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Tag: Benjamin Pwee

  • DPP Chief Benjamin Pwee: Leaked Bishan-Toa Payoh Poster ‘One Of Many Drafts’

    DPP Chief Benjamin Pwee: Leaked Bishan-Toa Payoh Poster ‘One Of Many Drafts’

    A mock-up of an election poster for the joint opposition team standing in Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) has prompted talk that the line-up for the ward has finally been confirmed, but Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chief Benjamin Pwee on Thursday (Aug 27) maintained that a final decision has yet to be made.

    The poster circulating features two DPP members — Mr Pwee and party chairman Mohamad Hamim Aliyas — and three Singapore People’s Party (SPP) members, Mr Law Kim Hwee, Mr Abdillah Zamzuri and Mr Bryan Long. The SPP logo was also on the poster along with the tagline, “We hear You. We speak for You”.

    The three SPP members are new to politics, while Mr Pwee and Mr Hamim contested in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC in the 2011 General Election under the SPP umbrella.

    Responding to queries from TODAY, Mr Pwee said: “We have many, many different draft posters with different combinations of candidates because SPP hasn’t confirmed their candidates for the five-man team. We will leave it to SPP to officially announce the five-man team under the SPP banner on Nomination Day.”

    Asked if the parties agreed on the slate at the Elections Department on Thursday, SPP chairman Lina Chiam said the team has been formed, but declined to elaborate.

    “The team will be as strong, if not stronger than the previous one,” she said, referring to the team SPP fielded for the General Election in 2011.

    The two parties had agreed to jointly contest the five-member GRC under the SPP banner after each party initially indicated an interest to field their own teams, potentially setting up a three-cornered fight.

    Mr Pwee has been introducing potential candidates for the team, while the two parties have put out conflicting messages about the make-up of the combined slate at separate walkabouts they held. Mrs Chiam has expressed preference that the SPP holds three of the five spots on the team, while Mr Pwee has said the best five should fill the positions.

    Mr Pwee was part of SPP chief Chiam See Tong’s team in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC in 2011, but left the party one year later with Mr Hamim. The team took 43.07 per cent of the votes in 2011.

    The DPP-SPP team will go up against the People’s Action Party’s team made up of incumbents Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Senior Minister of State for Transport and Finance Josephine Teo, and new faces Mr Chee Hong Tat, Mr Chong Kee Hiong and Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

    Nomination Day is on Sep 1.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Benjamin Pwee: No Rifts Between DPP And SPP

    Benjamin Pwee: No Rifts Between DPP And SPP

    There have been no disagreements between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Singapore People’s Party (SPP) as they decide on members of a joint team to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) together, said DPP chief Benjamin Pwee.

    “Everything is hunky-dory. We’re all happy,” Mr Pwee told reporters before the start of a DPP-SPP walkabout at Toa Payoh Lorong 7 on Sunday morning (Aug 23).

    SPP’s Bryan Long added that there is a “positive working relationship” between the two parties and that “DPP brings a good bunch of people to the table”.

    Both Opposition parties had agreed to jointly contest the five-member GRC under the SPP banner and have been conducting walkabouts together. However a week ago, Mr Pwee had said his party was prepared to fight for Bishan-Toa Payoh on its own if it could not get agreement with SPP on the five joint-team candidates. SPP chairman Lina Chiam had indicated that her party would like to take three slots in the joint team and in turn, Mr Pwee asked that SPP be “open to discussing who will stand on both sides and not insist on a certain number”.

    On Sunday, Mr Pwee said both parties’ central executive committees have narrowed down their picks. “We will reveal the best five on Nomination Day. Every person here is a potential candidate,” he said.

    Accompanying Mr Pwee and Mr Long were DPP members Ms Juliana Juwahir, Mr Mohamad Hamim Aliyas, Mr Abdul Malik Rahmat, Ms Nadine Yap, and Mr Robin Low, as well as SPP members Mr Abdillah Zamzuri, Mr Law Kim Hwee and Mr Eman Lim.

     DPP secretary-general Benjamin Pwee greeting residents at a coffee shop in Toa Payoh during a walkabout on Aug 23. (Photo: Gayathiri Chandramohan)

    SPP member Bryan Long and DPP’s Benjamin Pwee and Nadine Yap speaking to patrons at a Toa Payoh coffee shop on Aug 23. (Photo: Gayathiri Chandramohan)

    Both parties have said they will put out a joint manifesto for Bishan-Toa Payoh. Mr Pwee, an ex-SPP member, pointed out that the core team in DPP came from the SPP and that they had similar concerns on “larger, national issues”. “When we took over DPP, we basically brought across a lot of the same shared concerns,” he said.

    The DPP-SPP team will go up against the People’s Action Party’s team for Bishan Toa-Payoh made up of incumbent MPs Ng Eng Hen and Josephine Teo and new faces Mr Chee Hong Tat, Mr Chong Kee Hiong and Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Democratic Progressive Party Introduces Harvard Graduate As Candidate In Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC

    Democratic Progressive Party Introduces Harvard Graduate As Candidate In Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC

    The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has pitched a Harvard graduate to be among the slate of candidates it and the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) will be jointly fielding in Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency.

    Ms Nadine Yap, 46, graduated with a sociology degree from Harvard College in 1992 and went on to complete a Master of Arts from Harvard University three years later.

    In an interview with TODAY, the Eurasian of Chinese-German mix said she wants to contest in the coming elections because she believes there needs to be more diverse types in Parliament.

    Referring to the People’s Action Party’s team for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, the mother-of-two described them as “people who walked a very narrow path to success”.

    “The current set of PAP candidates, they look like very good … capable people. But they are two civil servants, a doctor, a banker, and CEO of a REIT company,” said Ms Yap. “Although I think one might look at my credentials and say ‘you look like one of them’ … I am an entrepreneur; a technologist. I am trained to think outside of the box. I am not averse to failure. So I think Bishan-Toa Payoh, and Singapore in general, needs more voices like this.”

    Ms Yap spent years in the United States working for three technology start-ups as well as e-commerce giant Amazon, as a technical product manager. In 2006, returned to Singapore and joined technology company Yahoo!, also in the area of products.

    She now works as a vice-president of product at Temasys, which develops platforms for next generation real-time communications applications.

    Ms Yap, who joined DPP as a member in December last year, added that she is not “virulently anti-PAP”. Rather, she believes the greater Opposition presence in Parliament has brought about good change.

    “The PAP is making changes, and part of it is because of an increasingly credible opposition. If the PAP ends up improving because of this, then sure, why not be part of it?” she said.

    As for issues that she is looking to champion, Ms Yap pointed to education. One of her two daughters, both in primary school, is dyslexic, and she believes greater support is needed.

    She believes that she would appeal to the many families who have moved to the constituency for the many reputable schools there, as well as Professionals, Managers, Executives, and Technicians — a group that her party chief Benjamin Pwee has identified form a big proportion of swing voters.

    Meanwhile, Mr Pwee said he has presented 10 potential candidates — including Ms Yap and himself — for the SPP to consider to field in the five-member Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. The DPP’s list includes architect Juliana Juwahir, party chairman Hamim Aliyas, and businessman Chia Ser Lin.

    “We are still waiting for (SPP chairman) Lina Chiam to decide how many candidates from her side and how many from our side … then we will sit down and both sides will talk. All five must be able to work as a team for the long haul,” he said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • DPP’s Chia Ser Lin: I Will Give Up My Business In China To Become Full-Time MP If Elected

    DPP’s Chia Ser Lin: I Will Give Up My Business In China To Become Full-Time MP If Elected

    A potential new Opposition candidate at the coming General Election said he will give up his corporate career, which sees him shuttling in and out of China, to be a full-time MP if elected.

    Mr Chia Ser Lin, 46, was introduced by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) during a Bishan-Toa Payoh walkabout on Tuesday evening (Aug 11). He runs a chain of F&B companies in China, where he is based, and returns to Singapore once a month to his wife and two kids in Toa Payoh, where he said he has lived all his life.

    “He is one of the anchor persons in our team to compete in Bishan-Toa Payoh and run the town council if we win,” said DPP secretary-general Benjamin Pwee, who described Mr Chia as someone who “feels for and understands local municipal issues in Toa Payoh very keenly”.

    Mr Chia gave the example of what he said were dirty monsoon drains and possible mosquito breeding grounds – a dengue fever threat – in the neighbourhood were not attended to by the Town Council, which he said deflected queries to the National Environment Agency instead.

    “There have been persistent issues like this over the last five years. You write to MPs and you don’t really get a response from them,” he said, calling it “a disconnect on the ground”.

    In a separate, earlier interview with Channel NewsAsia, Mr Pwee said the DPP “has been with Bishan-Toa Payoh residents since the last GE till now, and knows the issues on the ground … that have not been dealt with by the current team”.

    THE CHINESE CHALLENGE

    The Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency is held by the People’s Action Party, which on Wednesday announced the retirement of three MPs from the current GRC Team, including former Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng. The PAP also unveiled their replacements.

    This new-look PAP team will square off at the coming General Election against an Opposition partnership made up of DPP and Singapore People’s Party members in Bishan-Toa Payoh.

    With DPP not laying claim to any Single Member Constituency, Mr Chia, Mr Pwee and party chairman Hamim Aliyas are in the running for this joint team, whose final five-man lineup will be jointly decided by SPP and DPP leaders by the end of the week.

    When asked why he wanted to run in the GE, Mr Chia said “it felt important to stand up, take a stand and support Ben against the idea of one-party rule”.

    “It’s important there are certain checks and balances in the system,” he added.

    A former schoolmate and fellow scout with Mr Pwee at Raffles Institution, Mr Chia said issues such as overcrowding and the job market concerned him. Also close to heart for the China-based executive was the issue of Singapore’s prospects over the next five to 10 years, in the face of competition from the “more aggressive” China market.

    “We are all too protected in many ways. I’ve worked in China for so many years, I know what they’re up to and I’m very worried,” said Mr Chia, who has managed the China-based operations of multi-national corporations including Coca-Cola, OSIM and Asia Pacific Breweries for nearly two decades.

    Asked if being based overseas would prove a problem during his campaign, Mr Chia said: “If Ben decides I should join him, if he wins the GRC, then it should be a full-time thing. I don’t believe in part-time MPs drawing allowance and having a full-time job and holding meet-the-people sessions once a month. I think that’s not the way.”

     

    Soure: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • DPP To Contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Under SPP Banner

    DPP To Contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Under SPP Banner

    The team from two opposition parties that will contest in Bishan-Toa Payoh in the coming General Election (GE) will do so under the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) banner.

    Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) secretary-general Benjamin Pwee said his party is happy to contest in the five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) under the SPP’s banner, as requested by SPP chairman Lina Chiam.

    “The (SPP) brand name is a lot more recognised here, Hamim and I also ran under the SPP the last time (in the 2011 elections). And the SPP is still very much identified with Mr Chiam (See Tong, its secretary-general),” he told the media at both parties’ first joint walkabout outside Bishan MRT Station today (Aug 11).

    Mr Pwee and DPP chairman Mohamad Hamim Aliyas — who left the SPP with several others after the 2011 GE — will be among DPP’s candidates put forward for the joint team, which will be selected by both parties, Mr Pwee said.

    The SPP team led by Mr Chiam in 2011 lost the contest with 43.07 per cent of the votes. Both parties agreed after last week’s talks among Opposition parties to field a joint team for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

    The SPP is also looking to contest in Hong Kah North, Mountbatten and Potong Pasir single-seat wards in the coming election.

    The DPP is awaiting the SPP’s confirmed candidates for Bishan-Toa Payoh, and both sides will pick the “best five”, said Mr Pwee.

    Both parties, which met up yesterday, are working on a joint manifesto for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

    Mr Pwee said some municipal issues they would highlight include the sweeping of monsoon drains and the presence of dengue hot spots.

    Activists from both parties handed out flyers to the public today stating that the joint team is keen to serve and would like to hear from residents on issues such as housing, education and employment. The SPP’s central executive committee members Kumar Appavoo and Williiamson Lee, as well as members including Mr Ravi Philemon, were present today. Mrs Chiam was not at the walkabout as she was engaged in outreach at Potong Pasir, said Mr Philemon.

    In a statement on its Facebook page last night, SPP said the joint team would offer voters in Bishan Toa-Payoh GRC a stronger alternative, but the partnership would not extend beyond the GRC. “The SPP will continue to put up our strongest candidates for Potong Pasir, Mountbatten and Hong Kah North SMC. Our candidates will continue to be guided by SPP’s party manifesto,” the party said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com