Category: Singapuraku

WP’s Sylvia Lim Dismisses Talk Of Competing In Fengshan SMC

Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim will likely stay put to defend her seat in Aljunied GRC at the next election, party sources said yesterday, dismissing speculation that she is being sent out to boost WP’s chances in a different ward.

Talk of such a move spiked after WP chief Low Thia Khiang refused to say if his Aljunied team will remain unchanged for the polls and Ms Lim posted a photo of herself eating at Fengshan Market and Food Centre online. The photo, the first in her newly set up Instagram account, was accompanied by the caption “the taste of Fengshan – heavenly” and a cryptic hashtag “#reasonstowin”.

Party insiders, however, were quick to pour cold water on the idea, telling The Straits Times that internal chatter pointed to the Aljunied GRC team remaining unchanged. A party member said Mr Low wants to keep the current Aljunied team intact to “entrench the opposition vote in Aljunied GRC”. Mr Low himself has said he will definitely be standing in the constituency.

Political observers also agreed that moving Ms Lim to the newly created Fengshan single-seat ward did not make sense.

It would open up the party to accusations that it is taking Aljunied GRC for granted, raise questions about why the chairman of an embattled town council was abandoning it, and suggest a demotion for a senior party leader.

Said political scientist Derek da Cunha: “Ms Lim eating at a hawker centre at Fengshan could simply be a smokescreen. Moving out of Aljunied only makes sense if Ms Lim, given her relatively high profile nationally, were to helm a WP GRC team.”

Fengshan SMC is one of the five GRCs and five single-seat wards that WP wants to contest in the next polls. It was carved out of East Coast GRC, where WP polled 45.17 per cent of valid votes in 2011.

At the same time, observers did not want to completely discount the possibility that WP is plotting a surprise move. Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Gillian Koh said: “While Mr Low is saying that he is going to hold fort in Aljunied GRC, if the party does wish to extend its reach, it will have to send its other top gun out.”

Dr Koh added that if Ms Lim does make the move, where she ends up will depend on “whether the WP is ambitious in wanting to make a serious bid for East Coast GRC… or it is a little more modest and places its chairman in a single seat”.

Similarly, Dr da Cunha said WP could calculate that it can hold Aljunied even without Ms Lim on the slate there, since Ms Lim’s Serangoon division drew the highest vote for WP in all five Aljunied divisions.

Former Nominated MP Zulkifli Baharudin said WP would probably have to weigh the options of having Ms Lim “stay and solve the issues in the safe seat” and of letting her helm another GRC but face the potential of losing.

Ms Lim is the chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council, which is currently sorting out finance and governance issues after the Auditor-General’s Office found lapses in these areas in a year-long audit.

“Certainly the issue complicates things for them, otherwise it would be quite obvious that they should spread out their best candidates instead of putting them all in the same place,” said Mr Zulkifli.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 14, 2015
Tin Pei Ling Raring To Rejoin Team For Macpherson Battle

Member of Parliament (MP) Tin Pei Ling is raring to rejoin her team in gearing up for the contest in MacPherson in the upcoming General Election. Speaking exclusively to 938LIVE, she said she will nevertheless complete her one-month confinement period, after giving birth to a baby boy, Ng Kee Hau, on Aug 5.

Ms Tin said even now it is business as usual, as she is maintaining close contact with her team in the constituency.

“This is because I have put in place a great team. They know what to do. We have also worked out a system, be it communication or about getting work done, even as I’m taking my one-month confinement break, things are running as normal within MacPherson,” she said.

She hopes that the residents at MacPherson will understand her month-long absence. “(I) hope that residents will judge based on past experience, past work done, as well as looking ahead, I hope that they will continue to let me have this opportunity to serve them, continue the work that I’ve been delivering for them,” she said.

Ms Tin also said she is ready to face a contest in MacPherson. “My mission right from the beginning is to serve my residents, that has always been the case. So most part of my energy, my mental and physical energy, will be focusing on making sure that the day to day issues of my residents have been taken care of. MacPherson is well run, so whoever comes to contest in MacPherson, we will just roll with the punches and prepare accordingly,” she said. 938LIVE

Source: www.todayonline.com

August 14, 2015
SPF: Senior Police Officer Melvin Yong Retiring on 16 Aug

Senior police officer Melvin Yong will be retiring from the force next week, adding to speculation that he may be fielded by the People’s Action Party (PAP) as a candidate at the coming general election.

A police spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that the 43-year-old Assistant Commissioner’s (AC) last day of work is August 16.

Mr Yong declined to comment on his post-retirement plans but said Thursday that he had “the privilege of serving constituents both as a police officer, as well as a grassroots volunteer for many years and found it richly rewarding”. He added: “I plan to continue doing so even after I retire from the force.”

The Straits Times understands that the PAP will introduce him sometime next week as a candidate for Tanjong Pagar GRC alongside Labour Chief Chan Chun Sing, Senior Minister of State for Education and Law Indranee Rajah, backbencher Chia Shi-Lu and another new face, former public servant Joan Pereira.

The five-member GRC was previously helmed by former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew until he died in March this year.

If Mr Yong is indeed fielded at the upcoming polls, he may be the first police officer to trade his blue uniform for the party’s white garb since Singapore’s independence.

Former police officers who are now in politics include Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How, labour MP Patrick Tay and Workers’ Party chairman Sylvia Lim.

However, unlike Mr Yong, these MPs had moved on from law enforcement to positions in government, the private sector or labour movement, before entering politics.

NTUC deputy director Desmond Choo, who was fielded in WP-held Hougang single-member constituency in 2011 and the 2012 by-election, is also an ex-cop. He is widely expected to be fielded by the PAP in Tampines GRC.

Mr Yong, who is currently director of the police’s Public Affairs Department (PAD), will leave the force after 20 years in service. He was commander of Clementi Police Division from 2010 to 2014.

He has held key appointments such as deputy director for Planning & Organisation as well as director for Administration & Finance. He was also concurrently deputy director for Operations between November 2013 and June last year.

A police spokesman said Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Tan Hung Hooi, who is currently director for Manpower, will cover the duties of director PAD.

“The Singapore Police Force (SPF) thanks AC Melvin Yong for his leadership and many contributions during his service,” said the spokesman.

National Crime Prevention Council chairman Tan Kian Hoon, who has known Mr Yong since 2002, said Mr Yong was always able to hold “various appointments concurrently and yet do well in all of them, despite the constraint in time”.

“Apart from his clear and methodical thinking, he has the EQ to motivate and garner the support of those working with him, be they his work colleagues or fellow volunteers,” added Mr Tan.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 14, 2015
Lawrence Wong And Halimah Yacob To Co-Anchor Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC

The new Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC will be anchored by two MPs – Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Mr Lawrence Wong and Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob.

This was announced by Mr Wong during a visit to the constituency on Thursday with Madam Halimah.

The minister, who is a first term MP, and Madam Halimah are slated to move from West Coast GRC and Jurong GRC respectively to the new constituency for the upcoming general election.

Mr Wong said he had asked Madam Halimah to join him in leading the new GRC because of her strong track record as an MP. “So I know how effective she is and I’ve much to learn from her,” he added.

Madam Halimah said they would be able to complement each other, adding that Mr Wong would bring with him his strengths and capabilities.

Although Mr Wong said the full line-up of MPs that the People’s Action Party (PAP) will be fielding in the four-member Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC will only be revealed later, he hinted that it will likely comprise Madam Halimah and himself, as well as MPs Alex Yam and Ong Teng Koon.

“So the only new faces are Madam Halimah and myself,” he said. “And there are two existing incumbent MPs, Alex Yam and Ong Teng Koon, so we hope this is likely to be the team for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.”

Both Mr Yam and Mr Ong have expressed interest in continuing to serve in their respective wards which have since been redrawn into the new GRC.

Over the past weeks, Mr Wong and Madam Halimah have been walking the ground, attending constituency events and making house visits in the area.

Madam Halimah said she has done “a fair amount of groundwork in Marsiling”, having visited about 20 blocks of flats.

The PAP team, added Mr Wong, will build on the work done by the incumbent MPs in their wards, which are currently part of Sembawang GRC and Chua Chu Kang GRC. “We will put forward our manifesto when it’s ready,” he said.

The GRC is now made up of three divisions – Marsiling, Yew Tee and Woodgrove – but it will have four MPs. This is because wards in the GRC have grown over the years, “so a fourth MP will help better serve residents there,” added Madam Halimah.

Resident Philip Ong welcomed the two new MPs to the constituency. “It looks like a good mix,” said the 48-year-old technician. “Madam Halimah can bring her wisdom and experience to help and Mr Wong is a minister who is in charge of youth issues.”

Housewife Normah Ahmad, 50, said: “It’s nice to see a Malay woman in the role of a leader too.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 14, 2015
Yusof Ishak Chose To Stay, Thereby Convincing Other Malays

Post-Separation in August 1965, Mr Yusof Ishak’s steadfast loyalty to Singapore convinced many other Malays to stay instead of migrating across the Causeway where they would be part of the majority community.

As this fledgling nation’s first president, Mr Yusof, who was born in Malaysia, strived to build up people’s faith in Singapore as a multiracial nation.

The man and his ideals are the focus of a new 120-page monograph titled Yusof Ishak: Singapore’s First President by Iseas fellow Norshahril Saat.

“Had he left for Malaysia, like many other Malay elites at that time, many other Malays would have followed suit on seeing that their Yang di-Pertuan Negara no longer trusted the Singapore system,” wrote Dr Norshahril.

In the book, he also seeks to debunk the myth that Mr Yusof, who started Malay newspaper Utusan Melayu, was a “Malay chauvinist”.

Dr Norshahril explained that Mr Yusof “was not struggling for Malays because he was a Malay”. “He just wanted equality.”

Former president S R Nathan, who wrote the foreward, said he suggested the book be written so that young Singaporeans could learn more about their country’s history and its pioneers.

The monograph is not for sale as of now, but there are plans to distribute it to schools here.

Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim, who was interviewed for the book, told reporters yesterday that it could help younger generations understand how pioneers like Mr Yusof struggled to build a nation.

Second Minister for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli said Mr Yusof was “the first among many significant Malay leaders who conveyed the message that this country is a country that belongs to everyone”.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 13, 2015