As campaigning for GE2020 is in full swing, candidates are appealing for votes and some will go ‘live’ on Mediacorp for a political debate.
The People’s Action Party (PAP), Workers’ Party (WP), Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) were invited to send one candidate each to the debate. These parties were chosen based on fielding the most number of candidates at this General Election.
Titled “Singapore Votes 2020 — The Political Debate”, the hour-long programme is split into two segments.
In the first segment, a moderator will ask the four candidates a series of questions on topics including unemployment, helping businesses and social mobility.
In the second segment, candidates will get to ask questions of other candidates in a structured sequence as well as answer questions posed to them by other candidates.
The Workers’ Party will be going ‘live’ at 7pm tonight (July 1), in the party’s first episode of the Hammer Show.
Moderated by party chief Pritam Singh and chairman Sylvia Lim, the panel will see Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim, Chua Kheng Wee, and Dennis Tan discuss the role the Opposition plays in Singapore politics.
They will also be joined by candidates Gerald Giam, Faisal Manap, Nicole Seah and Jamus Lim.
Judging purely on aesthetics and cinematography, the Workers’ Party (WP) deserve all the praise for the videos they put out as soon as Parliament dissolved on June 23.
The first was a teaser of things to come, including the surprising return of former National Solidarity Party candidate Nicole Seah. The full video uploaded the following day (June 24) is a gorgeously shot introduction to WP’s GE2020 candidates and what they’re standing for as an opposition party.
Our party members share how our walk with Singapore continues this General Election. Make your vote count. #GE2020
SINGAPORE: Nomination Day for the General Election to be held on Jul 10 is over, confirming who the candidates contesting for the 93 seats will be.
There will be straight fights between opposition parties and the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore since 1959, in all but one Single Member Constituency (SMC) and one Group Representation Constituency (GRC) which will see three-cornered fights.
The standout feature relating to the candidates being fielded is the convergence in the parties’ choices – the PAP has selected candidates with records of social activism and community engagement while the opposition is drawing in more professionals.
They recognise voters want a stronger blend of head and heart and the PAP, particularly, is trying to ensure that candidates will connect better with them in this election.
MORE THAN THE USUAL PAP MOULD
The PAP has 27 new faces standing in these elections – the largest number it has ever fielded.
The PAP’s penchant for leaders with good academic as well as professional credentials, especially in the realm of public service, is well-known. Voters expect technocratic competence as well as the commitment of service to the nation and the people as a baseline.
Indeed, more than half of the fresh faces have served in the Singapore Armed Forces or the civil service. However, what is difficult to miss are the other facets to this group.
(Clockwise from top left) Tan See Leng, Tan Kiat How, Ng Ling Ling, Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Derrick Goh Soon Hee, Yeo Wan Ling, Eric Chua Swee Leong, Alvin Tan Sheng Hui, Poh Li San, Wan Rizal, and Raymond Lye Hoong Yip. (Photos: People’s Action Party)
They have been in charge of offices where community engagement was integral to their objectives like Desmond Tan, who was Chief Executive of the People’s Association, Tan Kiat How and Yip Hon Weng who have designed and managed outreach programmes for policies targeted at seniors.
There is also Eric Chua who headed the SG Secure Office and has been a community leader for many years, and Mohd Fahmi Bin Aliman who was Deputy Chief Executive of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS).
Among the bumper crop of women on the PAP slate this time are also those who added new dimensions to their public service experience.
Poh Li San, previously a helicopter pilot at the Republic of Singapore Air Force, is now Vice-President of Terminal 5 Planning at the Changi Airport Group and recognised for operationalising the airport’s self-service terminal.
Yeo Wan Ling, who worked in the global operations team in the Singapore Economic Development Board now runs Caregiver Asia, a social enterprise she started along with parent company Caregiver Group, whereas Gan Siow Huang, Singapore’s first female brigadier-general is now Deputy Chief Executive of the Employment and Employability Institute where the key mission is to motivate workers to take on the painful task of re-skilling for new jobs.
There are several other social activists and community leaders among the PAP candidates, including Carrie Tan, who heads women empowerment group Daughters of Tomorrow and former President of the Association of Muslim Professionals, Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim.
In introducing new candidates, Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Jurong GRC highlighted that Shawn Huang, who also has a background in the military, had been doing grassroots work for 10 years, and Xie Yao Quan, who is in the public health sector, has been serving the constituency for five years.
In terms of their profiles and biographies, the candidates have either worked the ground or had to understand it well, which means there would have been time for party leaders to assess their ability to connect with ordinary Singaporeans and active citizens prior to selection.
After a bruising Punggol East by-election in January 2013 with the PAP losing to the Workers’ Party Lee Li Lian, PAP Secretary-General Lee Hsien Loong said that it was important to have candidates spend time on the ground to allow them to warm up to residents and vice versa before they were fielded. The lesson has been taken seriously.
THE ROLE CANDIDATE BACKGROUNDS PLAY
In the opposition camp, we see far more professionals and people with private sector experience being profiled.
(Left to right) Dennis Tan Lip Fong, Dylan Ng Foo Eng, Raeesah Begum Bte Farid Khan, Jamus Jerome Lim Chee Wui and Ron Tan Jun Yen from the Workers’ Party on Jun 26, 2020.
In introducing candidates last week, Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party Pritam Singh said he was presenting a slate of candidates who could be competent Members of Parliament and also manage town councils well; his focus was on “quality candidates” – code for “a match to the PAP’s candidates”.
Among the new faces are Jamus Lim, Associate Professor at Essec Business School, Dylan Ng and Louis Chua from the finance sector, and Muhammad Fadli Mohammed Fawzi who joins several other lawyers on the WP slate.
Another interesting point to note was the emphasis on the candidates’ humble beginnings in particular, on the PAP side.
The 4G leaders led by First Assistant Secretary-General Heng Swee Keat have made social mobility and alternative pathways to success the leitmotif of their leadership platform.
In choosing candidates with humble backgrounds, they hope many voters will see them as personifications of the positive and empowering aspects of Singapore’s meritocracy, social mobility and recognise their sense of noblesse oblige – ploughing back to the system and helping fellow citizens benefit from it as you have.
But the opposition camp always had candidates with such backgrounds. Among the new names in the field, Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s right-hand man in the Progress Singapore Party, Leong Mun Wai, is from a modest background, and was a government scholar and senior personnel in organisations within the finance industry before starting his own investment firm.
Or think of Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim of the WP, previously at the research arm of AMP, who had to work in several jobs to put himself through school and university.
We can expect the parties to argue their case from different sides, with the PAP saying the system it has built provides avenues for progress for families across the generations and it will ensure this continues.
The opposition will highlight how more opportunities are needed with greater funding for pre-school education and even higher cohort participation rates in university as set out in the WP’s party manifesto. Education and skills training are the route to uplifting oneself and one’s family but access must be improved.
The PAP candidates will say they are living proof that the system works, while the opposition will say that they had to strive hard to beat the odds.
WP’s Tan Chen Chen was almost apologetic about her poor academic record, hoping that voters would nonetheless give her a chance at the ballot box because she is “willing to work hard and against the odds” for what she wants.
SETTING THEM APART
What do the candidates wish to do? In addition to hewing closely to the lines of their parties’ manifestoes and campaign taglines, several PAP’s new candidates have mentioned they want to attend to the needs of Singapore’s seniors. We are an ageing population with 16 per cent of the citizen population over the age of 65, and such assurances should appeal to this key constituency.
An elderly woman wearing a protective face mask pushes a cart in Singapore on May 8, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
On the other hand, the new candidates also have an average age of 43 which is close to the citizen median age of 42.
As a national political movement of over 60 years, the PAP is savvy enough to ensure their candidates appeal to what is the “median voter” by way of age yet can connect with voters of different interests and profiles. That is the burden it has to bear.
How will voters take to the candidates? In the heat of the election hustings, even if they are going to be primarily online with each party on its own platform, candidates’ ability to connect with voters and their true colours will show through.
Social media has also demonstrated how merciless the court of public opinion can be. At least three PAP candidates have been subjected to that effect in the run-up to Nomination Day.
In three post-election surveys conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies, Singaporeans have told us the qualities of honesty, fairness, efficiency and empathy are what they look for in candidates.
The candidates who have put in more time to demonstrate those qualities on the ground will be better off. Those who have not will hope that sharing their personal track record of living by those values will merit a serious look by demanding Singapore voters.
Dr Gillian Koh is Deputy Director (Research) and Senior Research Fellow in the Governance and Economy Department at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.
SINGAPORE: Airtime has been allocated on free-to-air radio and television for political broadcasts during the 2020 General Election, said the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Wednesday (Jul 7).
Since the 1980 General Election, political parties that field at least six candidates under a recognised party symbol are eligible for airtime on free-to-air radio and television.
Independents and political parties fielding fewer than six candidates under the same recognised party symbol are not eligible for party political broadcasts.
The amount of airtime allocated is determined by the number of candidates fielded by the party.
The order of the party political broadcast is determined by the number of candidates fielded, with the broadcast of the party fielding the least number of candidates aired first, and that fielding the largest number of candidates aired last.
For the 2020 General Election, two party political broadcast slots will air across 19 TV and radio channels on Jul 2 and Jul 9 from 8pm each day.
CONSTITUENCY POLITICAL BROADCASTS
In view of the COVID-19 situation, constituency political broadcasts are one-off arrangements which will give political parties and candidates more airtime to put their messages out to voters.
The order of the constituency political broadcast is based on the alphabetical ordering of the constituency. The broadcast for each constituency will begin with the incumbent, followed by other contesting parties or candidates.
There are no physical rallies held this year in view of the Covid-19 situation, and all the parties have gone online to share their thoughts and vision for Singapore, as well as to address concerns that Singaporeans might have.
Here’s what you can catch today (July 1):
Televised debates
Singapore Votes 2020 – The Political Debate (Live/English)
Who: One candidate each from PAP, PSP, WP, and SDP
Time: 8pm
Where: Channel 5, with simulcast on CNA938 radio, meWatch, cna.asia, CNA YouTube, and CNA Facebook
Singapore Votes 2020 – The Political Debate (Live/Mandarin)
Who: One candidate each from PAP, PSP, WP, and SDP
Instead of an online rally, PAP’s Marine Parade anchor minister Tan Chuan-Jin sat down last night for an impromptu live stream session.
And impromptu it was. Despite being more social-media-savvy than most of his peers (he is the ‘tweeter of parliament’ after all) it was still his first time trying out a Facebook and Instagram live.
SINGAPORE – The People’s Action Party (PAP) Aljunied GRC team on Wednesday (July 1) said Aljunied is “not owned by one party”, and that the issues at hand, including the Covid-19 pandemic, are larger than a fight between the PAP and Workers’ Party (WP).
The team was asked to comment about residents adopting a “buy one get one free” mentality, with the PAP team having campaigned for nine years in the opposition-held GRC.
Responding to reporters after a morning walkabout at a hawker centre in Bedok North Street 3, PAP candidate Alex Yeo said the focus remains on the residents.
“(You can) see our track record over the past nine years – even when we couldn’t find any government funds to tap, and even when we don’t run a town council.”
The 41-year-old cited the example of how his team in Paya Lebar privately raised funds to build sheltered walkways for children studying at the Living Sanctuary Brethren Church and En-Naeem mosque kindergartens.
SINGAPORE: The People’s Action Party (PAP) team for Aljunied GRC has expressed confidence that it can serve residents better than the incumbent Workers’ Party (WP) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PAP squad, which comprises of Mr Victor Lye, Mr Shamsul Kamar, Mr Chua Eng Leong, Ms Chan Hui Yuh and Mr Alex Yeo, spoke to journalists after finishing a walkabout at Bedok North on Wednesday morning (Jul 1).
Mr Lye said that he and his teammates will be able to serve Aljunied residents better, particularly during this COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted the national economy.
“In this election, we want to bring the people of Aljunied to the national table. We cannot be on the sidelines for another five years. This is a crisis and we need to chart a very special way for Singapore to go forward,” he said.
“We can see the cries for help that come through the internet, we see a younger generation that need jobs. Let’s care about that first. And the people of Aljunied (need) representatives to do that for them,” Mr Lye added.
The Workers’ Party’s Leon Perera, Sylvia Lim, Pritam Singh, Faisal Manap and Gerald Giam (top row) will face off with the People’s Action Party’s Chua Eng Leong, Chan Hui Yuh, Victor Lye, Shamsul Kamar and Alex Yeo at Aljunied GRC. (Photo: Jeremy Long)
For the General Election, the team will be up against the incumbents – WP’s chief Pritam Singh, party chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap – who are joined by former Non-Constituency Members of Parliament Mr Leon Perera and Mr Gerald Giam.
Mr Perera and Mr Giam have replaced WP stalwarts Mr Low Thia Khiang and Mr Chen Show Mao, who are both not contesting in the polls.
When asked whether the absence of Mr Low and Mr Chen will change PAP’s campaign strategy or boost PAP’s chances, Mr Lye said: “The answer is no, flatly no. We have never looked at who is on the other side. We look at our residents, always.”
“We also look at those that have been given the chance to serve and how they have served. And we look, we understand. We think we can do better. The people will decide,” he added.
Mr Lye, Mr Chua and Mr Shamsul were all part of PAP’s team that narrowly lost to WP in the 2015 election. WP clinched victory with 50.96 per cent of the vote.
WP first won Aljunied GRC in 2011 from the PAP, resulting in the departure of former Cabinet minister George Yeo. That year, PAP saw its nationwide vote share fall to 60.1 per cent.
However, Mr Chua added that the PAP team has been present on the ground since 2011 and that Aljunied residents have not been left behind over the last nine years. He cited evidence of infrastructural improvements in the area.
“Look around you, all the improvements have been done. The government has been listening over the last nine years. We haven’t shied away from our responsibilities,” he said.
PAP candidate for Aljunied GRC Chua Eng Leong speaking to the media on Wednesday (Jul 1). (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
“It’s all about this (COVID-19) crisis right now. You give us a strong mandate, we will make your voices heard. And we know we are able to also have these personal conversations with the leaders, and I think that is very important,” said Mr Chua.
He added that the PAP team who has been working the ground are serving as “appointed volunteers” and this “speaks volumes”.
“We serve as volunteers, and if the Workers’ Party would like to represent as volunteers, I think you know the national sentiment -12 NCMP seats, full voting rights,” said Mr Chua.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted that however Singaporeans vote at the General Election, there will be at least 12 opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) due to the Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) scheme.
PAP candidate for Aljunied GRC Shamsul Kamar speaking to residents on Wednesday (Jul 1). (Photo: Try Sutrisno Foo)
The NCMP scheme, started in 1984, guarantees a minimum number of opposition MPs in Parliament. After the last General Election, this number was raised from nine to 12 and the voting rights of NCMPs were enhanced.
On Mr Pritam’s comments that the election could be more challenging for opposition parties, amid talk of a possible wipeout in Parliament, Mr Lye said: “Aljunied has been held hostage for too long. It has been nine years, the residents can see. It’s time they gave us a chance.”
When asked to comment on how the team has been labelled as a “suicide squad”, PAP new candidate Mr Yeo said: “We don’t concentrate on labels. Our focus is only on our residents.”
Mr Yeo added that even though the PAP team could not find any government funds to tap on and it does not run the town council, they have raised their own funds and extended help to residents and organisations in the area.
Progress Singapore Party (PSP) leader and candidate for West Coast Dr Tan Cheng Bock has said its party posters at Chua Chu Kang constituency were torn down on Nomination Day yesterday (June 30).
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (July 1), Dr Tan said he was informed of the incident last night and a police report has been made.
He wrote: “Last night, my team members informed me that regrettably, someone had torn down our PSP posters for the constituency of Chua Chu Kang. A police report has been made.”
However, PSP team in Chua Chu Kang “are not deterred”, he said.
“The team in Chua Chu Kang, consisting of Francis Yuen, Tan Meng Wah, Abdul Rahman and Shaun Choo are not deterred. They continue to strive to connect with residents and share the PSP message,” wrote Dr Tan.
-03.png "asiaone_sgge2020_facebookIMG1200by628px-03.png")
