GE2025: WP's Faisal says contest in Tampines GRC not between him and Masagos
Workers' Party candidate Faisal Manap speaks to the media during a doorstop in Tampines on April 28. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
GE2025: WP's Faisal says contest in Tampines GRC not between him and Masagos
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SINGAPORE - WP's Faisal Manap, who is leading the opposition party's slate in Tampines GRC, said he does not see it as a battle between himself and the PAP's Masagos Zulkifli, but rather as a competition between teams.
During an interview in Tampines Avenue 2 on April 28, Mr Faisal was asked about being pitted against Mr Masagos, who is the anchor minister for the PAP's team there.
Mr Faisal said: 'It's a competition between two teams. It's more of a team versus another team, so I don't see myself going against Masagos.
'But again, being in a GRC, which is a system established by the PAP, you must have a minority. And here I am, you know, a minority for my team.'
Mr Faisal, an incumbent MP for Aljunied GRC who oversaw the Kaki Bukit ward, was moved to contest Tampines GRC in the upcoming election.
WP chief Pritam Singh previously said Mr Faisal had been asking him for 'quite a long time' to contest in the constituency.
Besides Mr Faisal, the five-member WP team in Tampines GRC comprises Mr Jimmy Tan, Dr Ong Lue Ping, Ms Eileen Chong and Mr Michael Thng.
The PAP team comprises incumbents Mr Masagos, who is Minister-in charge of Muslim Affairs , Mr Baey Yam Keng and Dr Koh Poh Koon, and new faces Dr Charlene Chen and Mr David Neo.
Aside from the PAP and WP, teams from the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and People's Power Party (PPP) are also contesting in a rare four-cornered fight in Tampines GRC.
During the interview on April 28, Mr Faisal was also asked about religious teacher Noor Deros, who claimed he had spoken to all the Malay candidates from the WP.
Mr Noor had said that WP had taken seriously his call to raise in Parliament issues surrounding the regulation of Islam in Singapore. Mr Noor had also criticised Mr Masagos and pushed for support for Mr Faisal.
WP had disputed Mr Noor's claims, with Mr Singh saying: 'If this gentleman thinks that his advocacy will lead to the issues being brought up by the Workers' Party, I think he is sadly mistaken.'
Mr Faisal said on April 28 that he is open to meeting everyone to listen to them, and has pressed for open conversations in Parliament even for sensitive topics.
' There's so many things that I press for in Parliament which are deemed as sensitive, but I tell them that that's the right way to move forward. We must believe in the value of unity in diversity,' he said.
'It doesn't mean that when we listen to people, that we agree with them. We acknowledge them, we listen to them, to show that we respect your views, but it doesn't mean that we agree with you .'
Asked if he had anything to say to voters influenced by Mr Noor, Mr Faisal said: 'I believe that all voters are smart enough to consider, to weigh the different factors and to weigh the different arguments.
'So I leave it to the intelligence of the voters, and I respect the voters' decision to vote whoever they want to vote. '
He also said that in his time in Kaki Bukit, he has not felt a divide between himself and Chinese residents just because he is a Malay Muslim, and does not think this is a hurdle in Tampines GRC either.
'I don't think there's any issue with me being a minority, that I cannot represent or become the voice of the Chinese majority in Tampines GRC,' he said .
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