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Tag: Victor Lye

  • Shamsul Kamar Named In PAP Team For Aljunied GRC

    Shamsul Kamar Named In PAP Team For Aljunied GRC

    The People’s Action Party (PAP) on Friday (Aug 28) officially announced its lineup for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the General Election (GE).

    PAP members Yeo Guat Kwang, Chua Eng Leong, Victor Lye, K Muralidharan Pillai and Shamsul Kamar will attempt to win back the GRC from the Workers’ Party.

    At the 2011 polls, the WP took 54.72 per cent of the votes in Aljunied GRC against a PAP team led by former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo. It marked the first time a GRC had been won by an Opposition party since the introduction of the GRC system in 1988.

    The WP has already announced that its 2011 lineup of Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Mr Chen Show Mao, Mr Faisal Manap and Mr Pritam Singh will defend Aljunied GRC this year.

    The five PAP candidates for Aljunied GRC are:

    Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, 54, Assistant Secretary-General of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)

    Mr Yeo served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheng San GRC from 1997 to 2001 and Aljunied GRC from 2001 to 2011 before moving to Ang Mo Kio GRC. He was tipped to retire from politics this year, but at the PAP’s unveiling of its Ang Mo Kio candidates for the GE, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong instead announced that Mr Yeo would be fielded in another constituency.

    “It’s so good to be home. I served here for years,” Mr Yeo said, on his return to Aljunied GRC.

    “I’m a PAP man – I’m a man who serves with passion and purpose. I remind myself to be practical, pragmatic, get to the root of the problem and help,” he said.

    He has been championing labour issues since he entered politics in 1997, Mr Yeo said. “We do our best to help them (workers) enhance their employability and to increase opportunities for all.”

    Mr Chua Eng Leong, 44, private banker

    Mr Chua is the chairman of the PAP’s Eunos branch. His father is the late former Cabinet Minister Chua Sian Chin, who passed away last year.

    He joined PAP in 2011 because he was concerned about the future of young Singaporeans, he said. “Why the PAP? I was born PAP – it’s about Passion, Ability and Purposeful service.”

    “Politics is just another name for service to the nation,” he said, adding “we can only be effective if we listen. Voters want to know we care”.

    Mr Lye, who has two children, said that one of the programmes he plans to champion for is youth at risk. “This is a special group … All youths should get opportunities to do well in life,” he said.

    More should also be done for young families, he said. “We need to pay more attention to (these) families, catering for more childcare, infantcare and eldercare facilities.”

    Mr Victor Lye, 52, Chief Executive of Shenton Insurance

    Mr Lye is the chairman of the PAP’s Bedok Reservoir-Punggol branch. He is also chairman of the National Council against Drug Abuse, and sits on the board of directors at the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

    An Aljunied resident, Mr Lye has been involved in grassroots work in the constituency since 1999, and has been the PAP’s Aljunied branch chairman since 2012.

    Currently the CEO of a medical insurance company, Mr Lye said he enjoys turning businesses around. “My experience in the private sector helps me understand problems faced by Singaporeans … helps me empathise with others.”

    When the PAP lost the 2011 General Election to the opposition Workers’ Party, he decided to stay on. “After 2011, it would have been easy to walk away. But we are here to serve and that hasn’t changed. Where few dare to tread, it’s more meaningful because I finally know where my heart is,” he said.

    “I believe in ground-up leadership. We need to connect better with our people.”

    Mr K Muralidharan Pillai, 47, lawyer

    Mr Muralidharan is chairman of the PAP’s Paya Lebar branch. Before embarking on a legal career, he was Assistant Superintendent in the Singapore Police Force.

    Mr Muralidharan, who also spoke in Tamil, Mandarin and Malay during the press conference for the unveiling, said he was honoured that the PAP decided to field him as a candidate, despite being the son of a former political detainee.

    “If elected, my focus would be on social mobility. We all don’t want a permanent underclass to emerge in Singapore. The Government has done a lot for social mobility, the challenge is for families to grasp the opportunities,” he said.

    “This isn’t a career enhancement move,” he said. “I don’t know how long my political career will be – it could be 10 days … I’m not fazed by the odds. I will fight this election with all my heart.”

    Mr Shamsul Kamar, 43, former head of department, Spectra Secondary School

    Mr Shamsul took over as chairman of the PAP’s Kaki Bukit Branch just this month, although he was a grassroots leader there from 2006 to 2011.

    The former head of department in Spectra Secondary School, Mr Shamsul said he taught students from the Normal (Technical) stream. These kids are “underdogs”, he said, “not academically inclined but creative”.

    If elected, he will ensure that students like these are able to complete their education. “Education is one of the most effective social levellers,” he said.

    Another issue close to his heart is underprivileged families, he said. “Despite the support available to them, many still need a leg up. We can do a lot more.”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Are The Opposition In Politics For The People Or For Personal Gain?

    Are The Opposition In Politics For The People Or For Personal Gain?

    Dear Political Aspirant(s),

    It is not enough to say that you want to champion transport issues without offering any alternatives. The current government is aware that transportation is a cause of concern and is addressing it through various ways such as buying more buses and experimenting with distributing the peak hour load by offering free services up to a certain time in the morning. One must understand the intricacies of the public transport system and policy here in Singapore and offer alternatives to that model instead of just recognising it as an issue and expect the government to resolve it independently.

    It is not enough to say that you do not agree to the population increase and yet do not offer alternatives on how Singapore is to sustain itself as the population is ageing drastically. What plans do you have for Singapore to sustain its growth and ensure that Singaporeans are competitive as compared to citizens of other nations? In regards to foreign workers and talents, what is your stand on it? Should it be stopped completely or should it be left open as before? If you opine that it should be somewhere in the middle, then it’s no different from the government’s stance which seeks to calibrate the influx of foreign workers and talents so as not to upset the economy, especially the SMEs, and ensure that Singaporeans continues to have a job with the presence of the multi-national companies here.

    If we want an alternative view in the Parliament, it must credible. In my opinion, that alternative view can come from within the ruling party and not necessarily just opposing for the sake of doing so. Above all, politics is not a game nor a competition. It is a calling – a high and noble one. One must not go into politics with the intention to just overthrow an existing government. What happen nexts? What are your plans? At the heart of politics, it must be about serving the people and if you do not have the people in mind, then your intentions are baseless.

    I fear the day that Singapore politics would go down the gutters and end up with a parliament that does not enact new laws but is too absorbed with internal squabbling and fighting amongst parliamentarians. But if that is what Singaporean wants, then there is nothing much we can do but to pray that such a day would not come in our life time.

    Thank you.

     

    Source: Adam Hudzaifah Al-Yaman

  • Potential New PAP Candidates Present At People’s Association Event

    Potential New PAP Candidates Present At People’s Association Event

    SINGAPORE: A People’s Association event celebrating senior citizens in the Aljunied Cluster, comprising Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC, was held on Saturday (Nov 15) evening.

    Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob graced the event, alongside former PAP leaders Lim Boon Heng and Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

    News faces touted as potential PAP candidates for Aljunied and Hougang were also present.

    They include:

    • Banker Chua Eng Leong, who is chairman of Eunos PAP branch
    • K Muralidharan Pillai in Paya Lebar; he is a lawyer by profession
    • Chan Hui Yuh in Serangoon, who works in a family business
    • Victor Lye in Bedok Reservoir-Punggol
    • Kahar Hassan, who took over the Kaki Bukit branch chairmanship from Ong Ye Kung
    • Lee Hong Chuang, who took over as chairman of the Hougang branch, replacing Desmond Choo

    Former PAP Chairman Mr Lim said it is still early to say if the new faces will be fielded as candidates as this depends on how they can work the ground. He said two key factors the party is looking out for are the ability to understand people and resolving problems.

    “Any lesson that I would learn from the past or the trend in the past few elections is that people want to have representatives in Parliament who are close to them. In terms of ability, of course it’s good if a person can make it beyond an MP to become an office holder,” said Mr Lim. “But what is more important to residents is: ‘Is he close to me, does he understand me? Can he effectively bring my issues before the government and get those issues redressed?’”

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com