PAP candidate apologizes for covering up WP banner

Volunteers for Victor Lye Thiam Fatt, who was a People’s Action Party (PAP) Candidate candidate in 2015 placed an announcement banner on top of an event banner from the Worker’s Party, for which Mr. Lye has issued an apology.

The banner was put up to publicly announce activities from the Bedok Reservor-Punggol Grassroots Organisation (prayers, a community fair, food and groceries distribution, etc.) while the covered up banner from the Worker’s Party announced festivities on June 30 and had been placed there by the Aljunied Town Council.

Mr. Lye is a grassroots leader for Aljunied GRC, and was a PAP candidate for the Aljunied GRC in the General Election 2015. Even if he is not an MP for this constituency, he was still appointed as an advisor for the Bedok Reservor-Punggol Grassroots Organisation.

On his Facebook account last Tuesday, June 19, Mr. Lye had written about his unpaid duties in community work, and said that a resident had voiced the opinion that the situation is better for opposition politicians, since their best losers receive a salary for their unelected seats in Parliament, while those from Aljunied GRC, who lost by only a small percentage, remain unpaid.

A sharp-eyed netizen, Ong Yu Shan, commented on Mr. Lye’s post, “Didn’t you tell resident you love to use underhand tactics?!? Passed by and saw your lovely face banner covered Aljunied banner @ WP constituency,” and attaching a photo of the banner in question.

Mr. Lye responded immediately, apologizing and reassuring the commenter that the banner would be removed

However, yesterday another netizen, Gerald Heng, posted a photo of another banner from Mr. Lye announcing events in the area, but in a different location, and covering up yet another banner. His caption reads, “Same thing over at Blk 722.”

In a way, this behavior is a throwback to similar behavior three years ago, before the General Election, when members of PAP Aljunied gave political flyers to residents in the middle of the night that contained warnings concerning the purported mismanagement from the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council. Mr. Lye’s Facebook post at that time indicated he may actually have participated in the flyer distribution that night.

However, since this occurred in March 2015, before the call for the General Election had been announced, the Singapore Police Force determined that no offence had been committed.