The People’s Action Party Sengkang GRC team led by a former member of parliament Lam Pin Min, together with Ling Weihong, Assoc Prof Dr Elmie Nekmat, and Theodora Lai went around the constituency to greet residents and distribute mandarin oranges for the Chinese New Year festive period.
Clad in their traditional all-white attire, Lam was joined by their fellow volunteers as they handed out the mandarin oranges to the residents. Lam is the only member left from the 2020 General Election, while the other three are new faces announced in March 2022, replacing Ng Chee Meng, Amrin Amin and Raymond Lye.
“The Spring Festival always brings so much joy with the many opportunities to meet up with old friends and residents. Together with Theodora Lai, Elmie Nekmat and Ling Weihong, we sent LNY greetings and distributed mandarin oranges to residents of Sengkang GRC this morning!” posted the former senior minister of state for health and transport on Facebook.
Weihong has also been actively walking the ground and doing house visits. He joined the walkabout with the PAP Sengkang team over the weekend, and after that, he did a house visit with his team on the weekday.
“Gave out mandarin oranges during our #housevisits this week to wish residents a happy lunar new year in advance. Got many well-wishes (and oranges ) for the team in return,” posted the lawyer on his Facebook page.
“Quite unexpectedly, the feedback we received revolved around the theme of transport. Most residents are used to the noise from the TPE, but there were requests for sheltered walkways to a bus stop and the nearby mall, and feedback on an uneven footpath and other access ways.”
Weihong feels that these are day-to-day issues which have a direct impact on the quality of the residents’ lives, and they should be addressed quickly.
For Dr Elmie, he continued walking the ground in Sengkang as he visited Compassvale Vista on 18 Jan, Wednesday and he was captivated by what he saw on the lift landing on the 15th floor.
“The space was beautifully transformed with CNY decorations by no less than four families all coming together to welcome the Lunar New Year!” expressed Dr Elmie on social media.
“We also chanced upon Mrs Chua’s crop of crispy green lettuces all ready to be harvested for the family’s steamboat dinner on Chinese New Year eve!”
“Whilst a number of residents shared about the rise in cost of living and electricity bills, the mood was uplifting in anticipation of the Chinese New Year and long holiday weekend. My volunteers and I are looking forward to them too!” added the Associate Professor at the Department of Communications and New Media at National University of Singapore.
For Lai, she has been conducting house visits with various grassroots groups such as the residents network and residents committee.
“I had the pleasure of meeting residents at Compassvale Cape Residents’ Network house visits, and attended a lively Lunar New Year dinner with Compassvale Lodge Residents’ Committee residents on Sunday evening,” said Lai.
“It felt like ages ago since I’ve last seen & heard a lion dance. We were also treated to favourite songs, skilfully sung by residents, who attended with their families. We have many talented residents in our midst!
In the 2020 elections, the Workers’ Party team comprising of Louis Chua, He Ting Ru, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, and Raeesah Khan won the newly-created Sengkang GRC by 52.12%. Sengkang is a four-member GRC, but WP currently only has three MPs in the constituency after Raeesah resigned from the party after she admitted to lying in parliament about the details of a sexual assault case, which she claimed had been mishandled by the police.
She was then referred to the Committee of Privileges for breach of parliamentary privilege and was recommended to be fined $35,000 for lying in parliament.