SINGAPORE — After serving as grassroots advisers in constituencies
where they lost during the General Election in 2011, Mr Ong Ye Kung
and Mr Desmond Choo are leaving their positions in the
opposition-held wards of Aljunied GRC and Hougang.
The People’s Association (PA) announced today (Sept 18) that Mr
Choo had been appointed second adviser to Tampines Grassroots
Organisations (GROs) for Tampines East.
Mr Ong, who has been volunteering in Sembawang GRC, relinquished
his post as adviser for Kaki Bukit in Aljunied.
Replacing them are veteran grassroots leaders Goh Chee Koh, 69, and
Dr Kee Wei Heong, 64.
Mr Goh, the honorary chairman of Punggol Central Citizens’
Consultative Committee (CCC), is now adviser to Hougang GROs, while
Dr Kee, chairman of Bukit Gombak CCC, takes over from Mr Ong.
The changes mean the positions of adviser to GROs at the two
Workers’ Party-held constituencies — typically occupied by People’s
Action Party (PAP) Members of Parliament or potential PAP
candidates — are now almost all filled by veteran grassroots
leaders.
Apart from Dr Kee, advisors to the Aljunied GROs include Mr Anthony
Loh, 75, Mr David Tay Poey Cher, 69, and Professor Brian Lee Chang
Leng, 73. The fifth advisor is former Senior Minister of State
(Foreign Affairs) Zainul Abidin Rasheed, 66, who was part of the
PAP team that was defeated in the 2011 election.
Political analysts TODAY spoke to said the moves are not
surprising, coming in the wake of earlier appointments of
grassroots veterans at Aljunied GROs. For example, Mr Loh replaced
former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo in Bedok
Reservoir—Punggol in 2012, said Institute of Policy Studies senior
research fellow Gillian Koh.
Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan said the
PAP faces a dilemma in Aljunied and Hougang. Fielding a strong
candidate with no guarantee of an electorial victory would upset
the PAP’s leadership plans, he said. If a weaker candidate is
fielded, voters could feel they are not taken seriously.
The latest move also suggests that while the PAP considers Mr Choo
— who also lost in the Hougang by-election in 2012 — and Mr Ong MP
material, the party feels the ground in Aljunied and Hougang are
not sweet enough. “The party is seeking to be realistic in
electorial prospects,” said Assoc Prof Tan.
The PAP received 57.2 and 63.9 per cent of the vote at Tampines GRC
and Sembawang GRC during the last General Election. Tampines GRC
and Sembawang GRC are currently helmed by Education Minister Heng
Swee Keat and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan
respectively.
At Tampines, Mr Choo will be working with Mr Mah Bow Tan — current
Adviser for Tampines East. Mr Mah stepped down as Minister of
National Development after the 2011 General Election. Mr Ong,
meanwhile, was reportedly slated to join Senior Parliamentary
Secretary for Education and Manpower Hawazi Daipi said at his
Marsiling Meet-the-People Sessions.
Asked whether the move to place Mr Ong and Mr Choo in Sembawang and
Tampines was intended to ensure they stand a higher chance of
getting elected into Parliament, Dr Koh said the PAP knows there is
no such thing as a stronghold and each constituency has to be taken
seriously. Voters have become more demanding and will scrutinise
the candidates, she added.
On whether the move would give them a better chance of getting into
Parliament, Mr Choo and Mr Ong - who was both the PAP branch
chairman and grassroots adviser for Kaki Bukit at one point
- stressed that the announcement was made by the PA, and
not by the party. The PA appointment and whether a candidate is
fielded in the constituency where he is adviser are two separate
matters, Mr Choo said.
“I think the PA is quite clear about this separation. Whether I
will be fielded as a candidate in Tampines, that is something that
is still very much (the) party’s decision,” he added.
When contacted, Dr Kee, who hopes to do more for seniors in Kaki
Bukit, said he is not interested in becoming an MP and prefers
serving residents through grassroots work. “I had predecessors who
actually died on the job when they are in their 80s. Even at 80
years old, they still come and help out at functions and do their
best for the community. I will be like that,” he said.
Previous media reports have identified several chairmen of the PAP
branches in Aljunied GRC as potential candidates. The next General
Election is due by Jan 2017.
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