Former Member of Parliament (MP) Carrie Tan has shared how she struggled through long parliamentary sittings and found an unconventional way to stay focused.
In a TikTok video posted on Tuesday (July 28), Tan wrote in the caption: "Fun fact: I once tried to be the "obedient" MP who listens attentively through every Parliament session. Failed pretty badly at that."
She said that the "long sessions were hard" for her to sit through, but folding paper cranes and cross-stitching helped her stay focused during the lengthy sessions in Parliament.
"I was just sitting there feeling really frustrated... and wondering why am I sitting here for hours," said Tan in the video, adding that she often had to re-read what she had heard in Parliament after sessions ended.
She recalled asked herself: "Is there something wrong with me?"
Tan eventually realised that keeping her hands busy helped her to listen better.
"I started bringing in coloured paper to fold paper cranes and... I started to cross-stitch," she explained.
Tan served as an MP for Nee Soon GRC (Nee Soon South division) from July 2020 to 2025. She was elected in the 2020 General Election as part of the PAP team in Nee Soon GRC and stepped down ahead of the 2025 General Election.
As she was folding paper cranes and cross-stitching, Tan said she asked herself how appropriate it was to do so in Parliament.
"Half the time I'm thinking, 'Is anybody going to scold me?' 'Is the Prime Minister going to tell me that you're not allowed to do this?'" she wondered.
She expressed gratitude that her colleagues who noticed the activities were "quite polite" and simply asked what she was doing.
In the caption accompanying her video, Tan stressed that folding paper cranes and cross-stitching were not distractions, but ways of helping her "stay present and listen better".
"Sometimes what looks like 'not paying attention' is really just someone trying to regulate their focus," she wrote.
"We all stay engaged differently. There's no one right way to do it," said Tan.
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