Nicole Seah is continuing the work her Workers’ Party (WP) colleagues Gerald Giam and Dennis Tan Lip Fong did at Fengshan, after both men were elected into Parliament in the 2020 general election.
Fengshan, which is now a part of East Coast GRC, has been hotly contested by the WP over several elections. Mr Giam is familiar with Fengshan since the time he contested the 2011 election as part of the WP’s team for East Coast GRC.
Mr Giam’s team received an impressive 45.2 per cent of the vote – one of the best scores among the opposition in that election – which entitled them to a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat. Mr Giam was appointed to take up the position.
Fengshan was carved out of East Coast GRC and made into a single member ward, ahead of the 2015 election. Mr Tan contested Fengshan SMC under the WP ticket and received 42.5 per cent of the vote, entitling him to an NCMP seat.
Both Mr Tan and Mr Giam were active on the ground at Fengshan after the election but Fengshan was again absorbed into East Coast GRC ahead of the 2020 election.
In the 2020 election, Mr Tan was fielded as the WP’s candidate for Hougang SMC – a ward that the opposition party has held for nearly 30 years – after incumbent WP MP Png Eng Huat stepped down from electoral politics. Similarly, Mr Giam was fielded as part of the team running at Aljunied GRC after opposition legend Low Thia Khiang and incumbent MP Chen Show Mao also retired.
Both Mr Tan and Mr Giam were elected at Hougang SMC and Aljunied GRC respectively in the watershed 2020 election.
In that same election, Ms Seah and her team came close to winning East Coast GRC and received 46.6 per cent of the vote – despite the last minute inclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in the PAP’s slate for the multi-member ward.
Ms Seah has been walking the ground at the Fengshan division of East Coast GRC, since the election took place in July. She wrote on Facebook, last Saturday (5 Sept):
“Had an informal house visit to some units in a few blocks within Fengshan today to refresh our recipient database for community programmes, and to carry on the good work from the previous WP team led by Dennis Tan Lip Fong 陈立峰 and subsequently Gerald Giam 严燕松.”
Revealing that she shared meaningful conversation with residents, Ms Seah wrote about some of the residents she met during her outreach:
“A few takeaways from today’s house visits include:
1. Spoke to a Mdm R about her loss of income from covid, but more acutely her mental well-being resulting from loneliness and not being able to interact with others as she would have in her previous job.
2. Mrs K is a retiree worn down with caregiving duties for her spouse with dementia and mentally incarcerated sibling. Unpaid labour such as Mrs K’s needs to be financially subsidised to partially relieve her of additional burden.
3. Mr A has significant back pains that prevent him from working, and his only redress is chiropractic treatment which is extremely costly and not eligible for claims.”
She promised: “We will do our best to sustain the activities we’ve had for them, and of course within the reason and mindful of the social restrictions wrought by covid.”
https://www.facebook.com/nicoleseah.wpsg/posts/151525703278390?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARDdVBBArQHEIAf7-d0S_zEL2XkLK3H8vQ5HBHgfH1hOmBVwUN-0ut8TpK7WFaxbFX1ZytMBfo5hi5OqlpXylSDNi8zQFNCcdNoX6YIOG_2tM1w8hml-obyj-w84oJ3zAHtkIet6DEBJJTmntRr7qLdiabqD6h9PHw483TS-QVUXq0k7tj2T_Yg3eVSuA38yTIwn4Qq-hbg098gfZyb-VN-VdNQo-s2UkPL1p1YncdZAA9dyNp1cLedYOfTmMTqakcM37n_j7tR3HdyGe3-o4hIYO8BT0LERYKpvoXb9S2pGZ8Z1IQzwuQat9Ipw6W5e4xCKoTwT2-v–FbEEZusCug&__tn__=-R
WP set to contest just four GRCs and one SMC in the coming election