Singapore—The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is wasting no time in the run-up to the coming General Election (GE) on July 10. On its second day of introducing candidates to the public, the party presented 11 new faces who may serve in the country’s next Parliament, in addition to the eight who had been introduced on Wednesday (June 24).
First, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is the party’s first assistant secretary-general, introduced the following group of candidates: Ng Ling Ling, 48, a former public servant; Dr Tan See Leng, 56, a general practitioner; Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, 39, a lawyer; and, perhaps most notably, Tan Kiat How, 43, the former chief executive of the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
In introducing the candidates, DPM Heng said that what they have in common is that they all come from modest backgrounds. He added, “Singapore’s conditions of education and providing opportunities enabled them to be at their best to be able to achieve what they set out to do.
Creating these conditions remains a very critical factor I think we must continue if we want Singapore to continue to progress.”
Later in the press conference, more candidates were introduced by Grace Fu, PAP’s organising secretary, and Masagos Zulkifli, the party’s vice chairman.
The following are the seven candidates were presented by Ms Fu and Mr Masagos: Yeo Wan Ling, 44, the chief executive of Caregiver Asia; Alvin Tan, 39, a director at LinkedIn; Dr Wan Rizal, 42, a senior lecturer at Republic Polytechnic; Eric Chua Swee Long, 41, who used to be a civil servant; Derrick Goh Soon Hee, 51, a managing director at DBS; Poh Li San, 44, vice president of Changi Airport Group, and Raymond Lye, 55, a veteran grassroots leader.
Mr Masagos said that the new candidates “have varied and interesting journeys in their lives and I’m quite sure they will add to the need for different viewpoints the PAP will have in the line-up in our leadership. I’m glad they responded to our call to serve with PAP for Singapore and Singaporeans.”
Ms Fu commented on the diversity of the new candidates, saying that the Party made a “very concerted effort” to be a reflection of the population.
“This is the result – a really strong, diverse group with different experiences. But there are similarities as well, you’ll see that they come with good track records. It’s not just what they say, but are they putting their words into action?
It’s been hard work over the last few years to constantly look out, engage, monitor and to observe people who we think are suitable.”
DPM Heng stressed that integrity is an important quality in candidates.
“The key thing is that we want people to have integrity. We want people with a strong sense of service that we feel that are prepared to contribute to bringing our people together… At the same time, to continue the professional work to to speak up in Parliament, in various debates and in the various deliberations because that’s where long term policies are being made.”
According to TODAY Online, PAP will be introducing a total of 26 new candidates, which means the public can expect seven more new faces to be presented tomorrow, the third day of PAP’s candidate introductions. —/TISG