SINGAPORE: The National Solidarity Party (NSP) would run a town council by directly employing the staff they need, instead of engaging a subcontractor, if elected, the party’s acting secretary-general Hazel Poa said on Sunday (Aug 16).
Ms Poa was speaking in response to questions about Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s criticism of the Workers’ Party (WP) over its handling of financial management lapses at Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).
“We should be focusing on issues and things that really affect Singaporeans’ lives,” Ms Poa said to the media, after a walkabout at Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC). “We would also like to emphasise the point that electing Members of Parliament should be more than just estate management. After all it is ‘Member of Parliament’. Their primary role should be their contributions in Parliament to enact laws that affect the lives of every Singaporean.”
Ms Poa also declined to comment on the NSP’s slate of candidates, stating that the party will only reveal its 11 candidates for Tampines GRC, Sembawang GRC and Pioneer Single Member Constituency (SMC) – where it intends to contest in the upcoming General Election (GE) – at the end of the month. Nevertheless, the party could be heard introducing 39-year-old real estate agent Eugene Yeo and 35-year-old businessman Spencer Ng, who have also been participating in walkabouts in other constituencies, as potential candidates.
Possible NSP candidates Eugene Yeo (left) and Spencer Ng (right) on a walkabout in Sembawang GRC on Aug 16, 2015. (Photo: Hon Jing Yi / TODAY)
Ms Poa also commented on the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) candidates, noting that Mr Ong Ye Kung, who was a member of the PAP team that lost to WP in Aljunied GRC in the 2011 GE, has joined the ruling party’s slate for Sembawang GRC.
“We are glad to see that Ong Ye Kung is back to contest in the General Election despite the setback that he received in the last election. If you’re committed to serving Singaporeans, that’s the right spirit, although it would have been better if he had gone back to Aljunied to fight for the voters there,” Ms Poa said. “He contested there in the previous round and it was quite a close contest, so if he had gone back to Aljunied it would have better shown his commitment to serve his residents there.”
Menteri Perhubungan dan Penerangan, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, akan menerajui pasukan Parti Tindakan Rakyat (PAP) bagi GRC Jalan Besar yang dibentuk semula bagi Pilihan Raya Umum akan datang.
Selain Dr Yaacob, melengkapi pasukan PAP di GRC Jalan Besar ialah Menteri Negara Kanan (Pejabat Perdana Menteri), Encik Heng Chee How; Mayor Central Singapore, Cik Denise Phua; dan AP veteran, Dr Lily Neo.
Pasukan itu dijangka menghadapi saingan daripada pasukan Parti Pekerja (WP).
GRC Jalan Besar dibentuk semula dalam semakan sempadan kawasan undi baru-baru ini, menggantikan GRC Moulmein-Kallang.
Semalam, PAP turut mengumumkan pasukannya bagi GRC West Coast, yang telah dikurangkan daripada GRC lima anggota kepada GRC empat anggota.
GRC itu akan menampilkan anggota baru – Encik Patrick Tay.
Tiga lagi anggotanya ialah Menteri Perdagangan dan Perusahaan, Encik Lim Hng Kiang; Menteri di Pejabat Perdana Menteri, Encik S. Iswaran; dan AP, Cik Foo Mee Har.
Encik Tay menggantikan Menteri Kebudayaan, Masyarakat dan Belia, Encik Lawrence Wong, yang mengetuai GRC Marsiling-Yew Tee yang baru, bersama Speaker Parlimen, Cik Halimah Yaacob.
Encik Tay, Penolong Setiausaha Agung Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Kebangsaan (NTUC), sebelum ini adalah AP GRC Nee Soon.
Encik Lim, yang menyertai politik pada 1991, akan memimpin GRC tersebut bersama Encik Iswaran.
Encik Cedric Foo pula diumumkan akan kekal dalam Kawasan Undi Perseorangan (SMC) Pioneer.
Sementara itu, GRC Chua Chu Kang melihat seorang muka baru – Encik Yee Chia Hsing.
Beliau menggantikan Encik AlvinYeo, yang meninggalkan politik setelah berkhidmat selama dua penggal.
Menteri Kesihatan, Encik Gan Kim Yong, kekal menerajui GRC tersebut.
Anggota-anggota lain pasukannya ialah AP-AP Encik Zaqy Mohamad dan Cik Low Yen Ling.
Selain PAP, parti pembangkang juga tidak melepaskan peluang mengadakan lawatan menemui penduduk di serata pulau.
Dalam lawatan ke pasar dan pusat makanan Chong Pang, Pengerusi WP, Cik Sylvia Lim, mendedahkan kepada media bahawa AP partinya akan kekal di kawasan undi masingmasing mempertahankan kerusi Parlimen mereka.
Sementara itu, Parti Rakyat Singapura (SPP) dan Parti Progresif Demokratik (DPP) masih mengadakan perbincangan menampilkan pasukan gabungan bertanding bagi GRC Bishan-Toa Payoh.
Amid speculation that the Workers’ Party’s (WP) big guns could move out of their home turf to contest in other constituencies, WP chairman Sylvia Lim said today (Aug 16) that all seven of the party’s elected Members of Parliament (MPs) will be staying put to defend their wards in the coming elections.
An Instagram post by WP chairman Sylvia Lim last week of her eating at Fengshan Single-Member Constituency had fanned speculation that the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) MP could strike out on her own.
Speaking to reporters at Chong Pang Market where WP supporters and members were selling its newspaper, Ms Lim quelled the talk by announcing that the WP will retain its slate for Aljunied GRC, as well as the Hougang and Punggol East single-seat wards.
She said: “We found that in the last four years, our experience in Aljunied has been fulfilling. We also have our challenges (and) throughout this period, there have been residents who inspired us by coming forward to give us encouragement because they believe in us.”
Earlier this month, WP chief Low Thia Khiang was the first from the party to declare that he would not be moving out of his constituency.
Nevertheless, Ms Lim said the party had given some thoughts to moving one of more of its members out to make new inroads. “On consideration, we decided that it is meaningful for us to remain as a team to seek (residents’) mandate for the next term,” she said.
She added that all the WP MPs will be helping the party’s other candidates to canvass support in the various constituencies.
On whether the saga over the financial lapses of the WP-run Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) had affected sentiments among the residents — and thus render it unwise for the MPs to move out, instead of staying put and being accountable — Ms Lim would only say that the party would “leave it to residents and the public to judge what is exactly going on”. She also revealed that the AHPETC’s audited financial figures will be released at the end of the month.
The WP entourage in Nee Soon GRC consisted of several new faces who have been touted as potential candidates including Singapore Cancer Society officer Kenneth Foo, 38, consultant Cheryl Denise Loh, 31, trainee lawyer Shaneet Rai, 27, property agent Ron Tan, 30, bank manager Dylan Ng, 40, holding company chief executive Luke Koh, 40, and project executive Bernard Chen, 29.
Since last week, the People’s Action Party has started introducing its candidates and breaking from tradition, the ruling party is also unveiling its slate before Nomination Day, barring last minute changes.
Ms Lim reiterated that the WP will introduce its candidates when it is ready, and this would likely to be “some time” after National Day Rally on Sunday.
Political analyst Gillian Koh said she was surprised by WP’s decision to keep its Aljunied GRC team intact for the coming polls.
Dr Koh, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, felt that the WP could perhaps be worried about losing Aljunied GRC if the team is split. By staying in Aljunied GRC, both Ms Lim and Mr Low could also campaign in other constituencies with “some level of comfort” that WP can successfully defend their home turf, Dr Koh said.
She said: “If on the other hand, they were quite confident about Aljunied GRC and were interested in extending their reach, it may have been more effective to have two GRC teams headed by their two leaders and best known WP politicians.”
Both Dr Koh and Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan said that WP’s decision show that its leaders were confident of the party’s other candidates. Still, Associate Professor Tan felt that WP did explore the idea of moving its big guns out to try and win more constituencies. “But it’s clear they know where their priorities lie and that an incremental approach, as opposed to an aggressive and ambitious tack, is tactically more apt,” he said. He added: “There is the imperative to consolidate their hold of Aljunied GRC, their crown-jewel. They are signalling that they do not take their Aljunied residents for granted, and the same team will work through the AHPETC issues.”
Assoc Prof Tan noted that the decision would also help to “shut out further PAP criticisms that they are seeking new political pastures for the sake of doing so”.
Dr Koh and Assoc Tan felt it was unlikely that the WP could renege on its decision, and spring surprises on Nomination Day. “Should WP… deploy either Mr Low or Ms Lim in other wards at the eleventh hour, it will not go down well with the Aljunied GRC voters,” Assoc Prof Tan said. “Such a switch, even if tactical, would also result in the campaign being side-tracked by this matter. It will become the proverbial lightning rod.”
Speaking to reporters, Ms Lim also played down the absence of its WP MPs from the National Day Rally this Sunday, which clashes with a grassroots event – an SG50 celebration dinner for residents – they have been planning since last year.
Adding that she was “not sure why people are trying to create an issue out of it”, she said of the grassroots event: “We think it is meaningful for us, especially as an opposition party, to rally our supporters, to remind everyone what we want is to actually have betterment for Singapore as a whole.”
She added: “I think people sometimes get confused and they cannot distinguish between national issues and ruling party interests. We want to underscore the point that even if you are an opposition supporter, you can be as loyal to Singapore as any PAP supporter.”
Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang yesterday (Aug 16) shot back at Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s recent withering attack on the opposition party and its leaders, by asking the public to judge the politics that the People’s Action Party (PAP) practises.
“With all due respect, (Mr Teo) wanted to comment in that way, let Singaporeans judge and see this is the kind of standard of the PAP in politics. Is this the kind of politics we want in future?” said Mr Low. “What do we want the future of Singapore to be? Do we want to be more civilised in our political engagement? We are not a Third World country.”
In a media interview last Friday, Mr Teo ripped into the WP for its handling of the financial lapses at its Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), and criticised Mr Low for shedding “crocodile tears” over the stepping down of Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew.
“It’s very in character for Mr Low to squeeze the most political mileage out of anything. The reasons that Tuck Yew decided to step down are known to everyone,” Mr Teo had said.
Mr Low had earlier said that he was disappointed and could not understand why Mr Lui had chosen to leave politics at this point in time.
Yesterday, he reiterated that his views on Mr Lui, whom he has known for several years from their interactions in Parliament, were authentic and “heartfelt”. Using a Chinese idiom, Mr Low said his comments on Mr Lui were grating to the PAP as “good and honest advice is unpleasant to the ears”.
Describing Mr Lui as a “hardworking” minister, Mr Low said his departure from politics would be a loss to the Cabinet as he was accountable to Members of Parliament (MPs).
Speaking to reporters at Chong Pang Market — where party supporters and members were greeting residents and selling its newspaper — Mr Low said: “He (Mr Lui) can even cite you details of very technical matters…(and) he doesn’t try to score political points in answering questions, neither does he try to find a way to try to attack or bully the Opposition.”
WP chairman Sylvia Lim, who was part of the party entourage, said that the opposition party was “surprised” by Mr Lui’s decision to step down. She added that the WP was looking at the issue of collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
Responding to Mr Teo’s criticism of the WP’s handling of the AHPETC saga, Ms Lim said it is for residents to decide if they have been taken care of.
Hougang MP Png Eng Huat, who chairs the town council’s audit committee, said that the town council is seeking to close its financial year 2014/2015 accounts by August 31 – the deadline for all town councils. Any discussion on the town council’s financial position will be “more meaningful after that”, he said.
Last Friday, Mr Teo pointed out that the Constitution guarantees there will at least be nine Opposition members in Parliament. He also said that the Opposition in Parliament had no bearing on the many policies introduced or refined by the PAP government since the 2011 General Election, as the foundation for these plans had been laid even earlier – a point that was echoed by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at a separate event.
In response, Ms Lim noted that Singaporeans have already shown a desire for elected Opposition.
“On the opposition front, we have to make sure that we continue to give Singaporeans a credible choice. It is up to Singaporeans to decide whether they are satisfied with constitutionally-guaranteed Non-Constituency MPs or whether they would like to have elected MPs governing their constituencies,” she said, adding that it is for voters to judge whether having Opposition MPs made the PAP more sensitive to their needs.
Mr Teo also took a jibe at WP chairman Sylvia Lim who on Wednesday posted on Instagram a picture of herself eating at Fengshan Hawker Centre with the caption, “The taste of Fengshan — heavenly!”, and the hashtag #reasonstowin. On Thursday, Ms Lim posted a blank picture with the caption, “how to avoid speculation”, along with the hashtag #electionseason. Mr Teo said: “What’s going to happen? You’re going to swallow up Fengshan for what purpose? To serve the residents of Fengshan? Or is Fengshan delicious because you want to add it into the pot to help the town council with the deficit?”
Ms Lim said: “I think it is a pity that (Mr Teo) doesn’t’ seem to have a sense of humour.” Yesterday, she put up another picture — of her with three other WP members in Chong Pang, which is the ward of Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam — with the caption, “In the den of my ‘favourite’ Minister… Better move in groups.”
Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin will be the anchor minister at Marine Parade GRC in the upcoming election, he announced on Saturday evening (Aug 15) at the sidelines of a Hari Raya celebration event.
Mr Tan said this means he will be “playing a leading role” within a team, adding that ESM Goh Chok Tong will continue to run in Marine Parade GRC for the upcoming election.
“We will continue leveraging on his experience. He’s much loved and respected by many of the residents in Marine Parade and Marine Parade GRC, and I would say many Singaporeans as well,” Mr Tan said. “We will discuss issues together and I think we operate very much as a team, and I don’t see that changing.”
ESM Goh Chok Tong had on Friday announced that he will be standing for election in Marine Parade GRC, where he has been an MP for close to 40 years.
