SINGAPORE: During the official opening of their new headquarters on Saturday, Nov 13, Singapore Democratic Party secretary-general Dr Chee Soon Juan outlined some of the party’s plans for the upcoming months as they prepare for the General Election, due by November 2025.
The new two-story office at WCEGA Tower at Bukit Batok Crescent features a first-floor event space, while the upper level includes a conference room and a green screen studio, which the party said they utilised for video content production for their social media efforts and political campaign. SDP’s chairman, Prof Paul Tambyah, addressed the party members and volunteers before long-time party chief Dr Chee shared their plans with the media in a press conference leading up to the next elections.
Dr. Chee highlighted that the rising cost of living would be one of the focal points of SDP’s election campaign, citing feedback gathered during recent house visits and walkabouts in various constituencies. The party’s secretary-general also emphasised the impact of inflation and the upcoming Goods and Services Tax increase from 8% to 9% in January 2024, stating that it’s ‘going to hurt’ (Singaporeans).
“Early next year we have a series of activities lined-up until GE which we expect in November or December. Given that scenario, we had that one year of pre-campaign and different activities starting from this month. We will be inviting some of the opposition parties here to keep the communication channels open. Next year, we will have the launch of our (GE) campaign and then the party retreat,” added Dr Chee.
The SDP secretary-general mentioned that the party is contemplating organising a ‘national convention of politics’, which he hopes will interest and engage various groups in national, as well as current affairs and the electoral process in Singapore.
For the 2020 elections, SDP were based at Ang Mo Kio, and before that, their headquarters were located near Upper Thomson Road. With the latest relocation, the party are now closer to the constituencies in which they have contested and are currently active, such as the Single Member Constituencies of Bukit Batok, Bukit Panjang, Yuhua and the Group Representation Constituencies of Holland-Bukit Timah, Marsiling-Yew Tee, and Sembawang.
SDP last contested in Sembawang GRC at the 2011 elections and expressed their interest in the constituency again earlier in the year. The National Solidarity Party contested in Sembawang at the previous two elections in 2015 and 2020. The SDP last contested in Sembawang GRC at the 2011 elections and reaffirmed their interest earlier this year during their National Day walkabout when they visited the Kampung Admiralty Hawker Centre. The National Solidarity Party (NSP) contested in Sembawang at the previous two elections, in 2015 and 2020.
“We know we want to go to Sembawang; it’s a question of whether any other party is welcome to come in. They just have to do their own calculations as to whether it’s worth it,” said SDP’s chairman Prof Tambyah.
Below are the results for the Sembawang GRC in previous General Elections when SDP and NSP contested it. Sembawang GRC was uncontested in the 1991, 1997 and 2001 elections.
2020 | PAP 67.29% – 32.71% NSP
2015 | PAP 72.28% – 27.72% NSP
2011 | PAP 63.90% – 36.10% SDP
2006 | PAP 76.70% – 23.30% SDP