‘Seasoned’ politicians for East Coast GRC but a new face for Fengshan SMC
Brace yourself for more politics news in the upcoming weeks.
With nomination day (1 September) creeping around the corner, The People’s Action Party (PAP) has unveiled another round of their candidates for East Coast GRC this morning (27 August).
At the same time, the party also revealed their candidate for the newly carved out division — Fengshan SMC — at the press conference for the upcoming General Election (GE).
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East Coast GRC is downsized to four-member constituency with Fengshan SMC taking a single member seat in this upcoming election. PAP performed poorly — obtaining only 54.83% of the votes against the Worker’s Party — in East Coast GRC for the previous election. That possibly may be the reason why the ‘seasoned’ politicians are running for the area.
Who are the East Coast GRC candidates?
MustShareNews gives you a brief introduction because you already know who they are of these four candidates.
Mr Lim Swee Say, 61
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He served as a Ministry of Parliment (MP) for different constituencies from Tanjong Pagar GRC to Hollang-Bukit Timah GRC since the year of 1997. From 2004 to 2015, he was a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and currently he is our Minister for Manpower.
Mr Lee Yi Shyan, 53
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He has been an MP for East Coast GRC since 2006, and is currently Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, and National Development.
Dr Maliki Osman, 50
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He served as an MP for Sembawang GRC for 10 years since 2001 before contested in East Coast GRC in the previous election. He is also a Mayor of the South East District of Singapore and currently holds the position of Minister of State for Defence and National Development.
Ms Jessica Tan, 49
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She was elected as an East Coast GRC MP in the 2006 General Election. She is also the Chairperson of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Finance, Trade & Industry.
What about Fengshan SMC?
Ending the guessing game, the PAP finally announced their secret weapon new candidate for Fengshan SMC. Yes, that’s the one that recently attracted some headlines because orh luak.
So who is this mysterious lady?
Ms Cheryl Chan, 38
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She is Head of Secondary Industries (Corporate Strategy & Market Intelligence) with The Linde Group (Gas & Engineering). In her current role, she oversees a group that provides market insights of the industry, develops growth opportunity areas, and supports development of the company’s strategies for various industry sectors.
In 2005, Cheryl joined the grassroots organisation in Fengshan and served in the Neighbourhood Committee, Youth Executive Committee and was actively involved in the community. Throughout this period, she was also involved in the Branch activities and supported the Meet-the-People sessions and the house visits among others.
In 2012, she was appointed Chair of the Community Club Management Committee and also served as member in the Citizen’s Consultative Committee and East Coast Town Council.
She also doesn’t appear to think the orh luak in Fengshan is heavenly.
Ms Chan's favourite food is laksa, not orh luak, and adds bak chor mee is probably the best dish in Fengshan #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/lkxy6BEJbA
— Singapolitics (@singapolitics) August 27, 2015
We wonder if that controversial opinion will cost her some votes.
Can she survive on her own?
PAP has placed a team of seasoned politicians in East Coast GRC to face with the opposition team. This is to possibly to avoid the catastrophic results of the previous General Election.
Since the East Coast GRC is bascially an all-star team, there is speculation that Fengshan is the weakest link. However, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say has high hopes for Cheryl, highlighting that
In the past 10 years we have seen Cheryl’s sincerity and desire to serve the people, so we have a lot of confidence in her. If not I would not have sent here there.
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Featured Image via Channel NewsAsia
With references from Lim Swee Say Facebook, Lee Yi Shyan Facebook, Dr Maliki Osman Facebook, Jessica Tan Facebook, Cheryl Chan Facebook, PAP Facebook, The Straits Times, The Straits Times
