SINGAPORE: There has been a wave of support for the Workers’ Party’s (WP) Faisal Manap, who leads the WP’s team at Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC), as shown by the reception to his speech during the WP rally on Saturday (April 26), which had been attended by thousands of people.
Commenting in a social media post, the academic Walid J Abdullah noted that when Mr Manap, who was among the last to speak, was introduced, he received “the loudest cheers of the night,” along with party chief Pritam Singh.
“There was clearly goodwill from the people there towards him due to three parliamentary terms and/or his big move to Tampines. His speech seemed really genuine and heartfelt to anyone in the audience. He was the star of yesterday’s rally,” Assoc Prof Walid added.
Mr Manap had served three terms representing the Kaki Bukit ward in Aljunied GRC Parliament before contesting this year at Tampines GRC. According to Mr Singh, Mr Manap, the WP’s vice chair, had long wanted to stand at Tampines.
He had a special message for Kaki Bukit residents, however, asking their forgiveness for his shortcomings over the past 14 years and saying, “Yes, I am sad that my journey has come to an end at Kaki Bukit, but I believe the wonderful residents of Kaki Bukit will understand why I must make this move.”
Mr Manap then pledged to serve Tampines residents “regardless of race, language or religion equally and to the best of my ability,” in the same way that he had served multi-racial and multi-religious communities in the Kaki Bukit ward.
He also thanked Tampines residents for the warm welcome with which he and the WP team had been received since the campaign began on April 23.
“It makes me feel like the ‘balik kampung’ feeling. It makes me feel like I am still in Kaki Bukit ward of Aljunied GRC,” adding that he is looking forward to making Tampines GRC his second home for the next five years.
Kenneth Foo, the WP candidate at Tampines Changkat Single-Member Constituency (SMC), described the party’s Tampines GRC team this way: “Lue Ping gave up his senior leadership role to contest. Jimmy had to drop his business to focus on the campaign. Eileen left MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to serve the community in a different way. Michael wants to step forward to do more, and the man of the day is Faisal, who left Aljunied GRC to lead the team in Tampines. Everyone has their own stories to tell.”
Commenters have been full of praise for Mr Manap, especially due to what they felt was a sincere and heartfelt speech.
“You need this type of conviction MP to step up and move forward for the betterment of our future generations. Kudos to the Workers Party,” one wrote.
Another commented, “I love his sincerity and dedication,” while one chimed in with, “Simple. Point nailed. And sincere.”
“His spiritual inner compass guiding him to serve the masses is really a rare find in a politician. Really hope he takes Tampines,” a YouTube user wrote. /TISG