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Tag: GRC

  • Opposition Parties Optimistic Issues Will Be Resolved By Thursday

    Opposition Parties Optimistic Issues Will Be Resolved By Thursday

    Opposition parties said they made progress in avoiding three-cornered fights at a meeting on Monday night (Aug 3). They are optimistic that outstanding issues will be resolved at the next meeting, scheduled for Thursday.

    Monday’s meeting lasted almost three hours and described by party representatives as one that was amicable and cooperative. They also said most of the issues involving the Single-Member and Group-Representation Constituencies have been resolved.

    But some sticking points remain, and it is understood that Marine Parade GRC is one of them. It is the stomping ground of the National Solidarity Party – which contested there in 2011 – and the party is keen to return.

    But the Workers’ Party (WP) has indicated interest – especially now that Joo Chiat SMC will be absorbed into Marine Parade GRC in the next General Election.

    In the 2011 General Election, the WP’s Yee Jenn Jong lost the seat in Joo Chiat to the ruling People’s Action Party’s Charles Chong by just 388 votes.

    Whether either party will budge on their decision to contest in that constituency is anyone’s guess for now. A consensus might not even reached at Thursday’s meeting. A source told Channel NewsAsia several more private meetings between various parties might be needed to iron things out. Even so, political analysts say such meetings indicate a maturity in the way opposition parties interact with one another.

    Dr Gillian Koh, senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies said: “You have the Workers’ Party making a big breakthrough in 2011, so it’s really the leading Opposition party, and it probably feels the obligation to carry on, and go bigger and better. But then you’ve seen many little new parties bubbling up, and old parties being revived.”

    “And so, the general landscape of the Opposition party space in Singapore is becoming more complex, and just becoming more interesting and really more mature. Getting together, meeting, and discussing whether they’ll be able to avoid three-cornered fights is actually a very mature process of negotiation and engagement. It’s a far more complex landscape than we faced say, in 2006 – when we only had two opposition MPs,” she added.

    But another expert said it remains to be seen whether this amicability among the opposition could play out.

    Dr Alan Chong, coordinator of the International Relations Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies said: “They realise that in order to gain the same level of prominence and success as WP, the rest of them are still very small fish. So for their electoral survivability, they have to form some kind of alliance. Then again, you never know if they are going to descend into petty bickering the moment Nomination Day is announced.”

    Dr Chong said that while it may seem hopeful that the Opposition Parties can sort out their differences, all bets could be off come Nomination Day.

     

    Source: www.channlnewsasia.com

  • Opposition Parties To Meet Again On Thursday For More Talks

    Opposition Parties To Meet Again On Thursday For More Talks

    A meeting held by eleven opposition parties yesterday evening (Aug 3) ended with party representatives saying that most issues have been resolved.

    Talks lasted for about two and a half hours. Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

    The meeting was conducted to negotiate where each party will field its candidates for General Elections to avoid multi-cornered fights.

    National Solidarity Party’s (NSP) acting secretary-general Hazel Poa said: “We’ve reaffirmed our commitment to avoid three-corner fights and that’s what we’re working towards on Thursday.” She added that the outcomes of today’s discussions would be kept confidential.

    SingFirst’s Fahmi Rais said in Malay that “almost all is settled”, when asked for a ballpark figure on issues that have been settled.

    The People’s Power Party (PPP) chief Goh Meng Seng said he is confident about his party members standing in Chua Chu Kang GRC, and added the “NSP and PPP are like brother parties”. Mr Goh was the former secretary General of the NSP.

    Following yesterday evening’s Opposition meeting, SingFirst’s Tan Jee Say also said most issues have been resolved, adding that “everyone goes in with the spirit of give and take”.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Workers’ Party Visits East Coast GRC And Fengshan SMC

    Workers’ Party Visits East Coast GRC And Fengshan SMC

    The likely Workers’ Party (WP) candidates for East Coast GRC and Fengshan SMC made their first public appearance together yesterday, visiting major markets there to meet stallholders and residents.

    Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Gerald Giam, 37, who was part of the WP’s East Coast team, which garnered 45.2 per cent of the vote in the 2011 General Election, is almost certain to enter the fray once again in the constituency.

    He was joined yesterday by other potential candidates: National University of Singapore associate professor and sociologist Daniel Goh, 42; law firm partner Dennis Tan, 44; research and consultancy firm chief executive and former civil servant Leon Perera, 44; and librarian Mohamed Fairoz Shariff, 36.

    East Coast GRC was a five-MP constituency at the last general election, but will be a four-MP constituency at the next one. This means three of the four new faces could be Mr Giam’s running mates, while one might go it alone in Fengshan SMC.

    Also at the walkabout were WP chief Low Thia Khiang, 58, Aljunied GRC MPs Sylvia Lim, 50, Chen Show Mao, 54, and Faisal Abdul Manap, 40, and Hougang MP Png Eng Huat, 53.

    Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, 50, who is expected to lead the WP team in Marine Parade GRC, was there too, with potential candidate Terence Tan, 43, a lawyer who has been doing house visits.

    The GRC will absorb Joo Chiat SMC, where Mr Yee stood in 2011 and lost by 388 votes to Mr Charles Chong of the People’s Action Party.

    The WP has been walking the ground daily in recent weeks, with the elections expected next month.

    It said it has not finalised its candidates or where they will stand.

    Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s walkabout, WP chairman Sylvia Lim said the party will formally introduce its candidates after National Day.

    The party said it will also contest Jalan Besar and Nee Soon GRCs, as well as Sengkang West and MacPherson SMCs.

    Last night, the WP held a Hari Raya dinner in Aljunied GRC’s Kaki Bukit ward, attended by party leaders – and the man who stepped down last week from his post as chairman of the PAP branch in the ward, Mr Kahar Hassan, 45.

    Mr Kahar said Mr Faisal had invited him to the dinner “some time back”, and he was there in his personal capacity.

    When asked by reporters if he had joined the WP, Mr Kahar said: “That will never happen – I’ve been a (PAP) member for 20 years. I was invited to this dinner a long time ago.”

    Mr Faisal told reporters that he invited Mr Kahar to the dinner because they both serve residents in the area.

    “We have a working relationship… sometimes I refer residents to him, and sometimes he refers residents to me,” he said.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Will WP Redeploy A-Team?

    Will WP Redeploy A-Team?

    While there is a possibility that the Workers’ Party (WP) may shuffle its lineup of current members of Parliament (MPs) at the next General Election (GE), analysts believe such a move would not be taken lightly because of the political risks involved.

    The party has said it will contest 28 seats in the next GE, up from 23 in 2011. Analysts said a key issue for the party will be whether to redeploy some of its MPs from Aljunied to improve its chances in other constituencies or to keep that winning team intact to try to ensure it retains the Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

    Dr Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, said WP faced a similar dilemma in 2011. “In GE 2011, the WP also had a very large slate of candidates. In spite of that, what they chose to do was to place what we called their A-Team in Aljunied.”

    “It’ll be interesting if they will keep it that way, or they feel that they have spent enough time on the ground, such that the other members of the GRC are now trusted to carry that whole GRC.”

    Political scientist Alan Chong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies said moving high-profile Aljunied MPs to strengthen teams in other constituencies is a possible strategy. “It’s like a chess game,” he said.

    “If they are to move players from the existing Aljunied GRC, or even from Punggol East, which I doubt, or Hougang, it’s a matter of moving your heavyweights, just to make sure that certain targets would fall to you. On that basis, they might move one or two key players out of Aljunied. They might do that.”

    But he also pointed out the risks of such a move. “The downside of it is, if you as a heavyweight stand in one of these constituencies where because of the pre-existing level of support which the PAP has consolidated over the years, you might actually lose.”

    “And if that happens, then you’re momentarily out of politics,” he said.

    Dr Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University, believes that the Aljunied team is unlikely to change. “Simply because when we look at Aljunied GRC, it is their ‘crown jewel’, which they won only in 2011,” he said.

    “And I think for them to disband what I’d describe as their A-Team, their Dream Team, may not go down well with their voters in Aljunied.”

    However, some residents in Aljunied GRC did not seem to feel that way. An 80-year-old male resident, who did not want to be named, said: “With limited resources, they may have to move around their better-knowledged, better-experienced MPs from Aljunied. That is a constructive way to further advance their political progress.”

    With clear advantages and disadvantages to moving sitting MPs to other constituencies, the analysts said the WP’s approach would become apparent only when the election date is confirmed.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Lee Li Lian: WP Has Done A Good Job In Parliament

    Lee Li Lian: WP Has Done A Good Job In Parliament

    Jan 15, 2013 – Workers’ Party (WP) candidate for Punggol East Lee Li Lian on Tuesday defended the performance of her party mates in Parliament over the past year and a half following criticism that they failed to present a strong alternative voice.

    Expectations of the opposition group had been raised after it scored its best showing in the general election in 2011 in which it won six out of 87 seats up for grabs and grabbed two places for Non-Constituency Members of Parliament.

    “I think that the Workers’ Party MPs have done a good job — given the imbalance in numbers. We had eight, whereas the PAP (People’s Action Party) have 80. There’s a difference definitely in terms of time given to us” she told Yahoo! Singapore in a one-on-one interview on Tuesday afternoon in Rivervale Drive.

    [Click here to watch the video interview.]

    She said her party  MPs — currently consisting of secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, chairman Sylvia Lim, Pritam Singh, Chen Show Mao and Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap for Aljunied GRC, and Png Eng Huat for Hougang SMC, as well as NCMPs Gerald Giam and Yee Jenn Jong — have raised “pertinent issues” in Parliament so far, pressing the government for answers on public transport, housing, healthcare, population and immigration, among others.

    “I hope to be able to add to the strength that we currently have,” she added.

    A focus on procreation policies

    Asked what issues she will focus on should she join the ranks of her cadre in Parliament, she said she will raise concerns that residents in Punggol East have brought up.

    “(I foresee that to include) the considerations and concerns that young couples will have,” she said, noting that the constituency possesses a distinctly younger age demographic — with almost 50 per cent being between age 22 and 49, while those aged 50 and above forming about 20 to 30 per cent of residents.

    These, she added, correspond to issues she holds close to her heart and feels most strongly about: the concerns of young couples, families and the welfare of the elderly, particularly those of single parents and stay-at-home mothers.

    “Stay-at-home mothers don’t qualify for workfare bonus, but that doesn’t mean that they are not doing anything,” she said. “They’re working at home… when you come home, they have piping hot food for you — are they not working? They are. So why are they not given this? I think they should be given more attention,” she added.

    Lee also feels that fathers should be given six days of paternity leave — one of the practical policy changes she says she will fight for, should she gain a seat in Parliament.

    “I think it would be good (to have more paternity leave), perhaps half funded by the government, because fathers play an equally important role in family-building,” she said.

    Turning to single mothers, Lee said they take priority on her list because she has seen for herself how they suffer at the hands of existing policies, in particular the prevailing rule that does not allow single parents with their children to form a family unit and purchase an HDB flat.

    “(That rule) is one thing I hope can be abolished so they can have a shelter when they have no one to depend on,” she said. “When you have a pair of parents, it’s already not easy, so if you have only one, I think it’s even tougher. I’m not saying they should receive special incentives… what they’re asking for is just the same benefits as other married mothers,” she said.

    Lee previously responded to other criticism that she had not been walking the ground in Punggol East over the past year and a half since she lost to ex-Speaker of Parliament Michael Palmer in 2011

    In the press conference Monday where she was unveiled as the WP candidate of choice for the upcoming by-election,  she said she still visited Punggol East on occasion despite being preoccupied with her duties as legislative assistant to Singh, helping the Aljunied GRC MP with his constituency groundwork.

    She also continued to dodge questions about other possible candidates in the election, or requests for estimates on her chances at the polls, reiterating that she preferred to focus on her campaign and her priority in getting reacquainted with the residents.

    Watch a video interview that we did with Lee here:

    Punggol East by-election – One on One with Worker’s Party candidate Lee Li LianSatish Cheney finds out more about the woman the Workers’ Party is counting on to bring in the votes at the Punggol East by-election. The 34-year-old Liverpool fan with a creative streak reveals more about herself and gives her take on issues on the ground.

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com