Earlier this month, Member of Parliament (MP) for MacPherson Tin Pei Ling revealed that she would be joining Grab Singapore as its Director of Public Affairs and Policy. However, she faced severe backlash regarding her new appointment, with members of the public saying that it was a conflict of interest with her MP role. Just over a week later, Ms Tin announced that she has moved into a new role as Grab Singapore’s Director of Corporate Development instead.

In a Facebook post today (10 Feb), Ms Tin shared an update about her role at Grab Singapore. She said that following discussions with Grab after the “recent public attention”, they agreed that the best way forward is for her to move into another role not involving Singapore’s Government relations. According to Ms Tin, she had informed the People's Action Party (PAP) of her possible employment, as well as the nature of her role at Grab, in mid-2022. When she formally informed the party about her appointment in Sep 2022, they did not object.

Ms Tin will be taking on the role as Director of Corporate Development. She explained that the role aligns with her career interests and taps into her past experiences in consulting and corporate strategy. Ms Tin went on to say that serving MacPherson over the past 12 years has been “extremely meaningful” to her. She also explained her reasons for wanting to join Grab, saying that it was a chance to “hone new skills” and “broaden her (my) horizons”.

In addition to her own statement, Ms Tin also shared statements by both Grab and PAP. Grab claims that they had given “thought and care…to address any potential conflict of interest that may arise” and established rules of engagement where Ms Tin should not be advocating for Grab’s interest in her capacity as an MP. Ms Tin’s corporate development role will include supporting strategy development, as well as realising synergies across Grab’s investments and acquisitions. Grab emphasised that she will not be involved in public affairs and policy work in Singapore and will not represent Grab in public policy discussions with government officials.

In their own statement, the PAP confirmed that they did not object when Ms Tin informed them about her public affairs and policy post at Grab. However, like Grab, the “public comments” about the controversial appointment led them to have another discussion to get a clearer idea of the scope of her duties. They also reiterated that as Corporate Development Director, Ms Tin’s main duties will not involve government relations in Singapore. Highlighting that most “PAP backbench MPs have private careers”, the party explained the reason for this and stressed that MPs must “rigorously separate their public role as MPs from their professional and commercial interests in their private careers”.

Source: Must Share News