GE2025: WP's Michael Thng wants to focus on Singapore's future in final days of campaign
Workers' Party candidate Michael Thng said he hopes voters can look at the need for a more diverse Parliament. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
GE2025: WP's Michael Thng wants to focus on Singapore's future in final days of campaign
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SINGAPORE - Candidates from various political parties may be throwing snipes and jabs over the last few days of the hustings, but WP candidate Michael Thng remains steadfast in wanting to focus on one thing – what he believes Singapore can be.
At times, there may be a need to call attention to missteps or issues in the past, he said.
But in his view, the coming general election is about the 'system we want to build for Singapore, going forward'.
The 37-year-old said his two speeches so far – his maiden rally speech at Temasek Junior College on April 26, and his appearance at MediaCorp's roundtable discussion alongside candidates from four other parties the next day – have focused on the same issue.
'I think Singaporeans want to know where we are headed, and want to know why (the) Workers' Party is part of that journey, and that is what I am going to focus on,' he said.
Mr Thng's message to voters is simple – that policies will go through more scrutiny and deliberation with 'more balance in Parliament'.
'It needs to happen with a different party as part of that process, not with a reliance on an 'ownself check ownself' kind of mechanism, which we have seen has gaps. That is what I hope the electorate can focus on,' he said.
Speaking to The Straits Times at a void deck in Tampines Street 91 on April 30, the chief operating officer and co-founder of tech start-up Showdrop was all smiles, fresh off a series of home visits in the vicinity.
Throughout the interview, passers-by approached to shake the political newcomer's hand and wish him luck.
While Mr Thng may be new to WP's team of candidates contesting Tampines GRC, he has volunteered with the opposition party since 2011.
Tampines is touted as one of the most hotly contested constituencies, with four parties – the PAP, WP, National Solidarity Party (NSP) and People's Power Party (PPP) – vying for it. Mr Thng said he was tapped to help out with the party's outreach there in the lead-up to the polls.
The WP has been walking the ground in Tampines GRC since at least 2016, but did not contest it in the 2020 General Election.
Mr Michael Thng interacting with residents at 915 Tampines Street 91 on April 30.
ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
Having had time to familiarise himself with the area, Mr Thng said he has developed a lot of affinity for it, with the sense of community being one example he brought up.
As residents in the area come from all walks of life, Mr Thng said his approach to people is to 'adopt a listening posture' when seeking to understand them.
Asked how he relates to people who may have different circumstances in life, he said: 'No single individual will have the full spectrum of experiences... I think as long as we develop this listening posture, we will be able to at least empathise and have that curiosity to really understand what is going on, and then (have a) desire to fix it.'
On the competition, he said his team has bumped into the PAP team almost every other day, and their interactions are cordial.
He recounted an incident that took place earlier that morning, when he saw Mr Baey Yam Keng, who checked in with the WP team to find out how they were doing. An elderly resident that Mr Thng was speaking to then quipped that 'you are all so friendly', he said with a laugh.
'We were joking (that) it shouldn't be war right? That is basically the way in which we interact with them (other parties). It is professional, it is cordial.'
He added that his team has bumped into the NSP candidates once or twice during campaigning, but has yet to run into the PPP team.
Mr Thng was quick to dismiss the idea that the contest for Tampines GRC is between WP's Mr Faisal Manap and the PAP's Mr Masagos Zulkifli. Echoing what Mr Faisal had said in an interview on April 28, he said that it was a competition between both teams.
Besides Mr Faisal, the incumbent MP for Aljunied GRC, and Mr Thng, the WP team also features Mr Jimmy Tan, the co-founder of industrial equipment supply firm Immanuel Engineering; Institute of Mental Health senior principal clinical psychologist Ong Lue Ping; and former diplomat Eileen Chong, who now works at Singapore-based charity Asia Philanthropy Circle.
Mr Thng said: 'It is important that we look at the team as a whole, because I think particularly for us, we each bring a very unique, very different perspective.
'I hope folks will recognise that and... think that it is worth voting for.'
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