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NSP unveils Tampines, Whampoa and Pioneer
GE teams
NSP unveils seven new candidates, with two of them
contesting in the single seats of Whampoa and Pioneer
(Yahoo! …
The
National Solidarity Party (NSP) on Thursday unveiled seven new
candidates who will be contesting in the Tampines
group representation constituency (GRC) and the
single member constituencies (SMCs) of Whampoa and Pioneer for
the upcoming general election.
The new candidates were introduced at a press conference held at
the party's headquarters in Jalan Besar.
Five of those candidates will be contesting in Tampines GRC with
the party's secretary-general
Goh Meng Seng leading the charge.
The other four members are company director and NSP's assistant
secretary-general Fong Chin Leong, 42; regional project manager
Syafarin Sarif, 35; career counsellor Gilbert Goh, 49; and the
party's youngest candidate and former Young PAP member Raymond Lim
Peng Ann, 27.
Apart from Goh Meng Seng and Fong Chin Leong, the other three
candidates will be contesting in their first election.
On the other hand, Ken Sun, 64 - one of the party's founders -
will contest in the single-seat ward of Whampoa.
Mr Sun has contested in the area back in 1988 when it was an
SMC. After the 1988 polls, the area was merged to form part of the
Jalan Besar GRC but has now reverted back to a single-seat ward for
the upcoming election.
Meanwhile, party treasurer
Steve Chia, 40, will stand in Pioneer SMC. The former
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) has been
contesting in every election since 1997.
The area could potentially see a three-corner fight as Reform
Party's (RP) chief
Kenneth Jeyaretnam had also expressed his intention to contest
there. The third candidate will be from the
People's Action Party (PAP).
Commenting on the party’s slate of candidates, Mr Goh said, “All
these people have been activists in one aspect or another. We do
not have generals, we do not have high-level civil servants. But I
believe we have the passion in all different aspect.”
For the party’s youngest candidate Raymond Lim, age is just a
number and said that one needs to also have the “political acumen”
and “look at the needs of the residents”. This is despite the fact
that he could also be seen as politically immature or
inexperienced.
This comes after PAP candidate, Tin Pei Ling also
27-years-old was heavily scrutinized by the public for what was
seen as a candidate who is inexperienced to serve the needs of the
residents due to her young age.
Apart from the “conflict in ideology” as the main reason for his
departure from the Young PAP where he was a member for seven years,
Lim said that it was “tougher” to create a change from within the
party which prompted to him to switch alliance to NSP.
At the press conference, the candidates’ also highlighted some
issues that will be addressed in its yet-to-be-released manifesto
which include immigration policy, housing prices, rising cost of
living and underemployment among younger and educated
workforce.
While the party is not against foreign workers, Mr Goh said that
“there must be a certain control of how foreign talents have been
introduced into the system”. He added that the foreign worker levy
does not act as a control mechanism but rather a revenue
mechanism.
“If you are talking about control mechanism, the country in
perspective must prove that it has tried its best to employ the
local (workers) before it is allowed to employ foreigners,” said Mr
Goh.
This introduction brings the
party's candidates to eighteen in the upcoming general
election. It has introduced candidates who will be standing in the
single-seats of Radin Mas and Mountbatten as well as
Moulmein-Kallang and Jurong GRCs.
While NSP has previously said that it would field at least 20
candidates for the next polls, it looks likely to exceed that
number.
The party has been eyeing two more constituencies, Chua Chu Kang
and Marine Parade GRCs. Just last Sunday, NSP members were seen
doing a walkabout at a food market in Marine Parade.
When asked to confirm whether it will be fielding candidates to
stand in the five-member Marine Parade GRC, Goh Meng Seng refused
to reveal the party's intentions but said that it is "seriously
looking into it".
However, he declined that the party will be sending a "suicide
squad" to test the ground which is helmed by Senior Minister
Goh Chok Tong.
More on the first-time candidates:
Syafarin Sarif, 35
Qualifications: BA (Merit) in Political Science and Malay
Studies, NUS
Profession: Regional Project Manager (Asia Pacific)
Marital Status: Single
Languages Spoken: Malay, English, Conversational Mandarin,
Elementary Tamil
Political Experience: NSP central executive council member, NSP
malay bureau secretary, election agent for the Singapore Democratic
Alliance in Jalan Besar GRC (GE 2006)
Raymond Lim, 27
Qualification: Master of Commerce (Applied Finance)
Profession: Management Consultant
Marital Status: Single
Language Spoken: English, Mandarin and Hokkien
Political Experience: NSP central executive council
member
Gilbert Goh, 49
Qualification: Graduate Diploma in Counselling
Profession: President, Transitioning.org (support site for the
unemployed)
Marital Status: Married with one daughter
Languages Spoken: English, Mandarin and Cantonese
Source:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/nsp-unveils-tampines-whampoa-pioneer-teams-20110414-012254-181.html
