(Clockwise from top left) Teo Chee Hean, Pritam Singh, Heng Swee Keat and Harpreet Singh Nehal. - ST
SINGAPORE: With less than a day to candidate nominations for the general election, question marks still hang over where several bigwigs from both the ruling PAP and the WP, Singapore’s main opposition party, will be fielded.
While the PAP has announced its line-ups for 26 out of the 33 constituencies for the May 3 polls, it has kept resolutely mum on plans for the keenly watched East Coast GRC, as well as the Punggol and Tanjong Pagar GRCs.
This has raised questions about whether some of its heavyweights may be moved to other seats come Nomination Day on April 23.
Perhaps one of the biggest questions is whether Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will continue to anchor PAP’s East Coast GRC team, move to another constituency, or retire from politics.
There is also mystery around who will anchor the PAP’s Punggol GRC team, a new battleground where a showdown with the WP is expected.
The slate in Tanjong Pagar GRC, anchored by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing in the last election, also hangs in the balance after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah’s surprise move to the new Pasir Ris-Changi GRC.
She will replace Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean. Observers said Teo could end up being fielded elsewhere, including in Punggol GRC.
The PAP’s slates for Sembawang GRC, and the Sembawang West, Queenstown and Radin Mas single seats, are also unconfirmed.
The ruling PAP is expected to be challenged at the polls for all 97 seats, with 10 opposition parties likely to field candidates when nomination proceedings close at noon on April 23.
On the other side of the aisle, the WP has publicly introduced 14 new candidates, but has otherwise played its electoral cards close to its chest.
It has thus far confirmed only where two of the 14 new faces will stand, and has not ruled out fielding more on Nomination Day.
Apart from its Aljunied GRC crown jewel, which it has held since 2011, Sengkang GRC, which it won in 2020, and the Hougang single seat, the party has not confirmed the other constituencies it would contest.
All eyes will be on whether WP leaders – secretary-general Pritam Singh, chairwoman Sylvia Lim, vice-chairman Faisal Manap and policy research head Gerald Giam – will move out of Aljunied GRC to contest elsewhere, including in the East Coast or Punggol GRCs.
While unsurprising, the PAP and WP’s reticence about revealing their line-ups in certain constituencies points to the likelihood of last-minute tactical moves, said political observers.
Here is a closer look at several of the nine nomination centres across the island that will be the focus of attention come April 23 morning.
Eye on East Coast, Punggol
Yusof Ishak Secondary School in Punggol – the site of nomination proceedings for the East Coast, Punggol, Sengkang and Pasir Ris-Changi GRCs – will arguably be the most closely watched for surprise moves.
In 2020, the biggest eleventh-hour surprise came from the PAP’s East Coast GRC team.
The first sign emerged a mere half-hour before nominations closed, when DPM Heng was spotted at the nomination centre. He was then a Tampines GRC incumbent.
As was the case then and in the last few elections, the composition of the PAP and WP’s East Coast GRC teams will attract keen interest this time, given the close contest expected. In 2020, the PAP narrowly eclipsed WP with 53.39 per cent of the vote.
Another question mark is around where Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong will be fielded.
He is widely expected to move from the current Marine Parade GRC to East Coast GRC, which will absorb his Joo Chiat ward.
Dr Gillian Koh, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), is of the view that Mr Tong will “most certainly anchor” East Coast GRC.
“The question is whether DPM Heng will remain there to be a co-anchor or be mobilised elsewhere,” she said.
Associate Professor Eugene Tan, a political analyst and law don from the Singapore Management University, said, however, that it remains unclear if Mr Tong may be deployed elsewhere, outside of East Coast or Marine Parade.
For now, Hazlina Abdul Halim – an ex-journalist and the former chief executive of charity Make-A-Wish Singapore – is set to run in East Coast GRC.
She will succeed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Maliki Osman, who is retiring. Incumbent Cheryl Chan has said she will also retire from politics.
Besides DPM Heng, the other incumbents in the constituency are Tan Kiat How and Jessica Tan.
On the WP front, there is talk that it could field senior counsel Harpreet Singh Nehal – regarded as a “star catch” for the party – in East Coast GRC.
“I don’t want to be parachuted anywhere safe,” Harpreet Singh had said in an interview on April 11.
Also set to unravel at Yusof Ishak Secondary are the PAP and WP line-ups for Punggol GRC.
SM Teo has been seen with PAP new face Foo Cexiang, a former director at the Ministry of Transport, and incumbents overseeing estates in Punggol. They are Dr Janil Puthucheary, Sun Xueling and Yeo Wan Ling.
IPS’ Dr Koh said SM Teo is free to be redeployed to Punggol GRC, as he is not contesting Pasir Ris-Changi GRC.
She added that he has the “gravitas to carry the ground”.
The WP has also been walking the ground in Punggol over the past year, with teams led by former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong spotted in recent months.
Aljunied, Tampines line-ups
Other hot seats where WP’s nominations are likely to go down to the wire are in the Aljunied and Tampines GRCs.
Poi Ching School in Tampines will be where candidates vying for these group representation constituencies, as well as the Tampines Changkat and Hougang single seats, will submit their nomination papers.
While the PAP has confirmed its line-ups for the Aljunied and Tampines GRCs, WP has not.
In Aljunied GRC, the ruling party will field Chan Hui Yuh, Dr Faisal Abdul Aziz, Daniel Liu, Dr Adrian Ang and Jagathishwaran Rajo.
WP has said it will field new face Kenneth Tiong, a tech start-up director, there, but has not confirmed the rest of its slate.
Dr Koh said there is the possibility that Harpreet, Lim and Giam could be redeployed to new constituencies.
“This will be backed up by its new recruits, some of whom seem to be relatively accomplished professionals and others who have had time volunteering with it,” she noted.
Farther east, Social and Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli will lead the PAP’s Tampines GRC team for a second time, with former army chief David Neo and marketing professor Charlene Chen on the ticket with incumbents, Dr Koh Poh Koon and Baey Yam Keng.
Among those tipped to be fielded in Tampines GRC for the WP include Andre Low, a dispute lawyer turned consultant, payment expert Jasper Kuan, and Jimmy Tan, co-founder of an industrial equipment supplying firm.
There has also been talk that Faisal could move from Aljunied GRC to lead the WP team in Tampines GRC.
Dr Koh from IPS said Tampines GRC may be in play for the WP, despite the National Solidarity Party also expressing interest in it.
She pointed to Pritam Singh’s comment on April 19 that the party has no interest in making way for other opposition parties and the party does not attend talks organised to avoid multi-cornered battles.
Ultimately, said Prof Tan, the question is where WP will field its strongest GRC team, putting aside its Aljunied and Sengkang GRC slates.
“The fact that the PAP has not revealed its full complement and line-ups for a few GRCs and the WP is unlikely to even reveal who is contesting where before Nomination Day will likely mean that there will be last-minute tactical changes,” he noted.
It is unsurprising, added Prof Tan, that the tactical switches will involve constituencies where the PAP and WP are likely to go head-to-head.
Dr Koh said that while the parties may believe there is a tactical advantage in holding their cards close to their chests, this could disadvantage the side whose candidates are new to the ground.
The residents there, she noted, would have less time to get to know the candidates.
Other constituencies to watch
Kong Hwa School, the nomination centre for the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, and Deyi Secondary School, which will host candidates contesting Jalan Kayu SMC, will also be ones to watch, said Prof Tan.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng will lead the PAP’s team in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. It includes new face Diana Pang, a business development director, Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and incumbents, Seah Kian Peng and Tin Pei Ling.
While the WP has not shown its cards in that constituency either, several candidates who contested in 2020 could make a return. IT professional Nathaniel Koh and lawyer Fadli Fawzi, for example, have been making their rounds in the constituency.
At Jalan Kayu, the PAP is fielding labour chief Ng Chee Meng, who is seeking a comeback after his Sengkang GRC loss in 2020.
His challengers are, however, not known yet.
The single seat, newly carved out of Ang Mo Kio GRC, is poised for a multi-cornered fight. WP and the People’s Power Party are likely to contest there.
Should WP increase its share of seats or popular vote at the polls, this may “well be a milestone in Singapore’s transition from a one-party dominant system”, said Dr Tan.
The coming election will happen under the growing shadow of a trade war ignited by sweeping US tariffs, and geopolitical uncertainty and turmoil.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is leading the PAP into a general election for the first time as secretary-general, had said the polls take place amid profound changes across the world and carry far greater stakes.
The stakes involved include how Singapore’s interest is defended on the global stage, and how the nation will navigate stormy weather to secure lives and livelihoods for its people, he added at the launch of the PAP manifesto on April 17.
“This SG60 election is ultimately about our future,” he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
