GE2025: Most promising newcomers
SINGAPORE: With a few days left before Singaporeans troop to the polls on Saturday (May 3), The Independent Singapore would like to put forward the candidates who, we feel, are the most promising newbies for GE2025.
In what some have deemed the most exciting elections in Singapore's history, here are five candidates who, for us, have stood out among the pack. Harpreet Singh Nehal
Whether you call him 'Happy' or 'Harpoon,' no one can deny that The Workers' Party's 'biggest catch' of this election year, Harpreet Singh Nehal, 59, certainly has impressive credentials: Harvard Law School graduate, Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court, and more.
A video clip from 1996 of a 30-year-old Mr Singh raising questions to then-Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew regarding property prices and 'the Singapore dream' is still shared today.
'Some of the questions like housing don't look out of place despite being asked in 1996,' wrote a Reddit user recently.
How big a threat is Mr Singh to the powers that be? Perhaps the size of a Deputy Prime Minister, it would seem. Alexis Dang
Some Singaporeans may vote with their heads, others with their hearts, but some may be voting with their eyes? This might explain the sudden jump in popularity of WP candidate Alexis Dang, 39, who, like Mr Singh, is part of the party's Punggol team.
However, the supporters of Ms Dang are saying that she's the total package of brains and beauty. A number of commenters have noted how fluent she is in Mandarin and have said they're eager to see her debating in the language in Parliament.
'Alexis fever' reached a new high this weekend. On Sunday night (Apr 27), a clip of people queuing to take a photo with Ms Dang was shared online.
Singaporeans queue to take photo with Alexis Dang
byu/moonlighthorfun insingapore Ariffin Sha
Wake Up, Singapore founder Ariffin Sha, 27, is part of the Singapore Democratic Party's slate at Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC. Compared to other candidates, Mr Sha, who is a law graduate, may seem young, but in actuality, he's been part of the national political discourse since he was 16, as CNA pointed out.
While he hopes for the best outcome for his team, he knows the fight will be a tough one. Nevertheless, he said at the PSP rally on April 24, 'If you remember just one line… let it be this: smaller margins of victory lead to better policies and welfare for the people.' Lawrence Pek
PSP candidate Lawrence Pek for Chua Chu Kang GRC is a former secretary-general of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF). Earlier this month, together with former WP MP Leon Perera, Mr Pek published a well-received article in the sociopolitical magazine Jom, making the case for a universal minimum wage to be implemented in Singapore .
As head of the SMF from 2020 to 2023, Mr Pek championed the interests of Singaporean manufacturers in discussions with government agencies and foreign embassies
'I hope that with my diverse multinational experience in the business world, I can play a part in making Singapore better at balancing the needs and interests of workers and businesses,' he says. Bernadette Giam
Thirty-eight-year-old Bernadette Giam is the director of Creative Eateries, a local food and beverage SME. She is a People's Action Party candidate at Sengkang GRC, having taken over as Sengkang East branch chairperson earlier this year. A community volunteer for over a decade, her focus has been on uplifting women, youth, and seniors.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said that Ms Giam will be a strong advocate for working parents and young people in Sengkang, and Home and Law Affairs Minister K Shanmugam was impressed with Ms Giam's speech in Tamil on Nomination Day. Choo Pei Ling
Last, but by no means least, is Choo Pei Ling, who is part of the PAP slate at Chua Chu Kang GRC. Dr Choo is both a neuroscientist and physiotherapist, as well as an Assistant Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology, where she carries out research on optimising life after a stroke as part of transforming community health, among other topics.
She has been active in the community for over two decades and has helped with Meet the People sessions for a number of years. /TISG
Read also: Rotten Tomatoes: Here are the cringiest GE2025 candidates so far
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Straits Times
2 days ago
- Straits Times
What's in a name? Proposal to rename Taiwan's Zhongzheng Roads reignites transitional justice debate
The controversy stems from the complicated legacy of Taiwan's longest-serving head of state, Chiang Kai-shek, who had used Zhongzheng as his adopted name. ST PHOTO: YIP WAI YEE – With more than 300 roads across the island carrying this name, Zhongzheng Road is Taiwan's most common – and most contentious – street name. And they may all disappear, if the government's proposal to rename every Zhongzheng Road goes to plan. When Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior resurfaced the initiative on June 2, it sparked immediate backlash from local officials who condemned it as a waste of money. In New Taipei city alone, officials estimate that it could cost upwards of NT$60 million (S$2.57 million) to rename all 22 Zhongzheng Roads across the city's 18 administrative districts to replace not just the major street signs but also individual home address plaques. The ministry, however, has defended the move as a human rights issue and must be taken seriously. 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Changing the name of the Zhongzheng Roads is one of these moves. The hundreds of Zhongzheng Roads across the island had been named after Chiang following a postwar push by the KMT government to replace any old symbols of Japanese colonialism. Until 1945, Taiwan had been under Japanese rule for 50 years. One of the busiest Zhongzheng Roads in the southern city of Tainan, for example, formerly bore the Japanese name Suehirocho. The name has a Singapore connection. When Chinese philanthropists founded Chung Cheng High School - Zhongzheng Zhongxue in Mandarin - on Kim Yan Road in 1939, they had named it after Chiang, which was an 'indication that the Chinese community in Singapore was actively engaged with affairs in China then', according to the National Heritage Board . China at the time was fighting a war with Japan that began in 1937 and ended in 1945. But while some in Taiwan today see Chiang as a strong leader who fought against the communists and oversaw the island's path to economic prosperity, he is equally despised as a dictator who ruled with an iron fist. 'For some Taiwanese, anything related to Chiang is a reminder of a painful authoritarian past,' said Assistant Professor Ma Chun-wei, a political science analyst from New Taipei's Tamkang University. While some in Taiwan today see Chiang as a strong leader who fought against the communists and oversaw the island's path to economic prosperity, he is equally despised as a dictator who ruled with an iron fist. ST PHOTO: YIP WAI YEE Complicated legacy Taiwan transitioned to a democracy from the late 1980s and ranks among Asia's freest societies today, but it continues to wrestle with its authoritarian past. For its part, the modern KMT has taken steps to atone for its history. While serving as justice minister, former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou helped establish a foundation in 1995 to raise awareness of the White Terror years – a period of martial law covering almost four decades of brutal political purges from 1949 to 1987. But it was only after President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP took office in 2016 that transitional justice work was made a top priority. In 2018, her administration set up an commission to review and redress injustices committed during the territory's authoritarian rule. Part of that involved exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals and going after assets illegally obtained by the KMT during its authoritarian rule. Among the commission's top recommendations was also the physical removal of all 'authoritarian symbols', including any road signs named after Chiang. In 2022, for instance, a section of Zhongzheng Road in Tainan city's West Central District was renamed Thng Tik-Tsiong Boulevard, in honour of the human rights lawyer who was executed by KMT troops in 1947. Other symbols include the many busts and statues of Chiang scattered across the island – the most prominent of which is the towering statue inside Taipei's National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, where millions of tourists flock every year to take selfies and watch the changing of the guard. Over the years, the government has made sporadic attempts to remove these symbols, albeit with limited success. Taiwan's main airport Taoyuan International Airport, for instance, was formerly known as the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, or Zhongzheng International Airport in Chinese. It was given its current name in 2006. And while hundreds of Chiang's statues have since been removed from Taiwan's schools, parks and other public spaces, there are still some 760 statues dotted around the island as of April 2024. Efforts to dismantle all of the symbols have consistently faced roadblocks, including protests from those who say that the move amounts to erasing history. 'Even among KMT supporters today, Chiang is no longer revered, but they cannot deny his contributions to Taiwan's development,' said Prof Ma. For now, the Ministry of the Interior said that it would engage officials from local governments – which would be in charge of executing the road sign changes – before proceeding further. But it would continue to promote its plan in line with transitional justice efforts, said Minister Liu. 'I understand many people are still sorting through their feelings about the past – and historical representations of it – which is why we will keep our communication on the issue open and clear,' she said on June 4. 'However, our position on the issue has not changed, and we will continue to promote the removal of the vestiges of authoritarianism,' she said, adding that the ministry provides subsidies for the renaming of street names. Several municipal government officials, many of them from the opposition KMT, have voiced objections to the ministry's proposal. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, who is Chiang Kai-shek's great-grandson, accused the ruling party of politicising issues and not doing actual work. Meanwhile, New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih, also from the KMT, condemned the ministry's proposal as 'meaningless'. 'What people need is help to solve their problems. Does it make sense for the government to spend money on things like this?' he said. Ms Victoria Lin, a resident living on Zhongzheng Road in New Taipei's Zhonghe District, opposes the renaming of her road for a more pragmatic reason. 'Do you know how much trouble it will be to have to change my home address with the banks and all that?' said the 39-year-old, who works in real estate. Yip Wai Yee is The Straits Times' Taiwan correspondent covering political, socio-cultural and economic issues from Taipei. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
