Calon SPP bagi GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh berkongsi tentang apa yang mahu dilakukannya untuk golongan muda sekiranya dilantik sebagai AP di rapat pilihan raya yang berlangsung di Stadium Toa Payoh.
Encik Abdillah Zamzuri berkata, jika terpilih sebagai AP, beliau merancang menubuhkan sebuah kumpulan seni persembahan di mana para anggotanya merangkumi penduduk Bishan-Toa Payoh
Kumpulan itu katanya akan membuat persembahan dua hingga tiga kali setahun di bahagian berbeza GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh.
Dengan melakukan begini hujah Encik Abdillah, orang muda akan diberi peluang untuk bukan sahaja didedahkan kepada seni, tetapi juga berpeluang membuat persembahan untuk orang yang tinggal bersama mereka.
PASUKAN Parti Rakyat Singapura (SPP) yang akan bertanding di GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh ingin meneruskan ‘kerja baik’ yang menjadi legasi kepimpinan veteran pembangkang, Encik Chiam See Tong, dalam pilihan raya ini.
Calon yang akan bertanding bagi GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh ialah Encik Benjamin Pwee, 47 tahun; Encik Hamim Aliyas, peniaga, 50 tahun; Encik Law Kim Hwee, 55 tahun, mantan pengurus pemasaran; Encik Abdillah Zamzuri, 31 tahun, seorang pemilik syarikat latihan dan akademi sukan; Encik Bryan Long, 37 tahun, seorang usahatekwan.
Encik Pwee dan Encik Hamim dari Parti Progresif Demokratik (DPP) tetapi meletak jawatan bagi bertanding di bawah SPP.
“Bagi pengundi Bishan-Toa Payoh, saya memperjuangkan Chiam See Tong bagi mempertahankan prinsip konstruktif dan kolaboratif dalam pemerintah bagi masa depan rakyat,” kata Encik Hamim yang bertanding di GRC yang sama bersama Encik Chiam pada pilihan raya 2011.
Dalam ucapan selepas disahkan menjadi calon, Encik Abdillah, seorang calon baru SPP, berteriak secara seloroh:
“Bishan-Toa Payoh Amacam! Saya muda dan saya akan pastikan mereka yang muda akan mempunyai masa hadapan yang baik.”
Dalam pilihan raya 2011, pasukan SPP diketuai Encik Chiam kalah di GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh, dengan undian sebanyak 43.1 peratus.
Pasukan itu dikalahkan oleh Parti Tindakan Rakyat (PAP) yang diketuai mantan Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Encik Wong Kan Seng yang memenangi undian sebanyak 56.94 peratus.
The Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have finally unveiled the final five members of their joint team for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, more than three weeks after the two parties agreed to partner up to contest the constituency.
They are DPP chief Benjamin Pwee, 47, and chairman Hamim Aliyas, 55, who have both resigned from the party and joined the SPP to enable them to be fielded. Their teammates are SPP members Law Kim Hwee, 55, a former marketing manager, training company manager Abdillah Zamzuri, 31, and tech entrepreneur Bryan Long, 37.
Election rules dictate that all candidates in a GRC team must either come from one party or consist of five independents. Both SPP and DPP had earlier agreed that they would contest under the SPP banner.
The confirmed line-up was introduced by SPP chairman and Non-constituency MP Lina Chiam following a walkabout at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 on Sunday (Aug 30) morning.
While the three SPP members are election first-timers, Mr Pwee and Mr Hamim were in 2011 part of an SPP team led by opposition veteran Chiam See Tong that scored 43.1 per cent of the vote against a PAP team led by Dr Ng Eng Hen.
Mr Chiam’s exclusion from the current line-up is a strong signal that he has retired from politics. But the veteran opposition leader, who held Potong Pasir SMC for 27 years, was also present to give the joint team his backing.
The signing of the agreement brings to a close a difficult, month-long negotiation that began at the joint opposition meeting to decide who would contest in which constituency. At several points in recent weeks, there had been rumours that the partnership was on the brink of collapse, especially due to disagreements on the make-up of the team.
Both sides had said on Saturday that they needed to take time to sort out a broad range of issues.
“It is a deliberated decision. We took time to make sure this isn’t something we hastily go in to just for elections. We went into it, we went through every single point. We had to know that logistics work, finance works, we want to know candidates, we want to talk about decision-making – if anything this demonstrates the maturity of the cooperation,” said Mr Long.
Added Mr Pwee on behalf of the DPP: “I think we respected the time and space that they need to make the decision. I think we didn’t want to push it and run the risk of this partnership breaking. At the end of the day, there could be nothing worse than if this partnership broke and we went into a three-cornered fight together.”
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.
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.
