
WP announces changes to CEC; new NCMP Eileen Chong to lead Youth Wing
SINGAPORE: The Workers' Party (WP) issued an update concerning its Central Executive Committee (CEC) on Wednesday (June 18), announcing that its new Members of Parliament have been co-opted into the party's top decision-making body.
The WP also said that its Youth Wing will now be led by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Eileen Chong, who is taking over the role from Sengkang MP Jamus Lim.
The last time Singapore's largest opposition party issued a statement regarding its CEC was in July, when Fadli Fawzi, now an MP for Aljunied, had been co-opted as an additional member. It also announced at that point that Assoc Prof Lim was the party's Youth Wing President. New WP CEC members
The new CEC members and their roles are as follows: Sengkang MP Abdul Muhaimin Bin Abdul Malik, Deputy Organising Secretary
NCMP Andre Low, Deputy Head, Media Team
NCMP Eileen Chong, Youth Wing President
Aljunied MP Kenneth Tiong, Deputy Treasurer See also Nicole Seah elected Workers' Party Youth Wing president
'We wish to extend our appreciation to Dr Jamus Lim for his contributions to the development of our Youth Wing, who will be handing over the leadership of the Youth Wing to Ms Eileen Chong,' the party said.
It added that there are no other changes to the roles of the other CEC members, who had been elected at the WP's Cadre Members' Conference on June 30, 2024.
'The Workers' Party is confident that our new CEC members will play a vital role, as we continue to serve Singaporeans and [work] for Singapore,' it added. About Eileen Chong
The party's new Youth Wing head caused quite a stir when speculation began to spread that the WP would field her as a candidate in this year's General Election.
Ms Chong, 33, joined the WP in the latter part of 2024, participating in house visits in Bedok Reservoir and Kovan. She had been a volunteer caseworker at Meet-the-People Sessions in Aljunied with Aljunied MP Gerald Giam. She works in the social impact sector at the Asia Philanthropy Circle.
Her years at the MFA include a stint at the Singapore Embassy in Beijing from 2020 to 2023. While with the ministry, she covered Singapore's bilateral ties with China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Laos.
On May 19, the WP announced that Ms Chong and Mr Low had been appointed as NCMPs for the 15th Parliament of Singapore.
'The Elections Department has also declared that in accordance with Section 52 of the Parliamentary Elections Act 1954, Mr Low and Ms Chong have been elected as NCMPs,' said the WP at the time , adding that it 'remains steadfast in our mission of working for Singapore, and all WP Members of Parliament (MPs) will carry forward the Workers' Party's longstanding mission to represent the interests of all Singaporeans, hold the Government to account, and advance reasoned, principled debate in Parliament.'
Ms Chong wrote in a social media post that she was 'honoured to serve as NCMP' with Mr Low and thanked the WP team at Tampines, the party's volunteers, and the residents 'for making this possible.'
She also wrote that she would 'serve with conviction and integrity, and work hard to earn your trust,' and she looks 'forward to being your voice in Parliament while journeying alongside you to build a fairer, more compassionate and inclusive Singapore.' /TISG
Read also: Better support system needed for Serangoon seniors for accessing public services, says WP MP Kenneth Tiong
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
CNA Correspondent - Inside The Shangri-La Dialogue
23:27 Min CNA Correspondent Defence chiefs from around the world gathered in Singapore for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue. But with a lower-level Chinese delegation in attendance this year, how did that change the dynamics? CNA Correspondent About the show: They're your eyes and ears around the globe. CNA's network of correspondents shines a light on stories from their corners of the world, from groundbreaking events to up-and-coming trends.


CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
Commentary: Could US really join Israel to strike Iran or is it a negotiation tactic?
SINGAPORE: During his campaign and in the months after taking office, United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly spoken out against getting the US involved in 'stupid endless wars' in the Middle East. So far, he has managed to keep his word, his bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen excepted. He has pursued a deal with Iran that would end its nuclear weapons programme. While doing so, he has managed to keep a newly emboldened Israel from seizing what it viewed as a golden opportunity to deal with Iran, waving off attack plans and rebuffing calls for the US to join the military campaign. When Israel went its own way to directly strike Iran last Friday (Jun 13), the US was quick to point out that Washington was not involved and Mr Trump called for Iran to get back to the negotiating table. As recently as Jun 12, one day before Israel's strikes, Mr Trump was talking up prospects for a deal, saying that there had been 'very good discussions'. Even at the G7 summit in Canada on Monday, while Israel and Iran were duking it out, Mr Trump doubled down, saying '(Tehran) wants to make a deal'. Then, he left the summit early and just a day later, executed a volte-face. Now, there are growing fears that the US is poised to enter the conflict. Mr Trump's statements have grown darker, calling for Iran's 'unconditional surrender' and issuing a veiled threat against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that the US knew his location but won't kill him 'for now'. WHAT CHANGED FOR THE UNITED STATES? It is plausible that the US will join the fray. Iran is at the weakest it has been since its 1980-1988 war with Iraq. With continuing Israeli strikes, it is getting shakier by the day. The Israel Defense Forces have declared they have 'freedom of action' in the skies above the country. If the US wades in, American bomber crews will be less likely to be brought down and this lowers the chance of a major backlash at home. One can also only wonder about the state of Iran's leadership, with its military leadership decimated and threats to 'take out' the Supreme Leader being bandied about (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not ruled out killing him). Only the US has the capability to hit the buried Fordow site with enough force to cripple the Iranian nuclear programme, which is the key reason Israel has been lobbying for American action and why Washington has issued these new threats. IS THIS ALL A NEGOTIATION TACTIC? However, it is just as likely that Mr Trump is resorting to a favourite tactic of his: backing his foes into a corner in a bid to get a deal done. There has been broad agreement that while Iran will accept a deal that it deems favourable, it is also playing for time, with one particular date in mind: Oct 18, when the window for the reimposition of United Nations sanctions – lifted in exchange for making the 2015 nuclear deal – closes. Mr Trump has signalled that he has a finite window to get things done. When Israel began striking on Jun 13, he posted on Truth Social that he had given the Iranians 60 days to get over the finishing line and the attacks occurred on the 61st day. He has also clearly laid out his red line: zero nuclear enrichment for Iran – which happens to also be Tehran's own dealbreaker. With talks going nowhere, it was becoming clearer that the US president was losing his patience and had reportedly come to believe he was being played by the Iranians. MAGA, THE SOURCE OF OPTIMISM There is one other factor for optimists who believe we are not headed for an escalatory spiral to cling to: the president's MAGA base. Many of Mr Trump's longtime supporters, including the former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson, and his former adviser Stephen Bannon, are already speaking out against American involvement. While fervent anti-Trump outlets are seizing on this to write outlandish headlines such as The MAGA Coalition Has Turned On Itself, it is true that a divide between Republican hawks and the isolationists that form a large part of the MAGA faithful is opening up. Given these factors, it is reasonable to conclude that Mr Trump, knowing Iran has an extremely weak hand – and one that could be weakened even further in the coming days – has gone for the jugular and upped the ante. It would take an extremely confident poker player to call his bluff. At this stage, Iran is certainly not one, especially not when the regime's own survival appears to be on the table. That, at least, is what optimists – this writer included – would like to believe.


CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
CNA Explains: The US bunker-buster bomb and its role in the Israel-Iran conflict
SINGAPORE: Since Israel launched strikes against Iran on Jun 13, more than 200 have been killed, including top generals and scientists. Israel described its action as a "preemptive strike" to prevent its longtime enemy from building nuclear bombs. It has repeatedly accused Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, an allegation the latter has denied. With the two sides exchanging fire for six days now, attention has turned to the enriched Fordow nuclear plant buried deep under a mountain in Iran. Reports say only one weapon has the capabilities to destroy it: The United States' GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known as a bunker-buster bomb. What is a bunker-buster bomb? As its name suggests, the GBU-57 is designed to attack hard and deeply buried targets such as bunkers and tunnels. The US air force said the GPS-guided weapon is capable of penetrating up to around 61m underground before exploding. It is about 6.2m-long and weighs approximately 13,600kg. The bomb's warhead is said to contain about 2,400kg of explosives - specifically the AFX-757 and PBXN-114 types - according to defence analysis website The War Zone. The warhead case is made from a special high-performance steel alloy, and its design allows for a large explosive payload while maintaining integrity. At present, only the US owns the GBU-57 bomb. How is the bomb deployed? The B-2 Spirit is the only aircraft programmed to carry the bunker-buster bombs. Produced by American aerospace and defence company Northrop Grumman, the jet is also only flown by the US air force. The aircraft can hold two of these bombs, one in each bay. US defence officials described the B-2 Spirit as a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear weapons. It has characteristics that allow it to penetrate sophisticated defences and strike heavily defended targets, without the enemy detecting its presence. Has the bomb been used before? There are no reports of the bomb having been deployed in combat. The US began developing it in the 2000s, with Boeing awarded a contract for the Massive Ordnance Penetrator programme in 2004. Since then, all known deployments of the GBU-57 have been for testing or training. Test drops were conducted in 2014, 2015 and 2016, according to aerospace and defence publication Air and Space Forces Magazine. In 2017, several B-2 aircrafts completed four test drops at the White Sands missile range, the largest military base in the US. How does the GBU-57 compare with other bunker-busters? Just going by weight, it has an edge over similar munitions. To compare, the US' GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb is about 9m long and weighs around 9,800kg. This used to be referred to as the "mother of all bombs", and was used against Islamic State militants in Afghanistan in 2017. Unlike the GBU-57, it detonates shortly before hitting the surface - no ground penetration is involved. This bomb is filled with close to 8,500kg of explosives - significantly more than the GBU-57. Other bunker-buster bombs in the US arsenal include the GBU‑28 and the BLU‑109. The GBU-28 is a laser-guided weapon, weighing nearly 2,300kg. It can penetrate up to 6m of concrete. The BLU-109 is roughly 900kg and like the GBU-57, is a penetration weapon that can be used against bunkers and aircraft shelters. It can break through around 1.2m to 1.8m of reinforced concrete, and packs about 240kg of explosives, as reported by TWZ. The latter two bombs have also been used in combat. The GBU-28 was used to destroy the main Iraqi command and control bunker during the Gulf War in 1991; while the US delivered 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel which were then believed to be used in a strike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Russia too has its own bunker-buster bomb: the 1,500kg-FAB-1500. This is also precision-guided but is only able to penetrate to a depth of 20m. Why is the GBU-57 the only weapon that can destroy Fordow? The Fordow facility sits between 80m and 90m below the peak of a mountain. This gives it strategic defensive capability against conventional attacks, and against anything in the Israeli arsenal, research assistant at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Middle East Institute Damien Tan told CNA. "The GBU-57 is the only conventional weapon that has a chance of causing damage to Fordow," said Mr Tan. And this can only be delivered by the US, and its B-2 Spirit bomber. In theory, Israel could place the GBU-57 bombs on, for instance, its C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. But that plane is slow, flies at low altitude and is not equipped for effective targeting, making this option "strategically unsound", said Mr Tan. Why is Fordow so important? The Fordow site lies in the city of Qom, around 95km southwest of Iranian capital Tehran. The existence of the Fordow fuel enrichment plant was first made known in 2009. Then-US President Barack Obama said that the size and configuration of the facility was "inconsistent" with claims that it was to be used for a peaceful, civilian nuclear energy programme. Fears of Iran developing nuclear weapons eventually led to the signing of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. Under this deal, Iran was required to remove two-thirds of the centrifuges inside the facility, along with all nuclear material. The site was also barred from nuclear work. But President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal in 2018. Iran subsequently restarted its programme and began producing 60 per cent enriched uranium. In 2023, the International Atomic Energy Agency collected samples from Fordow that found uranium enriched to 83.7 per cent - very close to weapons-grade. Iran's only other known underground nuclear enrichment site is the Natanz plant outside Tehran. Natanz sits around 8m below ground, and has already been targeted by Israeli air strikes. NUS' Mr Tan said: "If Fordow is not completely destroyed, work there could resume in a matter of months, putting Iran back on a path towards a bomb in a short time if it pursues the option - a possibility with even odds, given the failure of its conventional deterrence (so far)." Yet besides those publicly known, Iran may also possess other secret enrichment sites which would potentially allow it to continue developing nuclear capabilities. While targeting Fordow might delay Iran's nuclear progress, it would not eliminate the underlying threat, said Mr Tan. "This is why some have charged that Israel is pursuing regime change in addition to striking Fordow, which could signal the next step up the escalation ladder," he added. What are the challenges in trying to attack Fordow? Given how deeply buried Fordow is, a single strike would not be enough to take down the facility, said Mr Tan. If the US decides to enter the war, it would have to use several GBU-57s, released in waves, to ensure Fordow is completely destroyed. In a commentary for the United Kingdom's Royal United Services Institute think-tank, senior research fellows Darya Dolzikova and Professor Justin Bronk highlighted the presence of layered ground-based air defences surrounding the facility. Iran possesses a wide range of air defences, including surface-to-air missile systems including the Russian S-300PMU-2 long range, Khordad 15 medium range and Russian Tor M-1 short range. Having this array of systems near most key Iranian targets means some weapons may still be intercepted, particularly free-falling bombs, Ms Dolzikova and Prof Bronk wrote. They cited how the Tor M-1 has repeatedly shot down a range of precision-guided munitions in the conflict in Ukraine. The practical challenges involved in attacking a facility like Fordow render it infeasible to rely strictly on a military solution to Iran's nuclear threat, the experts wrote. "Following any military strike on its nuclear sites, Iran not only has the requisite indigenous expertise but will also have increased incentive to rebuild, and to rebuild deeper and more hardened facilities." But they still noted the "value of issuing credible military threats as part of a broader effort", particularly if Iran decides to rush towards a nuclear weapon, or begin uranium enrichment to 90 per cent. "Making clear the willingness to carry out such attacks – but only as an option of last resort – could help exert the necessary pressure to convince Tehran to cooperate with expectations not to cross certain thresholds or to reverse course on particularly destabilising activity."