One of the biggest goals Yip set for herself when she became an NMP was to help develop a better sporting culture in Singapore. For one, she hopes that students can be exposed to different kinds of sports and find one that they enjoy. 

On the competitive sports front, she highlights the need to develop a more efficient national sports system. In particular, she feels that the resources allocated to both disabled and non-disabled national athletes can be integrated and streamlined. 

“There are benefits to bringing para-swimmers and non-disabled swimmers, for example, under one national sports association,” she reasons. “There isn’t much difference in what both groups need. In fact, with the integration, all the athletes may benefit from having better training environments and may be motivated to train harder and perform better.” 

Hence, she suggested to parliament to set up a challenge fund that will incentivise individual associations to take the first step towards integration. She received positive feedback from several of them, although she recognises that it will take some time before an official decision is made.

“I understand that people might be scared of the change because we tend to be afraid of what we don’t know. They just need to be made aware of the value of an integrated system.”

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Recently, Yip raised her concerns in parliament about another pressing issue in Singapore: sexual harassment on campus and the measures that are currently in place to tackle the situation. 

In May 2019, Singapore’s education minister Ong Ye Kung revealed that there had been a total of 56 sexual misconduct cases reported involving the country’s local autonomous universities between 2015 and 2018—with each year seeing an increase in the number of cases.

Minister Ong’s address was likely sparked by a much-talked-about case involving two National University of Singapore (NUS) students that took place the previous month. Monica Baey, a 23-year-old undergraduate at the university, made headlines when her posts on Instagram Stories about her encounter with a peeping Tom on campus went viral. She had called out a fellow student for filming her while she was in the shower at the student residence.

During this time, the spotlight wasn’t just on the offenders and victims involved, but the disciplinary frameworks of the local universities. NUS’s “second strike and you're out” policy for sexual misconduct cases, in particular, came under fire when it was revealed to the public, with many voicing their concerns about whether first-time offenders should be allowed to remain in school. 

Addressing this in her parliamentary speech earlier this February, Yip called for a national code to be put in place to address offences involving sexual violence on campus. “This code should set out the duties of the school to ensure zero tolerance on sexual harassment, provide adequate victim care support and set out standards and principles for managing complaints.” 

Yip says it's not enough to depend on individual universities to develop their own disciplinary protocol, as it will result in varying treatments of such cases across the board. “People tend to have different perspectives on such issues—some may take sexual harassment lightly, while others may see it as an actual crime. So I feel that a national code is necessary to address this.”

When asked why she chose to voice out about this topic, she says: “I didn’t experience any sexual harassment during my time as a student, but in parliament, I’m the person who most recently graduated from a university. I graduated about three years ago, so the topic of sexual violence on campus felt very real to me.” 

She also shares that while the lack of personal experience might mean she won’t be able to fully understand what victims of sexual harassment go through, it doesn't stop her from being their voice.

Her stance was further validated when she started receiving emails from a number of victims who expressed their appreciation for her speech. “After receiving those emails, I was glad I brought the topic up in parliament so people can see that they are not alone, and there are people out there trying to protect them.”

In the end, Yip feels that even if she isn’t able to see a change in public policy or the perspective of the government during her tenure as an NMP, she remains optimistic of the future. “What matters is that I manage to start the conversations and get them thinking about the issues I want them to think about.”

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