal career, Pillai is currently the head for commercial litigation in Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP.

In his political career, he joined the People's Action Party (PAP) in 2001. Pillai was part of a team of five from the PAP who contested and lost to the Worker's Party in the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency of the 2015 Singaporean general election. In 2016, Pillai was once again fielded in as a PAP candidate for the Bukit Batok by-election. Pillai won 61.2% of the votes, securing his position as Member of Parliament for the Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency.

Personal life and education

K. Muralidharan Pillai was born on 30 October 1967 in Singapore.[1] His father, P.K. Pillai, was a unionist detained during Operation Coldstore in 1963. The elder Pillai died in 2007.[4] Pillai has been married to his educator wife, N. Gowri, for more than 20 years in 2016. The couple have twin sons and two daughters.[4]

For his early education, Pillai studied at Monk's Hill Primary School, then Monk's Hill Secondary School and then Hwa Chong Junior College.[1] For his tertiary education, he studied in the National University of Singapore (NUS) where he first attained a law degree with honours and then did his masters in law. He also holds a double masters in business administration in NUS and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[4] Pillai played hockey as a student and represented his school, while he was also once the President of Raffles Hall in NUS.[1]

Presumably during his initial period of national service in Singapore as a Full Time National Serviceman, Pillai rose to the role of a platoon commander for the 2nd Guards Battalion of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) At some point in time, Pillai joined the Singapore Police Force (SPF),[1] where he attained the position of Assistant Superintendent, and primarily conducted investigations into white-collar crimes.[2][4] As an Operationally-Ready National Serviceman, he still holds the rank of Deputy Superintendent (NS) in the SPF.[1]

After his work with the police, Pillai was called to the bar in 1996.[4] He is currently the head of commercial litigation at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP.[2]

Political career

Pillai waving while being surrounded by a crowd
Pillai campaigning during the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election.

A member of the People's Action Party (PAP) since 2001, Pillai served from 2007 to 2011 as the branch secretary at PAP's Bukit Batok branch.[4]

Then, Pillai served as the branch chairman of PAP's Paya Lebar branch from May 2012 to (March or April) 2016.[5][6] He contested in the 2015 Singaporean general election in a team of five for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.[5] Although the PAP team was ahead by around 300 votes in Pillai's ward of Paya Lebar within Aljunied,[4] overall the PAP team scored 49.05% of the vote in Aljunied in a loss to the team from the Worker's Party (WP), which scored 50.95%.[5]

On 12 March 2016, the PAP Member of Parliament for the Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency, David Ong, resigned citing a "personal indiscretion".[7] When the PAP announced on 21 March that Pillai would be their representative for the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election, Pillai was appointed branch chairman of PAP's Bukit Batok branch.[5] Pillai was formally nominated as a candidate on 27 April, the only other nominated candidate being Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).[7]

Pillai giving a speech
Pillai giving a speech during the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election.

During his campaign, Pillai chose the Mandarin nickname of 'Ah Mu'.[3] He pledged that if he won, he would upgrade infrastructure around Blocks 140 to 149 of the SMC, which would cost $1.9 million.[8] Pillai later clarified that this potential $1.9 million project is "part of" the $23.6 million masterplan announced by David Ong during the 2015 general election.[9] Pillai's campaign manifesto for Bukit Batok focused on three domains: jobs, social mobility and the elderly.[10] In the jobs domain, he proposed a program to help the unemployed find jobs faster,[10] "leveraging on community contacts within the pool of community volunteers and Bukit Batok residents, and also [his] own business contacts" to help residents secure jobs.[11] For the social mobility domain, Pillai proposed a program where volunteers would "inspire children from low-income families to aim high to succeed in life",[10] with the hope that this volunteer youth mentorship program would eventually be accessible to all residents and be introduced in schools.[12] For the domain of the elderly, there were at least three programs proposed: firstly, a 'health cooperative' would be implemented to help "sandwiched families" by increasing medical literacy and subsidizing consumables for the elderly. Secondly, Pillai also proposed an "emergency button scheme" for "elderly living alone" to alert "neighbours or community volunteers" of a need for help.[13] Thirdly, Pillai said setting up a new "eldercare centre will help provide more therapy services and daycare services".[14] Finally, Pillai said that if he were elected as a Member of Parliament, he would raise the issues of tightening the criteria for receiving employment passes and fighting for higher Eldershield insurance payouts for the disabled.[15]

On 7 May 2016, Pillai secured 61.21% of the votes to win the Bukit Batok by-election on Polling Day [16] and was sworn into parliament on 9 May 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Murali Pillai" (PDF). People's Action Party. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "K. Muralidharan Pillai". Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 Wong, Casandra. "All in a day's work for 'Ah Mu': Painting walls, playing a piano, doing push-ups". Today. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "What you need to know about lawyer Murali Pillai, PAP's candidate for the Bukit Batok by-election". The Straits Times. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kotwani, Monica; Lim, Linette. "Murali Pillai named PAP candidate for Bukit Batok by-election". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Murali takes on Chee on being a 'full-time MP' for Bukit Batok". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  7. 1 2 Tham, Yuen-C. "Bukit Batok by-election: PAP's Murali Pillai and SDP's Chee Soon Juan confirmed in straight fight". The Straits Times. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Sim, Walter (24 April 2016). "Murali unveils Bukit Batok infrastructure plans, Chee says he wants to 'focus on the campaign'". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "PAP's Murali on upgrading plans for Bukit Batok". Channel NewsAsia. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Laura Philomin (26 April 2016). "Murali's Bukit Batok manifesto focuses on jobs, elderly, social mobility". Today Online. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  11. ↑ Lee, Pearl; Chong, Zi Liang (2 May 2016). "Candidates outline job plans in response to residents' concerns". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  12. ↑ Lee, Pearl (4 May 2016). "Murali hoping to start youth mentoring scheme". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  13. ↑ Justin Ong; Lianne Chia (26 April 2016). "Bukit Batok by-election: PAP candidate Murali to focus campaign on elderly". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  14. ↑ Lee, Pearl (5 May 2016). "Eldercare plans meant to meet future needs: Murali". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  15. ↑ Yong, Charissa; Sim, Walter; Au-Yong, Rachel; Heng, Janice. "Bukit Batok by-election: PAP, SDP urge voters to consider brand of politics and character of candidates at final rallies". The Straits Times. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  16. ↑ "PAP's Murali Pillai wins Bukit Batok by-election". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
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