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Online Citizen
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Online Citizen
GE2025: Faisal Manap says WP is 'humbled' by presence of PM Wong and SM Lee in Tampines GRC
SINGAPORE: Workers' Party (WP) candidate Faisal Manap has described the presence of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Tampines GRC as a sign that the WP's efforts in the area are bringing about 'some form of competition'. Speaking at a doorstop with the WP Tampines GRC team on 30 April 2025, Faisal, a former Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, said he was 'humbled' by the attention from the ruling party's top leadership. He added, 'It shows that WP's presence does bring some form of competition, and that's what the WP team wants.' The remark came in response to a reporter's question about how the WP felt about going up against a People's Action Party (PAP) team that was receiving strong support from senior leaders. Faisal said that the team welcomed the high-profile engagement, and that it reinforced WP's purpose in offering voters a credible alternative. He reaffirmed that the WP team was in Tampines to play the role of a constructive opposition, consistent with the party's long-standing philosophy. During his remarks, Faisal invoked a familiar analogy made by former WP leader Low Thia Khiang during the 2011 General Election. 'We are supposed to be the co-driver, right? And there's a driver here, so if the driver doesn't drive the car well… we need to, I think the word used was 'slap', 'slap' the driver,' he said, referencing Low's now-famous comparison between the WP and a vigilant co-driver. Faisal said this reflected the Tampines team's approach — to spur performance through healthy competition and oversight. WP Tampines team stresses readiness and track record Faisal was joined by fellow WP Tampines GRC candidates Eileen Chong, Jimmy Tan, Michael Thng and Ong Lue Ping, along with Kenneth Foo, who is contesting the single-seat Tampines Changkat SMC. Together, the candidates highlighted their collective experience and WP's record in managing town councils, seeking to allay any concerns from residents about service continuity. Ong Lue Ping said, 'We want to assure all the residents that if we do have the honour to take over as the MP of this great Tampines estate, we will continue with all the plans that have been proposed.' He added that WP was committed to ensuring that town council affairs would be handled efficiently and responsibly, saying, 'We'll make sure that all the town council matters are well taken care of. So, don't have to worry about that.' The media also asked about Senior Minister Lee's remarks a day earlier, on 29 April, in which he addressed concerns about social media posts urging voters to vote along religious lines. According to a report by CNA, Lee described the conversations as 'very vicious' and said the sentiments stirred by foreign posts 'has not disappeared away'. PAP candidate Masagos Zulkifli also said during the same walkabout that he had met residents who were emotionally distressed, some of whom 'actually cried and said they couldn't sleep' due to the divisive content online. Faisal reaffirms commitment to multiracialism In response, Faisal referred to a WP statement issued on 26 April 2025 on the issue of foreign interference and reiterated his pledge to serve all Singaporeans equally. 'I already made a promise… to the presence of thousands of spectators during the rally, to the Tampines GRC residents, that I will treat everyone, I will serve everyone fairly and equally regardless of race, language and religion,' he said. He added that this has been his approach in his previous role as an MP in Kaki Bukit. He invited the media to speak to Kaki Bukit residents to assess for themselves the WP's commitment to building a multi-racial and inclusive community. Four-way contest in Tampines GRC Tampines GRC is shaping up to be a hotly contested constituency, with candidates from four parties — the WP, PAP, People's Power Party (PPP), and National Solidarity Party (NSP) — all expected to run. WP's candidates struck a united tone, emphasising teamwork, accountability and service to all. Eileen Chong, speaking in Mandarin, urged voters to evaluate all parties' contributions and 'make a wise and informed choice on 3 May.' The WP candidates expressed confidence in their preparation and experience, pledging to maintain close communication with residents if elected. Jimmy Tan summarised the WP's approach, stating, 'We're really going to be the people's MPs.'
Independent Singapore
28-04-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
GE2025: Which candidates could lose their deposits?
- Advertisement - SINGAPORE: With less than a week to go before the May 3 polls, The Independent Singapore would like to hazard a guess as to who may be $13,500 poorer by the time votes are counted. We're talking about the deposit amount each candidate must pay, as announced by the Elections Department (ELD) on April 15. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1954, the deposit for each candidate is the fixed monthly allowance payable to an elected MP for the month immediately before the date of dissolution of Parliament, rounded to the nearest $500. If a candidate is unable to win more than 12.5 per cent of the votes in their constituency, their election deposit is forfeited. For this year, who could that be? As elections are a numbers game, it stands to reason that the more candidates there are in any given constituency, the bigger their chances of losing their deposit, which is probably partly the reason for all the talk about the smaller opposition parties wanting to avoid multi-cornered fights in the run-up to Nomination Day. - Advertisement - Tampines GRC candidates from the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and the People's Power Party (PPP) may not have it easy. While the NSP put up a good fight against the PAP in GE 2020 in Tampines, winning 33.59% of the vote, this year is a different story. The WP team, led by vice chair Faisal Manap, together with former IMH director Ong Lue Ping, former diplomat Eileen Chong, Harvard graduate Michael Thng, and business owner Jimmy Tan, is a force to reckon with. While he has kept a lower profile than the WP luminaries, Mr Manap remains popular with the communities he represents. PPP chief Goh Meng Seng leads his party's team at Tampines. In 2020, he ran against the PAP's Tin Pei Ling at MacPherson SMC, winning 28.26% of the votes, which meant he got his deposit back. This year, however, he hasn't exactly endeared himself to voters. One or both opposition parties contesting at Ang Mo Kio GRC could also lose their deposit. The PAP team is led by former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, making it a PAP stronghold. In the last election, the Reform Party challengers managed to win 28.09% of the votes. This year, the PPP and the Singapore United Party (SUP) are both fielding candidates at Ang Mo Kio. The third three-cornered fight is in Sembawang GRC. In 2020, the PAP team at Sembawang lost almost 5 percentage points to NSP compared to the 2015 polls. This year, however, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) entered the fray, led by Dr James Gomez, which may well split the opposition's vote share. If, however, it's divided evenly between the over 32% of votes that NSP received in 2020, then the deposits of the NSP and SDP candidates are safe. - Advertisement - At Potong Pasir SMC this year, with incumbent Sitoh Yih Pin stepping down, the PAP is fielding Alex Yeo, a former branch chairman at Aljunied. Mr Yeo is up against the Singapore People's Party's (SPP) Williamson Lee, as well as longtime politician Lim Tean from the People's Alliance for Reform, either of whom could end up losing their deposit. The seat of Potong Pasir is up for grabs, although the PAP won in the last election with 60.67%, and momentum is on its side. However, from 1984 to 2011, opposition leader Chiam See Tong from the SDP had held the seat at Potong Pasir, and residents may want to give it back to an opposition politician this year. Finally, at Radin Mas SMC, there are also three candidates vying for the seat: the incumbent, PAP's Melvin Yong, PAR's Kumar Appavoo, and an independent candidate, Darryl Lo. Mr Appavoo received nearly 26% of the votes at Radin Mas in 2020, which means Mr Lo will have to fight hard not to lose his deposit. /TISG Read also: Rotten Tomatoes: Here are the cringiest GE2025 candidates so far
CNA
24-04-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Deep Dive GE2025 Podcast: WP's Ong Lue Ping on stepping down from senior leadership at work to join the opposition
Podcasts When he decided to become a Workers' Party member, Dr Ong Lue Ping decided to step down from his senior leadership position at the Institute of Mental Health. He tells Steven Chia why. When he decided to be actively involved as a Workers' Party candidate, Dr Ong Lue Ping, a senior principal child psychologist, decided to move out of a director position at the Institute of Mental Health. The WP candidate for Tampines GRC tells Steven Chia why staying could present a conflict of interest and what prompted him to join the opposition party. (L-R) Deep Dive host Steven Chia with WP candidate Ong Lue Ping. (Photo: CNA/Junaini Johari) Here is an excerpt from the conversation: Steven Chia, host: Have you measured your own social KPI? In the sense that what kind of impact this will have on your personal and your family life as well? Dr Ong Lue Ping, WP candidate for Tampines GRC: You mean joining politics? Steven: Yeah, what do your wife say when you told her? Lue Ping: My wife is a very private person. She's not very keen for me to join politics, especially opposition politics. Mainly because I think she's concerned about the public scrutiny on the family, especially the children, which I think are valid concerns, but eventually we agree to disagree. She knows I feel very passionately about the well being of Singapore and Singaporeans, and that's something that I really wanted to do. Steven: You did say it was opposition politics that she was not keen for you to join. So if you had been joining the PAP, would she have been ... Lue Ping: I think it would be the same, as long as it's politics. You will put yourself out in public scrutiny. And having said that, even joining PAP may also put you in a lot of scrutiny as well. So I wouldn't say it's just opposition politics. Steven: Do you feel that there is a bit more of a challenge joining a different party besides the PAP? Lue Ping: Definitely it will be a different challenge in terms of resourcing. The Workers' Party is really volunteer-driven. We don't have a lot of resources that the current ruling party has. So a lot of things you have to be hands on and so forth. So that's the part that's different. But otherwise it's really just (having a) different political philosophy as well. I don't think that's right or wrong. It's really which one you're more aligned to. At the end of the day, I think to have a really balanced parliament, we really need to have diverse perspectives and views in the process of policymaking. Because if we don't do that, we will likely have blind spots. Follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or melisten for the latest updates. Have a great topic for us? Drop the team an email at cnapodcasts [at] GE2025 Workers' Party Tampines GRC Deep Dive
AsiaOne
23-04-2025
- Politics
- AsiaOne
GE2025: Candidates post heartfelt tributes to family on Nomination Day, Singapore News
Today (April 23) marks Nomination Day, where prospective candidates for the General Election file their nomination papers, kicking off the countdown to Polling Day on May 3. Here's what some of the candidates did with their loved ones before heading off to the races — from sharing special moments to penning their heartfelt appreciation. The Workers' Party's Ong Lue Ping whips up breakfast Dr Ong Lue Ping from The Workers' Party (WP) prepared a hearty breakfast for his family. He also stated that this is how he would be expressing his love for them over the days leading up to Polling Day. People's Action Party's Vikram Nair gives shoutout to wife In a Facebook post, People's Action Party's (PAP) Vikram Nair expressed his appreciation for his wife, thanking her for her support behind the scenes. WP's Harpreet Singh visits mum for blessings [embed] WP's Harpreet Singh visited his mother on one of the days leading up to Nomination Day. He expressed that in Punjabi culture, it's a tradition to seek a mother's blessing before any major journey. PAP's Cai Yinzhou shows appreciation for two sons [embed] PAP's Cai Yinzhou gave a shoutout to his children on the morning of Nomination Day. He said his two sons are his biggest motivation to enter politics. WP's Pritam Singh shares daughters' drawings View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pritam Singh (@pritamsingh76) Last night, WP's Pritam Singh uploaded pictures of his daughters' drawings they had done up a couple of days before Nomination Day. In his Instagram post, he also wrote that both he and his wife try their best to give their daughters their time and space. PAP's Valerie Lee shares pockets of time with daughter in between schedules [embed] PAP's Valerie Lee documented the time that she managed to squeeze in with her daughter in between work and house visits. She wrote that she hopes to sneak in more time for video calls with her daughter during this period.
The Star
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
Singapore GE2025: Workers Party slate of new candidates similar in terms of qualifications, diverse in experiences
SINGAPORE: When Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh unveiled his party's new faces for the upcoming election, he had described them as 'a broad range of individuals from different walks of life, different age groups, different backgrounds and different experiences'. Looking at the WP's slate of 14 new candidates, some will certainly take the same view. The 14 include Dr Ong Lue Ping, 48, a senior clinical psychologist from the Institute of Mental Health; start-up founder Michael Thng, 37; media professional Jackson Au, 35; former diplomat Eileen Chong, 33; and Paris V. Parameswari, 51, a former US Navy security administrator. Even among the legally trained candidates, career trajectories have diverged – there is Harpreet Singh Nehal, 59, senior counsel and managing partner of his own law firm. Andre Low, 34, is a disputes lawyer turned staff product manager at a global fintech company, while Sufyan Mikhail Putra Mohd Kamil, 33, is a former coast guard officer turned lawyer. Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar, 43, a former in-house counsel at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is now a legal counsel in a multinational corporation. The slate is also diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity. There are four women and 10 men, with three Malay candidates and two Indian candidates. Said Pritam Singh on April 20 when introducing the last batch of new faces: 'Insofar as what the Workers' Party has put forward to Singaporeans for this election... everybody brings something to the table.' Other commentators have observed that the candidates also seem to have been picked based on their qualifications and credentials. IPS Social Lab adjunct principal research fellow and academic adviser Tan Ern Ser said the WP's new faces were mainly professionals, and with academic degrees. Indeed, among the 14 new faces, all but one are graduates with at least a bachelor's degree. Seven also have a master's degree, including Thng who has a master's in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, while Dr Ong has a PhD. On the calibre of candidates, Harpreet Singh had said at his introduction on April 19: 'So, if you elect me and my team, wherever we go... you will have me practically in your face all the time. And the advantage is, you have the calibre of people in my team without having to pay us ministerial salaries.' Inevitably, comparisons have arisen between the new faces of the WP and the People's Action Party. While some commentators have said that the WP's slate is not as outstanding, others have made the case that the opposition party's candidates were just as 'elite' as the PAP's. To Dr Tan, this is a case of 'same, same, but different', as people use both objective and subjective criteria to evaluate candidates. 'Well-qualified candidates are expected of the ruling party, but well-qualified candidates in a reputable opposition party are seen as exceptional,' he said. Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore, said political parties that want to do well will have to field candidates who are 'near the centre ground'. To this end, there would be broad similarities between the candidates of the PAP and the WP. Even then, they may differ in terms of how they view bread-and-butter issues and other policies, he added. In putting forth new faces with 'impressive profiles' this time around, the WP is continuing with the trend that had allowed it to win Sengkang GRC in 2020, he said. Since the WP won Aljunied GRC in 2011 – the first victory in a group representation constituency for any opposition party – it has had greater success in attracting new candidates. In the 2015 General Election, the party fielded more professionals in its slate, including lawyers like He Ting Ru, academic Daniel Goh and Leon Perera, a former administrative officer in the civil service. Associate Professor Goh and Perera served as Non-Constituency MPs in the 13th term of Parliament. In the 2020 election, He and Perera became elected MPs. The WP has also managed to refresh around half its slate in each election since 2015. While the party has not announced which constituencies it will contest this time around, its activities on the ground suggest that it is likely to field candidates for 31 seats – in Aljunied GRC, Sengkang GRC, East Coast GRC, Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, Punggol GRC and Tampines GRC, as well as the single seats of Hougang, Jalan Kayu and Tampines Changkat. Given that Pritam Singh had also suggested at one of the press conferences that there could be more new faces revealed on Nomination Day, at least half of the party's slate could be made up of new faces. This was also the case in 2015, when 16 out of 28 candidates were new faces. In 2020, nine out of 21 were new faces. Dr Tan put this down to the WP's growing credibility. 'It is now seen as more attractive – electable, focused, and measured in its approach to politics – and perhaps, more importantly, has a positive electoral trajectory,' he said. Dr Mustafa said having MPs in Parliament has helped the WP become more effective in recruiting candidates, as the public can see how the party has performed in the House. Based on past elections, some of the more prominent new candidates fielded have also ended up being elected or co-opted into the party's central executive committee after the election, regardless of whether they managed to make it into Parliament. These include Louis Chua and Associate Professor Jamus Lim, who were brought into the top decision-making body after the 2020 General Election, where they contested in Sengkang GRC and won. This time around, the new WP candidates range in age from 33 to 59, with eight of the 14 in their 30s, and the rest in their 40s and 50s. That the party is able to attract younger candidates is also key to its renewal, say analysts. - The Straits Times/ANN
