Category: Politik

Marine Parade Resident: I Am Unimpressed By Workers’ Party

Dear A.S.S,

I refer to your posting http://www.allsingaporestuff.com/…/wp-introduces-final-batc… that concludes all the WP’s candidate introduction for this GE. I have been particularly curious, focusing on all the WP’s slate as I am a resident of Marine Parade in Marine Terrace. I remain proud that we boost the highest resale pricing for HDB flats in the whole of Singapore.

Back to the topic on the WP team, I cannot help but deeply ponder over whether its better for our Marine Parade and Macpherson family to have the PAP or WP representing our interest after my brief encounter with Mr Bernard Chen of the WP. I accompanied a distant relative at Bedok North St 3 to see her Kaki Bukit MP 2 years back over some housing issues and did not get a good impression of either Mr Chen or Faisal Manap.

Seated at table 2, I saw and overheard Mr Chen arguing unhappily with a Malay middle aged man at the next table over his job and welfare problems that I’m not sure if Mr Manap is unable or unwilling to help as the session ended with the resident expressing his disappointment at the WP for not being his “voice of conscience” so to say. Mr Chen then retorted by challenging the resident to see some Kahar Hassan instead if he could. Needless to say, my relative’s housing issue remains unresolved and calls/messages to a number Mr Manap provided on his call card went unanswered. I feel this is very unbecoming of an MP to be conducting himself in such an irresponsible manner.

Now, I see a different picture when I head to Blk 80 Circuit Road Hawker Center to eat my favourite Nasi Lemak at Nurhajar Muslim Food who happens to be a grassroots leader. I see the poor of all races, warmly hugging and receiving the same from Ms Tin Pei Ling who is their fierce advocate. This sharply contrast what Mr Chen said by merely paying lip service exclaiming that residents’ small issues mattered to the WP but do a turtle when elected. Technically, can I trust that I will be able to approach the WP should I (touch wood) encounter any unforeseen problems in the future?

Questions also remain for the entire WP strategy on candidate placement. I fail to see why Islamic religious teacher Mohamed Fairoz is favored over the strongest Malay candidate, Mr Firuz Khan for the “sure win” East Coast GRC. Wouldn’t it be more logical to place all your “big guns” in 1 place if you really want to win that area? What can Ustaz Fairoz bring to the table if elected, compared to Mr Khan who has a wider exposure and diversity, even bringing in the complex Royce Chocolate to our shores! And why is Ms He Ting Ru sent to battle ESM Goh? Wouldn’t it make more sense to field her in Macpherson than the coffin boy if WP is serious about gunning this area down?

The Marine Parade candidates also do not seem to be united on the whole and I sense some internal cracks in their team. Mr Yee Jenn Jong and Khan is walking together in 1 group while Mr Terrance Tan and Ms He walks in another. Mr Dylan Loh is a constant MIA. Compare this with the PAP’s Marine Parade team who orderly takes turns to conduct ESM Goh’s MPS every Wednesday without fail in his absence.

The above described situation of the WP should not be happening at all unless there is an intention and ulterior motive to deliberately allow only 1 team to win and not the others’. I see the same in the AHPETC issue that Ms Sylvia Lim has failed to answer. The questions boil down to: “Why does AHPETC seek to make Ms How rich and if this “alliance” has since broken down due to Ms Lim’s inability to continue with the contract. And is the Town Council “technically insolvent” as insinuated by the DPP. If so, then we should start asking ourselves if this is what we seek in a WP which is doing what it is accusing the PAP of.

Sheh Begum
A.S.S. Contributor

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

September 1, 2015
Chee Soon Juan: We’ll Run Constructive And Positive Campaign

The flags and red balloons are ready. An army of tiny teddy bears, declaring “I Love SDP” on their T-shirts, is raring to go.

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) plans to run a “constructive” and “positive” campaign in this general election, says its secretary-general Chee Soon Juan.

“We are not going to call names. We are not going to say PAP is bad, opposition is good,” he told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview. “We want to see change and you will see that from us. We’re going to be constructive, we’re going to be positive.”

The SDP will champion a series of alternative plans on issues like housing, retirement savings and healthcare that it had laid out systematically in the run-up to the elections.

“We want to appeal to (Singaporeans) that it is important to have not just an opposition – because you can have opposition there all the time throwing stones, being obstructive and so on – but having a competent opposition, a constructive opposition, a compassionate opposition,” he said, in reference to his party’s motto.

This year will be the first time that Dr Chee is taking part in well over a decade. He was disqualified from the 2006 and 2011 general elections, on account of his bankruptcy after being sued for defamation by former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong.

In 2012, his bankruptcy status was annulled after both men agreed to his offer of $30,000 as settlement.

“What’s past is the past,” he said. “What’s important is our country’s future. I don’t hold grudges against the PAP,” he said.

The 53-year-old former psychology lecturer, who has been with the party since 1992, has spent his years on the political backbench fine-tuning the party’s campaign operations. He declared: “Of all the elections I have been in, this is the one that we’ve been most prepared.”

SDP launched its election campaign in January and followed that up the following month by presenting a paper entitled “A New Economic Vision” to reduce income inequality and increase innovation.

One of the paper’s recommendations is to let retirees who want to receive their Central Provident Fund savings in instalments to opt into that arrangement, rather than for it to be mandatory as it is now.

Another is to implement a minimum wage starting from $7 an hour, and then setting up a wage commission that would review the sum periodically.

To lower the cost of housing, it proposes removing land cost from prices of Housing Board flats under a scheme which would bar these flats from being resold on the open market.

The party is fielding 11 candidates this year, in Holland-Bukit Timah and Marsiling-Yew Tee Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), as well as Bukit Panjang, Bukit Batok and Yuhua Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs).

In the 2011 polls, it contested in Sembawang and Holland-Bukit Timah GRCs, as well as Bukit Panjang and Yuhua, winning 36.8 per cent of votes across all the wards.

SDP caught public attention in 2011 by fielding investment adviser and former senior civil servant Tan Jee Say as well as retired army colonel Ang Yong Guan. Both have since left to start the Singaporeans First party.

This time round, one of the SDP’s most high-profile candidates is Dr Paul Tambyah, a full professor at the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

September 1, 2015
PKMS President, Abu Mohamed, Among Three New Faces To Contest Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC Under The SDA Banner

The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) on Monday (Aug 31) unveiled its slate of potential candidates contesting the six-member Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency, and three of them are new faces.

Mr Ong Teik Seng, 44, is contesting for the first time.

The sales director said he wants to highlight matters concerning the well-being of senior citizens and the young. Criticising the rise in age limits for Singaporeans to withdraw their Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings, Mr Ong said that Singapore is a country that has “sailed very far into the deep oceans”.

“There are many workers on board the ship, especially the pioneer generation. They are working for survival,” he said, adding that he hopes for reforms to the CPF scheme.

Mr Ong also said he hopes to give children more opportunities to get a higher education, so they can face the future challenges of a foreign talent influx.

Mr Sunny Wong Way Weng, 53, is another new face.

The quality assurance manager has been a resident of Pasir Ris for about 21 years. He said he was motivated to join politics as he wants to speak up on issues such as traffic congestion and the pressure Singaporeans face.

“I am proud to have celebrated SG50 but there is room to speak up and go forward,” he said.

Mr Abu Mohamed, 64, is the third new candidate.

Speaking in Malay, the President of the Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS) said he wants to help the Malay-Muslim community progress in areas such as education, jobs and housing.

Mr Abu Mohamed, a co-director in an oil field services company, also hopes to bring up issues advocating women wearing the hijab in frontline work, as well as policies protecting Malays from being barred from job positions that specify Mandarin-speaking candidates.

Mr Desmond Lim, 47, SDA’s secretary-general, previously contested in Punggol East SMC in 2011 and 2013.

The engineer in the telecommunications industry lost his election deposit after garnering just 0.57 per cent of the votes in the Punggol East SMC by-election in 2013. However, he said he is unfazed by the episode.

“How can a country depend on you if you give up just after losing once?” he said.

“The Parliament lacks a common man’s voice,” added Mr Lim in Mandarin. “The common man needs to have a place in Parliament, and I have decided to continue to champion the rights of the common man.”

Mr Arthero Lim, 60, is taking part in his fourth election.

The filmmaker rejoined the SDA slate after contesting under the Reform Party banner in Ang Mo Kio GRC in the previous General Election in 2011. He has also contested as a Singapore Democratic Party candidate.

“I’m a fighter for social justice. It’s not just criticising the ruling party – a lack of social justice is making Singapore dysfunctional,” he said.

Mr Harminder Pal Singh, 43, was one of the candidates for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC in 2011.

The CEO of coaching company Helping People Succeed said he hopes to see more being done for a hiring policy that benefits Singaporeans. “These are cosmetic changes we see by the Government. When we are elected as MPs, we want to push for these policies in the right fashion. We want more in-depth implementation to benefit more Singaporeans,” he explained, referring to the current policies.

Another issue he hopes to address in Parliament is the “lack of emphasis being given to the welfare of the people in Singapore”, citing the “inability to retire at 55 and be able to withdraw CPF funds”.

Mr Singh added that the party was “confident” it was connecting with voters and that it would strive to ensure that the Pasir Ris-Punggol town council would be “one of the best ones” if SDA was elected into Parliament. To ensure it is ready to run the constituency, SDA revealed that it has created a shadow town council for the GRC. Members have also been going for training.

“Should we win the election, we will go in there running. Our shadow town council is ready to take over the town council (in Pasir Ris-Punggol),” said Mr Singh.

The party said it will also look into asking for more childcare centres and a regional hospital. When asked where the party would get the money from to push its township plan, Mr Desmond Lim said he hopes the party will get to push this plan in Parliament for approval, if elected.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

September 1, 2015
SPP’s Jeanette Chong-Aruldoss Launches “Mounbatten Manifesto”

She hopes to keep food costs in the area under control, enhance social mobility and preserve a part of Mountbatten’s heritage – that is Ms Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss’ plan if she is elected.

Unveiling what she called her “Mountbatten Manifesto” on Monday evening (Aug 31), the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) candidate in the Single Member Constituency (SMC) spelled out a five-point plan.

“Residents know that Mountbatten is famous for its local food. I pledge to work with local stallholders and local government agencies to ensure that rental prices are kept affordable so that the community can continue to enjoy their favourite food at affordable prices,” she said at a press conference.

She pledged to try to improve transport connectivity within the constituency, as well as set up a Mountbatten Social Mobility Bursary for children of the disadvantaged. “I want to demonstrate how Singaporeans can work together as a community,” she said on her plans to raise S$100,000. “Where those who are better off will be able to help those who are not so better off.”

Also on her mind is Dakota Crescent, an estate built in the 1950s, which is slated for redevelopment by the end of 2016. Residents are likely to be “very disappointed” if it disappears, she said. “I want to explore feasible ways to conserve at least a representational amount of the flats so that the community and Singaporeans may have a physical reminder of where we came from.”

In Parliament, she hopes to increase accountability and transparency by raising questions. But her priority will be to run the town council professionally and help Mountbatten residents, she said.

In the 2011 General Election, Ms Chong-Aruldoss contested the ward under the National Solidarity Party’s banner, losing to People’s Action Party candidate Lim Biow Chuan with 41.4 per cent of the vote.

Asked if the ground was different now, she said: “I have not stopped working for this coming GE. So the difference between now and before is five years of work.”

Ms Chong-Aruldoss left the NSP, where she was secretary general, earlier this year after she lost her bid to be voted party president.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

September 1, 2015
Tan Lam Siong Will Support Lina Chiam’s Campaign, No Longer Contesting As Independent

Last night, I was doing my usual walkabout. As I was driving out from the carpark near Block 108 in Potong Pasir after 11 p.m., I saw a Mercedez Benz waiting to park. It has just entered the car park and its headlights were shining in my direction.

As I exited from my parking lot and passed by the Merc to my right, I noticed the lady driver struggling to turn her steering wheel so as to move her car aside to let me pass. As I drove passed the stationary Merc, I saw that the driver was Mrs. Lina Chiam. She was in her party T-shirt and looked rather haggard.

Along the way home, I kept thinking about my encounter with Mrs. Chiam and felt sorry that she was still out at such a late hour. I recall her recent statement about this election being her last election and that she will be retiring with Mr. Chiam. I began to have this feeling of sadness and couldn’t sleep after reaching home.

I contacted my team members this morning and shared with them my thoughts and feelings. And I told them my decision. I have decided not to contest. Instead, I will lead my team to show our support for Mrs. Chiam at her rally and hope she succeeds to regain Potong Pasir SMC and continue Mr. Chiam’s dedicated service to its residents.

The 3-cornered fight in Potong Pasir SMC that was meant to be will no longer take place. I am sorry to disappoint all those who have encouraged me to offer my candidacy and to serve the residents of Potong Pasir SMC as their Member of Parliament. In my walkabouts over the last 2 months, I have come to know many of you at a personal level and appreciate your warm support. Let me assure you that notwithstanding this decision, I will continue to be at your service. For Potong Pasir SMC will always be my kind of town.

Source: http://tanlamsiong.blogspot.sg

September 1, 2015