[1] The incumbent NCMPs are Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa from the Progress Singapore Party, both of whom were declared elected on 16 July 2020.

Since the ruling People's Action Party had won all parliamentary seats in the four general elections since independence, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew argued that the NCMP scheme would ensure that opposition voices would be heard in Parliament.

With effect from 2017, the maximum number of NCMPs increased from nine to 12, and they were conferred the same voting powers in Parliament as elected MPs.

Despite this critique, several opposition politicians have accepted NCMP seats, including 2 different parties like Lee Siew-Choh, J.

NCMPs have raised notable points in Parliament with regards to various public policy issues such as criminal procedure, education, health and social welfare.

First, he said that having a minimum number of opposition members in Parliament through the NCMP scheme would provide younger People's Action Party ("PAP") MPs with sparring partners to "sharpen their debating skills".

The fact that there was absolutely no opposition representation in Parliament in the four general elections before 1984 (as indicated in the table below) added to the impetus for the inception of the scheme.

[33] The NCMP scheme has been the subject of criticism, both within the PAP and among opposition MPs and Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs).

During parliamentary debates in April 2010 on increasing the number of NCMPs from six to nine, several MPs expressed dissatisfaction with what they called the lack of legitimacy and anti-democratic nature of the NCMP concept.

For instance, PAP MP Alvin Yeo expressed doubts as to whether the NCMP scheme had served to raise the level of debate in Parliament,[38] while NMP Calvin Cheng said:[39] [P]eople who are proposed to be NCMPs are politicians who stood for an election and lost.

[44][45] She identified an NCMP's lack of any official capacity to represent the people or write letters on their behalf as a drawback of the scheme.

In her view, it would be better for politics in Singapore if the NCMP scheme was regarded merely as a "stop-gap measure" to deal with the lack of alternative voices in Parliament as a result of the ruling party's alleged abuse of the GRC system and gerrymandering.

[44] In 2011 during a live television forum, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong refuted claims that NCMPs were not a "real opposition" by stating that the PAP had introduced and expanded the scheme "because it acknowledged both the desire among Singaporeans for alternative voices and the need for an opposition to represent the diverse views in society".

He noted that NCMPs were free to debate issues in Parliament, and that the scheme provided opposition politicians with an opportunity to "establish themselves and strengthen their positions in subsequent general elections".

[51] However, on 9 January 1989 the Speaker of Parliament Tan Soo Khoon announced that Seow had lost his seat with effect from 17 December 1988 under Article 45 of the Constitution after he was convicted and fined for tax evasion.

[52] In the general election that followed in 1991, a special provision was made for four instead of three NCMP seats, but none were offered because four opposition members were successful in their respective electoral divisions.

[55] Subsequently, with effect from 23 July 2001, Jeyaretnam fell into bankruptcy due to an unpaid debt and thus lost his seat in Parliament.

[56] The general election that year saw one NCMP seat occupied by Steve Chia of the Singapore Democratic Alliance.

They were taken up by Lina Loh from the Singapore People's Party, who contested Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency (SMC), and Yee Jenn Jong and Gerald Giam of the Worker's Party, who contested Joo Chiat SMC and East Coast GRC, respectively.

They were taken up by Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa from the Progress Singapore Party, who had contested the West Coast GRC.

In November 2002, NCMP Steve Chia supported a motion by the Minister for Education stating that "this House ... (1) supports the new JC [junior college] curriculum which will better develop thinking, communication and other process skills and engage students in greater breadth of learning; and (2) endorses greater diversity and opening of new pathways in JC/Upper Secondary education to cater to the different strengths and interests of students."

[69] He placed most emphasis on the importance of ensuring that the focus of education should be character building, stating: "It will be failure of our education system if we are to train our best and brightest with our best resources only to be told that they are going to be the quitters of our society; or that they lack the compassion for the weak and the down; or that they behave in a snobbish class of their own; or behave condescendingly to their peers and followers; or that the elites only care about their own self-interests.

"[70] In 2003, Chia mooted the idea that Singaporeans should be able to borrow from their own Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings to tide over periods of financial difficulty.

His rationale was that if individuals could borrow from their own CPF accounts to buy depreciating property and money-losing stocks, there was no reason why they should not be allowed to do so to pay for bills.

[71] Dr. Ong Seh Hong, MP for Aljunied GRC, opposed the view, stating that it was important and for the good of Singapore that Singaporeans were independent individuals who could assume the risks and successes of their investments and be self-sufficient.

[74] In 2010, Lim mooted the idea that the proportion of each Primary 1 cohort that would be seeking a university education should be increased beyond the 30% by 2015 that the Government was planning.

[76] Lim expressed concerns about a proposed constitutional amendment introduced in April 2010[77] that would allow magistrates to hear what are called "first mentions" through video conferencing.

[78] She felt it failed to adequately assure accused people that they were allowed to complain to magistrates about injuries they had sustained or acts of misfeasance against them by the authorities.