SINGAPORE: Four out of five members of the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) slate in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the next general election, will be newcomers contesting for the first time.
The ruling party unveiled its slate for the opposition-held ward on Sunday (Apr 13), featuring an almost completely new line-up from its 2020 team.
Of the quintet, only Serangoon branch chair Chan Hui Yuh stood in the last contest.
The others are: unionist Jagathishwaran Rajo, 37; managing director of urban planning consultancy Daniel Liu; company director Adrian Ang, 41; and dental surgeon Faisal Abdul Aziz.
Ms Chan said they will focus on addressing seniors’ issues, which will then have a trickle-on impact on the wellbeing of their families and the wider community.
She then said it has been 14 years since the Aljunied GRC residents have had a PAP voice in parliament and “it’s time” for change.
Also at Sunday’s launch was Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and former Cabinet minister Lim Boon Heng, who was the former party chairman and advises the PAP Aljunied team.
Mr Chan, who is the PAP's assistant secretary-general, introduced the Aljunied slate. He said the party's presence in opposition-held wards is not to be opposition there, but to be a proposition of policies.
He added that the election is about voting in people who can take care of residents locally, govern nationally, and also represent Singapore well globally.
The boundaries of Aljunied GRC were redrawn in the latest electoral map review, the first time it was altered since 2011, when it became the first GRC to be won by the opposition.
Three polling districts in Aljunied GRC, which comprises almost 4,000 voters, will be moved to Tampines GRC for the next election.
The last contest in 2020 saw the incumbent Workers' Party (WP) secure 59.95 per cent of the votes against the PAP there, the highest margin to date by which the WP has won a GRC.
For the coming polls, the ruling party will be fielding a team comprising four political newcomers. They are among more than 30 new candidates that the PAP have lined up for GE2025, its largest slate of new faces in recent history.
Mr Jagathishwaran Rajo took over as the party’s Eunos branch chairman in August last year.
He was an active grassroots leader in the Zhenghua ward of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC for 16 years and was its branch secretary, before moving over to Aljunied.
He became the executive secretary of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Staff Union (IRASSU) and the assistant director of the NTUC’s Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE) in April last year.
Prior to that, he was on a two-year secondment with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, as a senior assistant director in the Future Economy Planning Office.
In February this year, the PAP had made a triple change of branch chairmen in the constituency.
Mr Daniel Liu, managing director of urban planning consultancy Morrow Architects and Planners and executive director of urban planning data analytics firm Morrow Intelligence, took the helm of the Paya Lebar branch.
He was formerly the Citizens’ Consultative Committee chairman of the Nee Soon East ward in Nee Soon GRC.
Dr Adrian Ang, the director of facility and environmental management company Chye Thiam Maintenance, took over the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol branch.
He was previously branch secretary of Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat’s Toa Payoh West-Thomson division in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
In Kaki Bukit, Dr Faisal Abdul Aziz, a dental surgeon who is a clinical director at Nuffield Holdings, took over as chairman.
He had been volunteering with the branch since 2015, and previously organised dialogues for the Young PAP – the party’s youth wing – and the party’s Malay Affairs Bureau.
The quintet will be up against an incumbent WP team, which will be in search of a fifth member, following the departure of Mr Leon Perera in the current term of parliament.
Aljunied GRC was first won by the WP in the 2011 election, defeating a PAP team which included Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, and newcomer Ong Ye Kung, who is currently Minister for Health.
It had secured 54.72 per cent of the votes, becoming the first opposition party to win a GRC since the implementation of the system in 1988.
The team was led by then-WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, who left his long-time stronghold of Hougang to contest the GRC.
It included current Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, party chairman Sylvia Lim, Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap and newcomer Chen Show Mao.
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The ruling party unveiled its slate for the opposition-held ward on Sunday (Apr 13), featuring an almost completely new line-up from its 2020 team.
Of the quintet, only Serangoon branch chair Chan Hui Yuh stood in the last contest.
The others are: unionist Jagathishwaran Rajo, 37; managing director of urban planning consultancy Daniel Liu; company director Adrian Ang, 41; and dental surgeon Faisal Abdul Aziz.
Ms Chan said they will focus on addressing seniors’ issues, which will then have a trickle-on impact on the wellbeing of their families and the wider community.
She then said it has been 14 years since the Aljunied GRC residents have had a PAP voice in parliament and “it’s time” for change.
Also at Sunday’s launch was Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and former Cabinet minister Lim Boon Heng, who was the former party chairman and advises the PAP Aljunied team.
Mr Chan, who is the PAP's assistant secretary-general, introduced the Aljunied slate. He said the party's presence in opposition-held wards is not to be opposition there, but to be a proposition of policies.
He added that the election is about voting in people who can take care of residents locally, govern nationally, and also represent Singapore well globally.
The boundaries of Aljunied GRC were redrawn in the latest electoral map review, the first time it was altered since 2011, when it became the first GRC to be won by the opposition.
Three polling districts in Aljunied GRC, which comprises almost 4,000 voters, will be moved to Tampines GRC for the next election.
The last contest in 2020 saw the incumbent Workers' Party (WP) secure 59.95 per cent of the votes against the PAP there, the highest margin to date by which the WP has won a GRC.
NEW FACES
For the coming polls, the ruling party will be fielding a team comprising four political newcomers. They are among more than 30 new candidates that the PAP have lined up for GE2025, its largest slate of new faces in recent history.
Mr Jagathishwaran Rajo took over as the party’s Eunos branch chairman in August last year.
He was an active grassroots leader in the Zhenghua ward of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC for 16 years and was its branch secretary, before moving over to Aljunied.
He became the executive secretary of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Staff Union (IRASSU) and the assistant director of the NTUC’s Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE) in April last year.
Prior to that, he was on a two-year secondment with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, as a senior assistant director in the Future Economy Planning Office.
In February this year, the PAP had made a triple change of branch chairmen in the constituency.
Mr Daniel Liu, managing director of urban planning consultancy Morrow Architects and Planners and executive director of urban planning data analytics firm Morrow Intelligence, took the helm of the Paya Lebar branch.
He was formerly the Citizens’ Consultative Committee chairman of the Nee Soon East ward in Nee Soon GRC.
Dr Adrian Ang, the director of facility and environmental management company Chye Thiam Maintenance, took over the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol branch.
He was previously branch secretary of Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat’s Toa Payoh West-Thomson division in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
In Kaki Bukit, Dr Faisal Abdul Aziz, a dental surgeon who is a clinical director at Nuffield Holdings, took over as chairman.
He had been volunteering with the branch since 2015, and previously organised dialogues for the Young PAP – the party’s youth wing – and the party’s Malay Affairs Bureau.
The quintet will be up against an incumbent WP team, which will be in search of a fifth member, following the departure of Mr Leon Perera in the current term of parliament.
FIRST OPPOSITION-HELD GRC
Aljunied GRC was first won by the WP in the 2011 election, defeating a PAP team which included Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo, and newcomer Ong Ye Kung, who is currently Minister for Health.
It had secured 54.72 per cent of the votes, becoming the first opposition party to win a GRC since the implementation of the system in 1988.
The team was led by then-WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, who left his long-time stronghold of Hougang to contest the GRC.
It included current Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, party chairman Sylvia Lim, Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap and newcomer Chen Show Mao.
This article will be updated. Please refresh for the latest.
Continue reading...