GE2020: WP announces another 5 candidates, including 36-year-old IT professional

• The Workers' Party introduces third slate of five candidates for July 10 polls
• Their ages range from 36 to 48
• Party chief Pritam Singh acknowledges that there is no fail-safe mechanism to vet a candidate’s character, but party has its own processes 
   

SINGAPORE — The opposition Workers’ Party (WP) on Saturday (June 27)  presented another five candidates in its third round of introductions in the lead-up to the polls on July 10.  

They are:

• Mr Nathaniel Koh Kim Kui, 36, an IT professional specialising in digital product ownership

• Ms Tan Chen Chen, 38, a contracts administrator

• Mr Muhammad Fadli, 40, a lawyer specialising in litigation and family law

• Mr Foo Seck Guan Kenneth, 43, the deputy director of a charity, who previously contested in Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in 2015

• Mr Terence Tan Li-Chern, 48, who runs his own law firm and contested in Marine Parade GRC in 2015

The party has so far introduced 14 candidates for the coming General Election (GE). 

At the first introduction session on Thursday, there were four candidates including former National Solidarity Party member Nicole Seah. 

At the second session on Friday, there were five candidates. Among them was its youngest for this election, social activist Raeesah Begum Farid Khan, 27.

In total, WP will field 21 candidates in four GRCs and two single member constituencies (SMCs): Aljunied GRC, Marine Parade GRC, East Coast GRC, Sengkang GRC, Hougang SMC and Punggol West SMC.

This is fewer than its last outing at the polls in 2015, when the party fielded 28 candidates in five GRCs and five SMCs.

It has confirmed its line-ups in Hougang SMC and Aljunied GRC.

Mr Dennis Tan will contest in Hougang, replacing Mr Png Eng Huat, who is stepping down.

For Aljunied GRC, the WP team retains party chief Pritam Singh, chairman Sylvia Lim and Mr Faisal Manap, but will bring on Mr Leon Perera and Mr Gerald Giam. 

Mr Perera and Mr Giam replace former WP chief Low Thia Khiang and Mr Chen Show Mao, who are not contesting.

At an online press conference to introduce the candidates on Saturday, Mr Singh responded to a question on how his party would handle a scenario that saw someone digging up a party member’s less-than-ideal past. 

Mr Singh said that electoral candidates are typically chosen from their pool of volunteers, and this process would allow the senior members of the party to observe them in action. 

“At times, we have to speak to the bosses of some candidates, or even friends, to get a feel of the person,” Mr Singh said.

While he admitted that there is no “fail-safe mechanism”, he said that the senior members of the party spend time talking to potential candidates to understand them a bit more, before a “collective judgement” is made. 

Commenting on this point, some of the new candidates said that they have nothing to be concerned about with regards to their past. 

Mr Koh said it is “natural that the public will want to scrutinise each and every candidate”.  

Referring to online activities, Mr Fadli said that “anything you posted or did last time” can be taken out of context and used to attack a person’s character. “If that happens, I’ll just address the issue as it comes.” 

He added that he has faith that voters will be more concerned about important issues such as housing, unemployment or the economy.

Ms Tan said in Mandarin that what is in the past has passed and as long as candidates do not “stray from the right path”, there is nothing to be worried about.

When asked about a donation made to WP by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s estranged nephew, Mr Li Shengwu, Mr Singh declined comment.

However, he said that Singaporeans are encouraged to donate to the party of their choice, if they believe in its political position.

“I think it speaks well that people participate in politics in this way,” he said. “It ensures that the parties they support can grow, and grow well.”

On Saturday, Mr Li posted on his Facebook page saying that he had made an unspecified donation to both WP and the Progress Singapore Party. Mr Li’s father Lee Hsien Yang had just joined the Progress Singapore Party this week as a member. 

NEW CANDIDATES

Mr Nathaniel Koh, 36

Mr Koh is a digital product owner at a multinational organisation, and has been a volunteer with WP for 11 years. He is married and expecting his first child in September.

From 2009 to 2014, Mr Koh was part of the WP Youth Wing as its secretary and member of its executive committee. He has a bachelor degree in information systems management and political science from the Singapore Management University.

He also volunteered at Mr Faisal’s meet-the-people sessions between 2011 and 2015, and has been a secretarial assistant to Mr Singh since the General Election (GE) in 2015. Mr Koh was also an election agent in GE2011 and helped manage volunteers at Sengkang West SMC in GE2015.

Mr Koh said that he has an interest in reducing “the impediments and obstacles that a family might face in caring for your child”. 

If elected, he hopes to provide social incentives to encourage both parents to care for their newborn child, and help mothers who want to enter the workforce transition into their job roles easily. 

Ms Tan Chen Chen, 38

Ms Tan is a contracts administrator and has a bachelor degree in applied science in construction management. 

Since 2015, she has been volunteering with WP, assisting outgoing Member of Parliament (MP) Low Thia Khang at meet-the-people sessions. She is also active in grassroots work at Aljunied GRC.

It is her hope that more Singaporeans will recognise that “an elected opposition presence in Parliament is critical”. 

She believes that a rational and respectable opposition will “provide responsible competition to the PAP, thereby ensuring a robust system of checks and balances for the good of Singapore and Singaporeans”.

Mr Muhammad Fadli, 40

Mr Fadli is a lawyer with Inkwell Law Corporation, and his work deals with both criminal and civil litigation. Since May 2014, he has been a councillor with Aljunied Hougang Town Council and helps out in the party’s grassroots work.

Before entering legal practice, Mr Fadli was a senior policy development officer with the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) for five years. 

He later decided to pursue a law degree as part of a mid-career switch because he wanted a “more hands on way of helping people”.

Mr Fadli hopes to consolidate and expand on government schemes that help mid-career professionals and to make them more accessible, saying that loans from such schemes helped him make his career switch. 

Mr Foo Seck Guan Kenneth, 43

This general election will be Mr Foo’s second time contesting, having been part of a WP team that contested in Nee Soon GRC in GE2015 and lost to the PAP team. 

The deputy director of Singapore Cancer Society was the deputy organising secretary in the party’s central executive committee from 2016 to 2018. He has been the legislative assistant for party chairman Sylvia Lim since the start of 2019, in addition to helping out in the party’s outreach activities.

On giving it a go this second time, Mr Foo said: “The election is meant for Singaporeans to select someone to represent them in Parliament. I would like to sign myself up to this challenge to represent them in parliament.” 

Mr Terence Tan, 48

Mr Tan, WP’s deputy organising secretary, will also be running in the upcoming election for the second time, having previously contested at the Marine Parade GRC in 2015.

The lawyer, who mostly handles commercial disputes on his job, has on occasions been called to represent clients who have been accused of capital offences.  

A member of the WP since 2012, he said that his goal this year is largely similar to that in GE2015: To “ensure that the interests of Singaporeans are always placed at the very forefront of government's policies”.

If elected, he said that one fundamental change he would like to see is the institution of a “properly functioning” parliamentary democracy.

“The function of Parliament is not to rubber-stamp the Government's bills,” Mr Tan said. “(It) is to have a rigorous debate and contest about whether a particular policy is ultimately for the benefit of Singaporeans.“

To that end, he said that an increased opposition presence in Parliament would be vital.