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GE2025: RDU introduces potential candidates for Nee Soon GRC
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/rdu-introduces-potential-candidates-for-nee-soon-grc
(From left) Dr Syed Alwi Ahmad, Ms Sharon Lin and Mr Pang Heng Chuan were introduced as RDU’s team leads for the five-member Nee Soon GRC on April 13.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
SINGAPORE – Opposition party Red Dot United (RDU) on April 13 introduced three potential candidates for Nee Soon GRC in the upcoming election.
Dr Syed Alwi Ahmad, a 57-year-old private school teacher who is RDU’s head of policy and its Malay bureau; Mr Pang Heng Chuan, 56, a tech start-up business director; and Ms Sharon Lin, 40, a senior consultant in the IT sector, were introduced as RDU’s team leads for the five-member group representation constituency.
All three are political newcomers and, if fielded, will be contesting their first general election.
Speaking to reporters near Chong Pang Market after a morning walkabout, RDU secretary-general Ravi Philemon said the party is committed to engaging with the constituency and working with residents to “lift them up”.
“We want to work with the residents here,” he said. “We want to listen to them, we want to lift them up, and we want to lead in a very refreshing manner.
“And that will be the theme for Red Dot United as we embark on this campaign for Nee Soon GRC.”
Mr Philemon added that residents have given feedback about cleanliness in the area, citing problems with rats, and issues about high rents for food stalls.
The RDU party, which was founded in May 2020, had started walking the ground in Nee Soon in August 2024, said Mr Philemon, who highlighted the need for long-term solutions to address the challenges faced by residents, especially those related to food prices and daily expenses.
While he did not go into specifics, Mr Philemon said his team will bring “fresh ideas that will look at long-term solutions for the long-term problems that we have”.
In earlier comments on April 3, he had said that RDU will focus on cost of living and fair representation at the coming election.
The party will also call for the goods and services tax to be reverted to 7 per cent, and for Singapore’s carbon tax to be abolished.
In profile write-ups of the candidates, RDU said Dr Syed Alwi brings “intellectual rigour and moral clarity to politics” and is particularly committed to advancing the Malay/Muslim community.
Meanwhile, Mr Pang is an accomplished business leader, which makes him a strong advocate for policies that promote innovation and job security, said the party.
Ms Lin, who grew up in Yishun and is still living there, has worked in multinational corporations and taken part in national-scale technology projects. She has “extensive experience in cyber-security and digital systems”, said RDU.
Ms Lin told reporters that she had met fellow residents during walkabouts and among them were some senior citizens who shared their concerns about the rising cost of living that was “eating into their savings”.
She said: “Like many families in Yishun, my family members and I, we work very hard... we try to stretch every dollar that we earn and we got by all the hardships without complaints. That is why I’m standing here today because there are still many families in Yishun who are struggling to survive.”
RDU has identified Nee Soon GRC as one of seven constituencies it plans to contest.
The rest are Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, Tanjong Pagar GRC, Jurong Central SMC, Jalan Kayu SMC and Radin Mas SMC.
Mr Philemon also highlighted the long tenure of incumbent PAP MP, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, in the Nee Soon area.
Mr Shanmugam has represented the Chong Pang ward since 1988, first under Sembawang GRC and later under Nee Soon GRC from 2011.
Mr Philemon said: “Familiarity is good, but sometimes familiarity leads to complacency. Familiarity may lead to a thinking that I already know what’s needed for this constituency, and so is that in the best interest of the residents?”
He also declared Nee Soon GRC the “heart of our campaign for GE2025”, but stopped short of confirming if he will be fielded there.
Mr Philemon was part of the RDU team that lost to the PAP in Jurong GRC at the last general election.
He added: “My election committee has decided that I should take the leadership in the contest that we will be having in GE2025 and this means not going to an SMC, but leading a GRC. I think it’s important for my team to see that I am there in the trenches with them.”
At the 2020 election, the PAP fielded a team in Nee Soon GRC consisting of Mr Shanmugam, Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Mr Louis Ng, Mr Derrick Goh and Ms Carrie Tan.
They retained Nee Soon GRC with 61.9 per cent of the vote, against the Progress Singapore Party.
But there will be changes to the incumbents’ slate.
Ms Sharon Lin, 40, a senior consultant in the IT sector, greeting residents around the Chong Pang area on April 13.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
On April 11, Associate Professor Faishal said he had accepted Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s request for him to move to Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC for the upcoming general election.
Ms Goh Hanyan, a former director at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information; former Nominated MP Syed Harun Alhabsyi; and the PAP’s former Hougang branch chairman Jackson Lam are the ruling party’s potential new candidates who are likely to be fielded for Nee Soon GRC.
