Singapore: In the drizzle of a late evening rally in Jurong Central on April 30, umbrellas opened not just against the rain, but as shields for what RDU describes as deeper frustration felt across Singapore. One by one, Red Dot United (RDU) candidates took to the stage — to voice a growing sentiment among Singaporeans: it’s time to raise the standard.
“Citizens are not asking for riches,” declared Liyana Dhamirah, “they’re asking for dignity.” From the young graduate drowning in gig work to the mother in Bukit Batok who gave up on dental care due to unbearable queues and costs. Liyana believes that “the status quo no longer serves the people it claims to represent.”
Reset, not patchwork
RDU’s 2025 manifesto is framed as a national reset — a rejection of piecemeal reforms in favour of bold, people-first policies. “Singapore doesn’t need more patchwork,” said Dhamirah. “We need real solutions.”
These solutions include a proposed citizen dividend — an unconditional payout to all Singaporeans, not as charity, but recognition. “You are stakeholders in this country,” said business director Pang Heng Chuan. “A responsible leader doesn’t start with cutting workers. You cut the bloat. You stop vanity projects. You protect people.”
Pang, who has led turnarounds in the private sector, brought his managerial lens to governance. “If ministers want CEO pay, they must accept CEO accountability,” he said, calling out multimillion-dollar projects like the $330 million Founders’ Memorial while basic estate maintenance suffers.
From theory to lived reality
RDU candidates repeatedly stressed their lived experience and how that informs their policies. Emily Woo, a PSC scholar and music educator, said her time in classrooms and communities showed her a disconnect between policymaking and people’s daily struggles.
“I met an uncle who asked me, ‘What are you giving out?’ I told him — no gifts. Just my voice to speak for you. And he smiled. He said, ‘Good. That’s what matters.’”
Emily has called for trimming redundant political roles — such as mayors and excess political secretaries, and pegging ministerial salaries to the median wage. “It’s time our leaders were invested in the incomes of all, not just the top ten per cent,” she said.
A family’s struggle, a nation’s fight
Other candidates turned to personal testimony. Marcus Neo recalled the pride in his mother’s eyes when he landed a corporate job — and her heartbreak when that job, despite his performance, became a casualty of a stacked system.
“I gave them three chances,” he said, describing how a foreign HR manager dismissed Singaporean employment protections. “Eventually, I took them on — legally, professionally. I won. But I also lost my job, and my mother’s hope.”
Neo’s story, like many others that night, carried a quiet but powerful indictment: that a generation is growing up in a system where meritocracy is preached but privilege reigns.
The H.E.A.R.T. Framework
Harish Mohanadas, a civil and software engineer whose career revolves around handling and creating complex systems, introduced RDU’s H.E.A.R.T. framework:
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Housing security through a comprehensive reset and rent-to-own schemes
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Equitable healthcare that caps out-of-pocket costs
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Assured prosperity through a citizen dividend and reversal of the GST hike
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Resilient economy prioritising SMEs and citizen-first hiring
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Transparent governance with public KPIs and an end to rubber-stamp politics
“We’re not here to tinker around the edges,” Harish said. “We’re here to transform Singapore.”
A serious plan for local governance
Candidate Harish Mohanadas assured residents that RDU is ready to run town councils with competence and transparency from day one.
“We’ve launched a full Town Council Management Plan,” Harish told the crowd, “and we’ve assembled a transitional committee made up of professionals with experience in finance, systems, and community engagement.”
RDU’s plan, first unveiled on Aug 25, focuses on sustainable urban management and citizen-focused service delivery. Harish emphasised that RDU’s readiness was not theoretical. “We’re engineers,” he said. “We’re builders. We know how to scale operations, manage complexity, and get things done.”
RDU’s ground-up approach to town council governance stood in contrast to their portrayal of the incumbent PAP MPs as “part-time representatives” disconnected from the daily realities of estate living. For RDU, managing a constituency isn’t an add-on — it’s core to what it means to serve.
No more double standards
Osman Sulaiman, a former corporate leader and current entrepreneur, took aim at the unequal expectations between the government and the citizen. “When rules bend for the powerful, faith in the system dies,” he said. “Whether you’re a minister or a cleaner, the rules must be the same.”
He cited the Crony Capitalism Index, where Singapore ranks 4th globally for economic systems that favour politically connected elites.
He was echoed by Sharad Kumar, who highlighted the silence of PAP MPs during the GST hikes. “Not one voted against it,” he said. “We need a Parliament where MPs challenge bad policy, not explain it away.”
Governance with grace
For Kala Manickam, it was a daughter’s safety and a single mother’s grit that shaped her political conviction. A former officer and education leader, she wept recalling the mental burdens today’s youth face — and the isolation of many parents trying to hold things together.
“Even with upskilling and retraining,” she said, “too many Singaporeans are unemployed, underemployed, or stuck in systems that don’t care.”
Kala’s five-year plan focused on valuing seniors, expanding mental health support, and ensuring that every child has a fair and dignified start. “This isn’t about envy,” she said. “It’s about fairness.”
The rooster and the rainbow
Then came Secretary-General Ravi Philemon, standing drenched in the rain, declaring that “if we can’t brave the weather for the people, how will they trust us?”
Ravi painted RDU as the balance Singapore desperately needs — “the yin to PAP’s yang” — and described the party as the necessary reset for a system gone rigid.
“We are the rooster that crows,” he said. “It’s never easy to be the rooster in Singapore — they’ll try to silence you, pluck your feathers, cook you into curry. But after the downpour comes the rainbow.”
A vote for a voice
As rallying cries go, Red Dot United’s was simple, heartfelt, and firm. “We don’t just want a seat in Parliament,” Dhamirah said. “We want to be your voice.”
In a political climate often thick with fear, RDU made an appeal not just to the mind, but to the soul: Vote with hope. Not habit.
Because for them, this election is not about who gains power, but who finally gets heard.