Earlier today (July 2), Minister of Education Ong Ye Kung uploaded a video to his Facebook page, showing his interactions with a young resident from Sembawang.
While the video gained much positive comment online, it was taken down just after three hours, with Ong citing that it was not in line with electoral rules.
For those who missed the video, here’s another one to make your day – featuring the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Edwin Tong and a special young guest.
No rule-breaking here though, as the video was shared on Tong’s Facebook page on June 28, two days before Nomination Day.
Jordin Tan, Tong’s “youngest interviewer to date”, had a light-hearted Q&A session with Tong. In the video, we find out personal details about Tong – including his hidden talent and favourite football team.
SINGAPORE: The Peoples Voice (PV) party introduced its nine of its 10 candidates who will run in three constituencies at this General Election.
Nine videos were uploaded on the party’s Facebook page over Wednesday (Jul 1) and Thursday, with the candidates giving a short introduction of themselves and the issues they will be campaigning about.
The 10th candidate is party chief Lim Tean, whose introduction video was not on the party’s Facebook page as of Thursday night.
The party will contest 10 seats in total: Five in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, four in Jalan Besar GRC and one in Mountbatten SMC.
The Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC team comprises activist Gilbert Goh, freelance economics lecturer Mohamed Nassir Ismail, personal driver Jireh Lim, business financial manager Prabu Ramachandran and preschool educator Vigneswari Ramachandran. They will square off with the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) in a three-cornered fight.
Mr Lim will head the Jalan Besar GRC team against a PAP team led by Manpower Minister Josephine Teo. Accompanying him are blogger Leong Sze Hian, medical administrator Michael Fang Amin and halal certification auditor Azlan Sulaiman.
Preschool educator Sivakumaran Chellappa will contest in Mountbatten SMC against PAP’s Lim Biow Chuan.
In a Facebook Live video on Thursday, Mr Lim said that this is a “formidable team”.
“We will be devoting our waking hours and time to meeting and attending to your needs,” he said.
LEONG SZE HIAN
Blogger Leong Sze Hian, 66, has formerly served as the former chairman or president of four professional bodies, including a human rights non-government organisation (NGO). He will run in Jalan Besar GRC against the People’s Action Party (PAP) team led by Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
PV candidate for GE2020 Leong Sze Hian. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
He hopes to bring more accountability and transparency to Parliament.
“A good Member of Parliament (MP) must have the heart of the people. They must ensure that policies made by the Government put people first,” said Mr Leong.
AZLAN SULAIMAN
Azlan Sulaiman, 49, has been a global Halal consultant for the past 13 years. He will also run in Jalan Besar GRC against the PAP.
PV candidate for GE2020 Azlan Sulaiman. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
If elected, he wants to be the voice of people and said he would bring their concerns into Parliament.
“A Member of Parliament is a representative of the constituents that voted for them,” he said. “At a local level, they must be visible and available in maintaining the estates well.
“On a national level they must be able to look ahead and come up with policies that benefit Singaporeans at large.”
GILBERT GOH
Activist Gilbert Goh, 58, will run in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC in a three-cornered fight, where he will face the PAP and the SDA.
PV candidate for GE2020 Gilbert Goh. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
He has been running transitioning.org for the past eight years. The NGO provides pro-bono counselling and coaching services to unemployed Singaporeans.
“If you elect me as your MP in Parliament, we will speak out for the underprivileged, the poor and the downtrodden,” said Mr Goh.
JIREH LIM
Blogger Jireh Lim, 61, will also run in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC against the PAP and the SDA.
PV candidate for GE2020 Jireh Lim. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
He believes that a good MP needs to have empathy and the willingness to help others. If elected, he will fight for a living wage for “the weakest members of our society”.
“I will be ever mindful of my role, my duty … and the dignity of my appointment. I will do my best to live up to all those expectations, and more,” he added.
MOHAMED NASSIR ISMAIL
Mr Mohamed Nassir Ismail, 63, is a freelance economics lecturer. He believes that MPs require a willingness to listen, to understand and to bring the hopes of the people to Parliament. He will run in Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC.
PV candidate for GE2020 Mohamed Nassir Ismail. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
“Our slogan is Make Singapore Our home Again. The voice of the people will bring change in Parliament in the near future,” he said.
VIGNESWARI RAMACHANDRAN
Ms Vigneswari Ramachandran, 38, has been a preschool teacher for 12 years. She is in Peoples Voice’s Pasir Ris-Punggol team. She believes that an MP must have “a genuine heart” and has to “feel for the people, and be caring”.
PV candidate for GE2020 Vigneswari Ramachandran. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
Her focus areas include childcare fees and the cost of living.
“The PAP has a tendency to be elitist, they do not understand the struggles and difficulties (that) ordinary people like you and I face. Challenges and difficulties that we face everyday gone unnoticed and unanswered by them.
“When we have alternative voices in Parliament. We will have more social justice and accountability to the various issues in society,” she said.
SIVA CHEPPALLA
Educator Siva Cheppalla, 57, joined PV two years ago. He is up against PAP’s Lim Biow Chuan in Mountbatten SMC.
PV candidate for GE2020 Siva Cheppalla. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
He said he decided to enter politics as he realised there are issues that need to be seriously addressed in Singapore, such as jobs and population.
“Me and my colleagues have analysed the issues that are faced by Singaporeans currently and have come (up with) a lot of solutions that we intend to put forward to the people and seek their endorsement,” he said.
MICHAEL FANG AMIN
Dr Michael Fang Amin, 43, is a medical administrator and entrepreneur. He will run in Jalan Besar GRC against the PAP team, led by Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
PV candidate for GE2020 Michael Fang. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
He believes that a good MP does not need to be “overqualified”, but must have a heart to serve people. If elected, he will bring “a balanced viewpoint” and push for policies in Parliament.
“I will propose good initiatives, (and) counter and debate bad ones,” he added.
“For example, we can raise the minimum salary rate for our workers, as well as advocate for the return of Central Provident Fund (contributions) at age 55.”
PRABU RAMACHANDRAN
Mr Prabu Ramachandran is a business financial consultant. He will run in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.
PV candidate for GE2020 Prabu Ramachandran. (Photo: Peoples Voice)
He would advocate for people to have control of their Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions at age 55 and fight for Singapore have “first world wages” to “keep up with first world cost of living”.
“PAP are made out of the same old people of career bureaucrats, scholars and a handful of elites. They are not saying anything new and they are starting to sound boring. Their messages are not appealing to ordinary people and they’re out of touch,” he said.
Moments ago, Singaporeans directed their attention to their screens for their nightly dose of politics.
With the general election well underway — and with no physical rallies allowed — election slogans and arguments were broadcasted on TV with seven contesting parties getting some airtime.
In case you’re wondering why some parties got a much shorter cameo on air, the amount of airtime allocated and the order of the broadcasts are determined by the number of candidates fielded by the party, the Infocomm Media Development Authority said.
Here are three key points each political party made today (July 2), in order of broadcast.
The police are investigating a 51-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy for allegedly damaging the election posters of Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and the People’s Action Party (PAP).
These are two separate cases, which happened along Bukit Batok Avenue 5 and Hougang Ave 10 respectively.
On July 1 at about 1.50am, police officers came across a damaged PSP poster at the bottom of a lamp post along Bukit Batok East Ave 5, and began investigations. Later that day, PSP also made a police report regarding another damaged poster along the same road.
Getting heated up on the Campaign trail (1 July 2020)
Campaigning has begun in earnest since the candidates were…
SINGAPORE: Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) chairman Desmond Lim Bak Chuan said he is “very confident” about his chances this election. It is his third time contesting Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC since his first outing there in 2006.
Speaking to CNA before a walkabout at Pasir Ris West Plaza on Thursday evening (Jul 2), the 53-year-old said he “feels very good” and “very confident” about his chances, more so than in the past.
“I’m a familiar face in Pasir Ris-Punggol,” he said. “Even half-masked, people sometimes can recognise me.”
Mr Lim, who has said that this will be his last election as chairman, is going up against the People’s Action Party and Peoples Voice in the only GRC with a three-cornered fight.
“I’m not new here. I don’t fly by night, and I don’t take our voters for granted, assume that (just because) I can speak online, that means I’m the better person to serve you,” he said.
He added that anyone can talk online “until your cows come back”, but if one is not in Parliament, then he or she cannot influence the Government.
Mr Lim secured 27.11 per cent of the vote with his team in 2015 against the People’s Action Party (PAP) and 31.3 per cent of the vote in 2006.
But he said that he does not have a target for the number of votes this year.
“It’s not about how many percentage of votes you get,” he said, switching to Mandarin which he is more fluent in. “If everyone gets about 30 per cent, I just need (that bit more) to win.”
He said the redrawing of boundaries will not affect his chances, as his team has been in the area since 2006.
“No matter how you cut, most of the area is in the middle,” said Mr Lim, who lives nearby in Oasis@Elias and was greeted many times on his walkabout by residents.
He was accompanied on his walk by several party members and fellow Pasir Ris-Punggol candidates Abu Mohamed, Kuswadi Atnawi and Kelvin Ong, handing out flyers at the plaza and at the blocks along Pasir Ris Street 51.
Mr Lim also spoke out against the actions of some opposition parties, which he did not name, criticising those who hop from constituency to constituency and those who speak loudly about opposition unity.
“We won’t run here or there – you think there’s a chance there, you go there, then you think you have a chance here, you come back. This is not a statesman but someone trying to play politics,” he said in Mandarin.
On opposition party unity, he said: “Some parties like to shout – Unity! Unity! We never shout. We do it quietly.”
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) chairman Desmond Lim Bak Chuan (second from left) waves at residents in Pasir Ris on Jul 2, 2020. (Photo: Joyee Koo)
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”: DESMOND LIM
Asked for his views on the COVID-19 situation, Mr Lim said “it is of no help” to speak more on the topic.
“We don’t have the the control. PAP wasn’t done resolving it, and they called the election. We already said – don’t hold an election. But we spoke until our mouths were dry,” he said.
“Since you want to hold it, let’s hold it, no need to say anymore, we all know in our hearts. You want to hold an election to hold onto your power, hold onto your rice bowls, what are our citizens to you?”
A campaign poster by Singapore Democratic Alliance seen in Pasir Ris. (Photo: Joyee Koo)
He said the party could have stayed home and not risked it, but they chose to contest because “enough is enough”.
“To me – the people have had enough. Lightning is high stress, high voltage, might strike you to death,” he said in Mandarin.
Asked about reports that party member Harminder Pal Singh is to be his successor, Mr Lim said: “Besides him, there are a few others. He is one of them. Definitely, any organisation we should have this plan in place, and not wait until our relationship is not good, then start to handover.”
Mr Lim added that Singapore does not belong only to a small group but to everyone. Pointing to his party, he said: “We believe that all Singaporeans are Singaporeans, not Indian, Malay, Chinese. As long as you are capable, you can be the prime minister.”
SINGAPORE – Testing has been offered to residents of 58 households living in the same section of Block 111 Tampines Street 11 as nine confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Speaking at a virtual press conference on Thursday (July 2), Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force tackling the spread of the virus here, said that the Health Ministry detected a Covid-19 case living in the block on June 23.
The 66-year-old Singaporean man had worked at The Leo Dormitory and was picked up during the ministry’s proactive screening of dormitories. Six of his household members subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, forming a cluster.
On June 27, another two Covid-19 cases, one of whom is a 15-year-old Singaporean female, emerged in the same block, but on a different floor. They reported that they had not interacted with the previous cluster.
“This immediately caught the attention of our contact tracers, and our antennas were up. They decided to investigate further,” said Mr Gan.
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Thursday (Jul 2) it will be taking enforcement action as it continues to detect ‘egregious mosquito breeding’ during dengue inspections.
Four households, a construction site and town council or residents’ committee-managed common areas of HDB estates are among the places the agency listed in a media release.
As of Monday, there were more than 14,000 dengue cases reported this year, with the total number of cases for 2020 expected to exceed the 22,170 cases reported in 2013, the largest dengue outbreak in Singapore’s history.
There are 1,328 dengue clusters reported since the start of the year, of which 334 are still active, NEA added.
These include large clusters at Woodleigh Close, Aljunied Road, Bukit Panjang Ring Road and Geylang Road.
An NEA dengue inspection officer checks a lightning conductor pit for mosquito breeding. (Photo: National Environment Agency)
NEA said it will be taking action against the following cases:
Residential premise located within a dengue cluster at Arnasalam Chetty Road/Kim Yam Road. NEA found mosquito breeding in a water feature, flower pot and container cover during an inspection in June. The breeding in the water feature had a few hundred mosquito larvae.
Residence located within the periphery of a dengue cluster at Clover Avenue, which NEA was only able to access after repeated attempts. Three instances of profuse mosquito breeding were found in pails and a porcelain bowl, with one containing about 50 mosquito larvae.
A Lian Beng construction site located within a dengue cluster at Potong Pasir Avenue 1. The site had been issued a stop-work order on Jun 24 due to repeated breeding cases, with some habitats containing 100 mosquito larvae or more. The mosquito breeding areas include a canvas sheet, a ground puddle, metal formworks, a steel toe board, a hollow metal pole and a concrete structure.
Two residential premises located within a dengue cluster at Aljunied Road/Geylang Road, with mosquito breeding habitats found during repeat inspections. The habitats include a jacuzzi, a cooking pot and a canvas sheet. Three of the spots contained 50 mosquito larvae or more.
In town council or residents’ committee-managed common areas of HDB estates where there is a high population of the Aedes mosquito. These habitats include an improperly stored unused incense burner, a perimeter drain, a discarded plastic container and another plastic container in a residents’ committee garden.
A pool of stagnant water is seen at a Lian Beng construction site during an NEA inspection. (Photo: National Environment Agency)
Some of the breeding habitats contained mosquito pupae, indicating that water has been stagnant for a while, NEA said.
In cases where urgent vector control measures are needed, NEA said it will issue a legal notice to the residents requiring them to open up their premises for inspection at a specified date and time.
Entry by force may be used if the premises remain inaccessible or are vacant, the agency added.
About 6,200 legal notices have been issued between January and May.
Profuse mosquito breeding is seen in a porcelain cup. (Photo: National Environment Agency)
“These egregious cases of mosquito breeding show that some owners of premises and occupiers are still not carrying out the necessary basic vector control checks, despite the extensive outreach on dengue prevention over the past few months and the current serious dengue situation,” the agency said.
Last month, NEA announced it will impose heavier offences for households with repeated mosquito breeding offences and multiple breeding habitats.
It will also tighten enforcement for construction sites and town councils.
A man oils of a drain along a common corridor to prevent mosquito breeding. (Photo: National Environment Agency)
NEA said on Thursday the majority of mosquito breeding detected are found in common areas of residential estates, premises and homes.
“All residents living in dengue cluster areas are strongly encouraged to cooperate with NEA officers, and facilitate their checks and indoor misting in their homes,” it said.
“As the Aedes mosquito’s lifecycle can be as short as seven days, it is important to Do the Mozzie Wipeout at least once a week.”
With the battle for votes shifting online this general election, how are political parties reaching out to Singapore’s older folks?
The Pioneer Generation, who may not be as tech-savvy as their younger countrymen, might be missing out on the campaign messages.
Hence, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) has rolled out a skit filled with familiar faces — comedy duo Wang Sha Ye Feng from the 60s — to speak to elderly Singaporeans.
True to the original skit, PSP’s Craig Teo and another member delivered the messages in fluent Teochew, interspersing it with Malay and Mandarin.
The pair kicked things off with a reminder of safe distancing measures during the Covid-19 situation.
They sounded some of the difficulties that seniors have keeping up with the times, such as the change of figures in the political scene.
It was a smart but risky move by the Workers’ Party (WP) to send the youthful and smiley-faced Jamus Lim into the lion’s den against a seasoned and smiling assassin like Vivian Balakrishnan.
It could have gone disastrously wrong. And the poor chap might just have been badly maimed, never being able to recover.
That didn’t happen.
Instead, Lim came out smelling like roses with a performance that must have impressed Balakrishnan to want to hug the newbie politician and whisper into his ears: Why didn’t you join the People’s Action Party (PAP)?
Lim was not just some pretty face with nothing up there.
He started the TV political debate a little unsure but as he warmed up one could actually see his brain working.
When Balakrishnan tried to put the 44-year-old associate professor — gently of course — on the spot with a question on how his party was going to pay for the giveaways proposed in its manifesto, he retained his unflappable demeanour.
We have done the mathematics behind the ideas and “everything is within our budget, it actually is budget neutral”, he replied.
Campaigning for #GE2020 is officially in full swing.
Catch Progress Singapore Party’s Hazel Poa, People’s Action Party’s Chan Chun Sing, Workers’ Party’s Kenneth Foo as they debate key issues in Mandarin on Zaobao Live: Face the Voters. The live session will kick off at 6.30pm on July 2.
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