[CONSOLIDATED] Singapore General Election 2025 Discussion Thread

[Ethan_]

No so strict end up let in one DPX

Talking about incumbent or?

 

[Coffeelix]

Talking about incumbent or?

Both…
Jiak mango and mango are proof beside the Pinocchio n her accomplish etc

 

[Ethan_]

Both…
Jiak mango and mango are proof beside the Pinocchio n her accomplish etc

Well, the people like it, lap it all up. Its how incumbent put in so many unknowns also bah. So, it works. That's all that matter.

 

[coldish]

Also hope Harpreet Singh doesn't go to MP. Feels like MP is a suicide squad. Difficult to fight against TPL. Punggol, Tampines or EC would be a better option although if HSK stays at EC it might be more challenging.

PAP are playing EC and Marine Parade around. It is hard to tell which is worse than the other until the Nomination day.

 

[Ethan_]

These candidates have better education and career pedigrees (Harvard, MBB consulting, big4 local law firm) than some of our existing PAP MPs (australian uni, audit, no name law firms, no name local banks).

And then you have oppo members who are ex-scholars like Gerald Giam and Hazel Poa.

Gotta wonder why people with elite backgrounds are starting to disdain PAP and prefer opposition...

Think up till certain point, the more maturity set in, more will realise that they are all fighting for the same cause. That is for the better good of the place and everyone. Not really fighting each other. Incumbent don't have all the answers. It only champion the cause it wants to champion. Thus, those that felt left out will turn to the other side which can better represent their cause.

 

[Ethan_]

Also hope Harpreet Singh doesn't go to MP. Feels like MP is a suicide squad. Difficult to fight against TPL. Punggol, Tampines or EC would be a better option although if HSK stays at EC it might be more challenging.

Think TPL can only carry Mac, the rest of the places not so much. There is no telling how much impact that will bring. But above on most people head, there is the escalating cost of living that get to everyone. So that might exert some influence over many change of decision.

Think EC might be a good try, HSK seems like slowing fading out. Thus weakening influence of sort. So, there is chance for someone to come in fill the gap. However, think incumbent might put in another heavyweight for that. So, its still a fair game out there.

 

[Coffeelix]

“I think there will come a time when eventually the public will say, look, let’s try the other side, either because the PAP has declined in quality or the opposition has put up a team which is equal to the PAP and they say, let’s try the other side.”

- Lee Kuan Yew

It is NOW or Never since Oppo has field a credible team …
They are only pieces and party’s PR …
The real work / formulating policies are done by silver serpents which will not change…
They are V in by sg and should not despite sg and oppo sg V in…
Any decent man will have the decency to respect one another.
Their elitist attitude is proof they are on cloud 9 and are unable to empathize with the general sg that they are supposed to support and serve, the reason they are V in.
Remember the followings when u cast your V:
Lousy school
Cantonese suan phrases
Flipping of file
Suggest to sg to leave sg if not happy

We can’t and shouldn’t cordon the above

 

[Shion]

Interestingly, there ain't many ladies introduced as new faces. Hope to see more women, more diversity. Part of the reason Sengkang PAP lost the previous time cause they field all guys.

why introduce diversity for the sake of diversity ?

 

[surfman]

These candidates have better education and career pedigrees (Harvard, MBB consulting, big4 local law firm) than some of our existing PAP MPs (australian uni, audit, no name law firms, no name local banks).

And then you have oppo members who are ex-scholars like Gerald Giam and Hazel Poa.

Gotta wonder why people with elite backgrounds are starting to disdain PAP and prefer opposition...

I thought the answer is quite obvious
The reason why these people go private sector is because they bth the culture in public sector
So when they join politics why would they want to join pap and report to people like Jo Teo or Chee hong tat
Rather join wp… got some chance to win even though small… if lose can just go back to old job and life goes on

 

[focus1974]

He’s not aligned to singapore

please no. Don’t know why people think it’s even possible to rise so high in 2 Chinese companies without reviewing their interest.

So I don’t think suitable for Singapore politics

com'on.
voter base here consists of quite a fair bit of tiktok, ATBs lovers and ex-PRCs

who dont like tiktok and ATBs!

hands up!

he got the demographics PAP wants in his hands.

 

[Eureka75]

Please send the IMH guy to run in Yishun, and put his skills to good use

So many people want him to contest in Yishun GRC

 

[lalalalalala]

Ex-IMH director, Harvard graduate look set to be part of WP’s slate in GE2025

The Straits Times estimates that the Workers' Party is likely to field at least 17 new faces this time around.ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN

SINGAPORE – A former senior leader of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and the founder of a start-up are among the new faces tipped for the WP slate, as the opposition party prepares to field what could be its largest ever pool of first-time candidates at the upcoming election.

Dr Ong Lue Ping, 47, who was IMH’s director of allied health from 2022 to 2024, and Mr Michael Thng, 37, a master’s graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School, have been touted as two of several “star catches” who will don party blues.

Based on observations at walkabouts and party sources, The Straits Times estimates that the WP is likely to field at least 17 new faces this time around, many of them professionals including lawyers and management consultants.

This would surpass the record 16 newcomers in 2011 and 2015, and almost double the nine fielded in 2020. It comes on the back of the opposition party’s medium-term goal to win one-third of the seats in Parliament.

The WP is expected to field at least 30 candidates in eight constituencies. They are Aljunied, Sengkang, Punggol, East Coast, Marine Parade-Braddell Heights and Tampines GRCs, and the single seats of Hougang and Tampines Changkat.

For now, ST has spotted 13 new faces, with an average age of 43. This is higher than that of the crop of new faces in the past two elections. WP newcomers averaged 39.3 years in age in 2015 and 37.4 in 2020.

Dr Ong was first spotted on the ground in the new Punggol GRC in February, alongside three-time WP candidate and former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong. He was then wearing a light-blue polo tee with no party logo, indicating that he had not yet joined the party.

In the surest sign of his candidacy, he showed up at the WP’s Geylang Road headquarters on March 29 for a photo-taking session for the party’s election candidates.

ST understands that Dr Ong has been volunteering with the opposition party for some months, including as a case writer for Hougang MP Dennis Tan at his Meet-the-People sessions.

He is currently a senior principal clinical psychologist at IMH. In his former role, he was part of the psychiatric hospital’s circle of 10 senior leaders. Before that, he had served as IMH’s head of psychology for six years.

He was also a member of Compass – a national council to advise the Ministry of Education on how to strengthen partnerships between parents, schools and the community. He left the role in December 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Meanwhile, ST understands that Mr Thng has gone through the vetting process for potential candidates and is likely to stand in five-member Tampines GRC, where the WP looks set to contest for the first time.

Mr Jimmy Tan engaging residents at WP chief Pritam Singh's tea with residents event on March 29. ST PHOTO: WONG PEI TING

He was spotted with three potential teammates – industrial equipment sales manager Jimmy Tan, 53; payment expert Jasper Kuan, 46; and former Boston Consulting Group (BCG) management consultant Andre Low, 33 – along with other Tampines volunteers, outside the WP headquarters on March 28.

After graduating in 2016, Mr Thng joined Big Three management consultancy BCG as a principal, and later co-founded a product discovery and sampling start-up called Showdrop.

Mr Michael Thng holds a master’s degree in public policy from the well-known Harvard Kennedy School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Singapore Policy Journal. PHOTO: MICHAEL THNG VIA ROCKETREACH

He did his undergraduate studies in economics and international business at New York University and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the well-known Harvard Kennedy School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Singapore Policy Journal, which publishes analyses of Singapore policy by students and researchers.

What is known of WP’s slate

Among the other 11 new faces, some have already set up public-facing social media accounts, had their formal portraits taken, and started walking the ground, including in areas such as MacPherson, Chai Chee and Joo Chiat, where electoral boundaries have changed.

Five of the 13 are men in their 30s: Mr Thng, Mr Low, Mr Jackson Au, 35, Mr Kenneth Tiong, 36, and Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik, 35.

Mr Tiong, a former head quant developer at Brahman Capital, is expected to be fielded in Aljunied GRC. Since 2024, he has been coordinating Meet-the-People Sessions at the group representation constituency’s Serangoon ward, which has been left vacant since July 2023 when WP MP Leon Perera stepped down.

In a Facebook post on his newly set up public page on March 26, Mr Tiong revealed he has been volunteering with the WP for some time. “As we approach the upcoming general election, I feel compelled to step up and play a more active role in shaping the conversation about where our nation is headed,” he wrote.

Mr Muhaimin, a senior property manager at Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, looks set to contest in Sengkang GRC, and has been attending the constituency’s events alongside its MPs He Ting Ru, Louis Chua and Jamus Lim. He is slated to fill the vacancy at former WP MP Raeesah Khan’s Compassvale ward.

Mr Low, who started his career as a disputes lawyer with Drew & Napier, left BCG in February after news of his possible candidacy emerged. He is now a product manager at a global fintech company. He is also an aide to Mr Chua and a core member of the WP media team.

He is one of three legally trained individuals among the new faces. The other two are senior counsel Harpreet Singh, 59, who runs boutique law firm Audent Chambers, and Mr Ang Boon Yaw, 42, of Yeo Marini Law Corporation.

Mr Ang is active in East Coast GRC, walking the ground alongside two-time WP candidate Kenneth Foo, 47, a deputy director at the Singapore Cancer Society, and former researcher Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim, 59, who made his electoral debut in 2020.

Mr Singh, another WP star catch, had been spotted as far back as 2023, in what was then Marine Parade GRC. The areas he has covered now fall mostly in the recently renamed Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

While he walks the ground with IT professional Nathaniel Koh, 41, and lawyer Fadli Fawzi, 44, who are likely to make their second bid in the constituency, party sources say Mr Singh may be fielded elsewhere come Nomination Day.

Rounding out the team in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights is Mr Au, who is a senior manager of corporate affairs and marketing with the London Stock Exchange Group. He has been volunteering for the party since 2022, was Mr Perera’s legislative assistant for six months until the MP resigned, and is currently part of the media team.

The new face seen in Punggol with Dr Ong is Mr Daniel Lee, 47, a self-employed corporate trainer.

The WP is also expected to field Mr Tan Kong Soon, an assistant director of alumni engagement at NTU, for the first time.

The 48-year-old is not new to the party, having been a member since 2007 and a recurring face on the party’s central executive committee – the party’s highest decision-making body.

A legislative assistant to former WP chief and Aljunied GRC MP Low Thia Khiang from 2013 to 2017, he will enter the 2025 polls as the party’s deputy organising secretary.

It is unclear where Mr Tan will stand. He was previously sighted covering areas in what is now known as Punggol GRC.

The sole woman among the 13 is Ms Afifah Khalid. The 42-year-old associate director in the financial services industry is expected to stand in Tampines GRC.

At this point, 46 is the average age of the 13 new faces and the 13 WP candidates who are expected to contest again. Unless there are last minute shake-ups, the WP slate for GE2025 is set to be slightly older than its slates in the past two elections, which both averaged 42 years old.

ST has reached out to the WP for comment.

wow director of siao lang very ky

 

[Eureka75]

WP also get siaolang covered by fielding director of IMH

 

[We_Generation]

why introduce diversity for the sake of diversity ?

Like it or not that's how you win votes. Why introduce GRC with minority inside for the sake of it?

 

[cpuer]

Whats the chances that they are also the "Chen SHow Mau"? Better manage our expectations leh

 

[Carnage]

none of the oppie new faces can compete with the new generals and scholars from pap

Why do you say that?

Sometimes credentials aren't everything. Ability to serve and heart to serve are entirely different.

 

[Carnage]

Like it or not that's how you win votes. Why introduce GRC with minority inside for the sake of it?

Because of racial representation. Although I do wonder how does the President decide which GRC is which race.

 

[hoolala]

 

[sonicboyz]

yeeeeeeshun!

 

[tExtra]

Is she saying Yishun is unsafe?