PAP’s Aljunied team steers clear of AHPETC issue
Members of the PAP’s Aljunied team at their walkabout at Reservoir Shopping Centre @ Eunos at Bedok Reservoir Road yesterday. The team has chosen to keep its campaign respectful towards its WP opponents and Aljunied’s residents. Photo: KOH MUI FONG
SINGAPORE — His party leaders may have lashed out at the Workers’ Party (WP) over its management of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council’s (AHPETC) accounts, but People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate Victor Lye yesterday said his team of new faces contesting in Aljunied GRC has made a conscious effort to steer clear of the issue in its campaign.
Mr Lye told TODAY that he and his team-mates, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Mr K Muralidharan Pillai, Mr Chua Eng Leong and Mr Shamsul Kamar, have control over what they say, and they chose to keep their campaign respectful towards their WP opponents and Aljunied’s residents.
The PAP team will be challenging the incumbent WP team led by party chief Low Thia Khiang in the election.
When asked if the comments made by the PAP’s heavyweight ministers on the AHPETC issue could jeopardise his campaign, Mr Lye said: “It’s a risk.”
“We don’t want ministers to speak without knowing the communication layers ... they speak with one language and one tone, and our constituency is made up of many different layers,” said the 53-year-old chief executive of an insurance firm.
He added that while a segment of the community might appreciate the party’s attempts at raising the issue, others who do not understand the technicalities of the town council’s accounts may not be bothered about the debate.
In the past nine days, PAP ministers such as Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan have said the WP has yet to answer questions on its handling of AHPETC’s finances, and that the party continues to mislead residents.
However, Mr Lye said his team has tried to focus its campaign on how best to serve the maturing estates in Aljunied GRC over the longer term, with plans to upgrade areas with ageing flats as well as introduce wellness programmes for the elderly, for example.
He also hopes to get the authorities to re-evaluate their policies of redistributing wealth based on housing type, since there are some asset-rich but cash-poor middle-income families living in the private estates in the Paya Lebar and Serangoon areas.
Some PAP heavyweights, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, have visited Aljunied GRC during the hustings.
Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who yesterday made his second appearance in the constituency, visited a coffee shop that is owned by a Muslim. He noted that the Malay-Muslim community has been a very important pillar in Singapore’s multiracial society.
On the dilemma faced by Aljunied residents when they go to the polls tomorrow, Mr Goh had this advice: Think long term.
“Don’t think of one election; think of two elections, three elections. The question to ask, for us in a multiracial society, is: Would there be a harmonious multiracial society 10 years down the road if there is a sudden change in the political situation? You think about it,” he said.
Mr Lye said that if his team is elected to Parliament, his first priority would be to bring in forensic accountants to analyse what had gone wrong with AHPETC’s finances.
In the 2011 General Election, the PAP team led by then-Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo lost to the WP, after garnering 45.3 per cent of the vote.
On the PAP’s chances of winning this time, Mr Lye said his team members are “realistic people”, and they are aware that the percentage of swing votes could tip the result either way.
