On Sunday (28 Jun), Singaporeans were pretty shook by the news of Mr Ivan Lim’s withdrawal as a People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate, just 3 days after being announced as part of a new slate of fresh faces.
The Keppel General Manager’s (GM) past experience had come under scrutiny by netizens after various accounts were uploaded online.
In particular, netizens questioned his role in Keppel’s project in Brazil, which we have covered here.
Now, he’s released a letter detailing his reasons for the withdrawal, as posted on Yahoo Singapore‘s Facebook page. We summarise the key points he’s made below.
Mr Ivan Lim begins the post by address Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong, Secretary-General of the PAP.
He expresses his wish to “withdraw as a PAP candidate” in GE2020.
Mr Lim then addresses “various allegations” regarding his “conduct and behaviour”.
The ex-PAP candidate reiterates that further allegations after his clarification earlier this morning are “baseless”.
After consulting with the party’s leaders, however, Mr Lim expressed he was aware that the “controversy” that has emerged in the wake of the viral social media comments have “eclipsed the core issues” that should be addressed leading up to Polling Day.
These include the matter of Singapore’s future and how & what our nation should do to “recover from Covid-19”.
As a result of the controversy, Mr Lim also shared that the events that unfolded over the past 3 days have caused his family to be affected by the remarks as well.
In his words,
The controversy has also caused intense pain and stress for my family. I cannot put my family through this.
Mr Ivan Lim continues that he’s appreciative of the support offered to him by PAP “throughout this period”.
Mr Lim then concludes his post by saying that he is thankful for having been given an “opportunity to serve”.
PM Lee responded to his withdrawal in this letter carried by The Straits Times on 27 Jun.
PM Lee mentioned that there would “ideally” be time for a “fair and deliberate consideration” regarding the allegations.
However, he understood how the issue has “spread like wildfire” and taken the lens away from “serious life and death issues”.
As a result, the decision to withdraw has been accepted by the PAP & PM Lee hopes Singaporeans will give Mr Lim’s family “peace & privacy” to recover.
Now that Mr Lim has withdrawn his candidacy, and PAP has accepted his request, we hope that his family will also no longer be tied to what has been an eventful 3 days.
We wish Mr Lim all the best in his future endeavours and we can expect PAP to field their new candidate in an announcement some time soon.
We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Featured image courtesy of PAP on YouTube.
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