PAP rolls out all the GE 2011 new candidates

Clivebenss SG

By Alicia Wong | SingaporeScene - April, 2, 2011

Two new candidates that could form the core of Singapore's fourth-generation leadership were revealed to the People's Action Party activists on Friday night, and another two are set to be introduced on Saturday.

According to The Straits Times, former army chief Chan Chuan Sing was introduced in Buona Vista on Friday night, and former Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) head Heng Swee Keat was present at a closed-door meeting at Tampines.

Major-General Chan joined the Singapore Armed Forces in 1987 and stepped down as army chief last Friday. He is expected to contest in Tanjong Pagar GRC in the coming General Election.

"I've started on this new path, but the work that I do will be no different from what I had to do 20 years ago, when I had to go down to each and every soldier to win their trust," he said to an audience of PAP grassroots leaders.

Switching effortlessly between English, Mandarian and even a smattering of Bahasa Indonesia, he said he would work the ground at Buona Vista "to get to know the residents... their concerns and aspirations... then we can build a team together."

Heng, 49, has not been officially announced as a PAP candidate but Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong welcomed him to politics in a Facebook post on Friday.

SM Goh described Heng, who spent six years in MAS, as a "high-flier and sound central banker" with the "potential to be a minister and core member of the fourth generation team".

On Thursday, Heng bade farewell to his MAS staff by going floor to floor to say goodbye.

Likely to be fielded in Tampines GRC, now anchored by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, Heng could be set to follow in the footsteps of former civil service high-fliers such as Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

On Saturday, SM Goh will introduce Brigadier-General Tan Chuan Jin to Kampong Ubi branch activists as their prospective Member of Parliament.

Former Energy Market Authority chief executive Lawrence Wong will also be meeting Boon Lay residents at an evening event.

The paper noted that all four candidates will be placed in GRCs where the current anchor minister is a senior politician but who does not have second-in-command to take over the helm.

As SM Goh, who asked the Prime Minister for a strong new candidate, wrote in his Facebook page last weekend,"In this general election, I am planning for someone to succeed me in leading the GRC one day."

-Yahoo! News Sg

likeyou SG

I dont believe.

You hihg post, high rank will go down and talk to each soldier?

likeyou SG

Seem like it is a trend to hire army personnel to take up the post.

SevenEleven SG

which one is the ice cream general as claimed by fellow netizen NS men in the net?

Clivebenss SG

too many heavy so overweight.

charlize SG

I dont believe.

You hihg post, high rank will go down and talk to each soldier?

No lah, you were just the only low ranked soldier that he didn't have time to see.

The rest, yes he talked to them.

Really.

likeyou SG

No lah, you were just the only low ranked soldier that he didn't have time to see.

The rest, yes he talked to them.

Really.

The rest, col, cpt, talk to him.

The other rest, cpl, pte, sgt....never talk to him.

Yet how to feel the ground?

Nietzche SG

well if you read what he said properly, it says he had to go down to talk to eacch and every soldier 20 years ago. not when he becacme higher in rank.

but one thing, i fully believe that if you were in his unit, he would def talk to you even if you private. from what i heard this guy is outstanding. down to earth, on the ground, brilliant. havent met many army ppl who've met him and not had a positive impression of him.

Frogleg888 SG

Heavy weight,light weight or feather weight.....so far as they join Marine Parade GRC,100% can get elected....!

Junyang700 SG

Heavy weight,light weight or feather weight.....so far as they join Marine Parade GRC,100% can get elected....!

Funny... I wonder if PAP is overconfident about Marine Parade GRC.. apart from GCT.... the rest arent impressive to me.

Clivebenss SG

GE: SM Goh hints ministers may not serve for more than two terms
By S Ramesh | Posted: 03 April 2011 1217 hrs

SINGAPORE : Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has said the People's Action Party (PAP) has not been successful in getting people from the private sector, despite trying very hard.

Still speaking on leadership renewal, he said that in time to come, Cabinet Ministers - with the exception of former prime ministers - may just serve two terms to make way for new blood.

That is because the government may want to bring in new people, who would have to be given ministerial responsibilities.

Mr Goh, who is also an MP for Marine Parade GRC, made this point at a dialogue in the Ubi division of the GRC on Sunday.

He also thanked retiring MP for the GRC, Dr Ong Seh Hong, and introduced the new addition to his team, Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan Jin.

It is understood that Brig-Gen (NS) Tan will understudy Dr Ong.

Mr Goh said: "BG Tan will be (in my view) a member of the people whom PM (Lee Hsien Loong) will be testing out. If he makes it, he will be a member of the core team. Hopefully he succeeds in being one".

He added: "Unfortunately, we are not able to get people from the private sector. We have been trying very hard and that is something we would admit."

"But you find that people in the private sector in their forties, they do not want to come in because you are number two, you can become number one. And there is much more freedom, there is no slamming or flaming by the Facebook or the netizens, life is comfortable for them, very few want to come in."

Meanwhile, Brig-Gen (NS) Tan said: "What I hope to do for a start is to listen and to learn from all of them, including the grassroots leaders about what are the needs, challenges here and what is exciting going forward, so that we can bring the community together, look after the people to best of our ability and build a future we can all be proud of."

He also shared his experience with the dialogue participants about Singapore's assistance to Aceh after the tsunami six years ago. He said: "What I was most amazed was not about how effective we were - and they were very effective - or our generosity of Singaporeans.

"What was most significant to me was to see the way people, regardless of race, language or religion, came together as one and reached out with so much of compassion and humanity to make a difference.

"Watching our soldiers in the evening play football with the children at the refugee camp - many of them were orphans, homeless - little acts of kindness like these show the kind of spirit...no matter who we are, Singaporeans are a special breed. It is the little red dot, and yet we reached out to make a difference, a small nation with a big heart."

The six-member Marine Parade GRC has been re-constituted as a five-man GRC for the coming election and with the single-member ward MacPherson absorbed into the area.

Incumbent MP for MacPherson Matthias Yao is retiring.

The five-member Marine Parade GRC is likely to comprise anchor minister Mr Goh, Dr Fatimah Lateef, Mr Seah Kian Peng, Ms Tin Pei Ling and Brig-Gen (NS) Tan.

Ms Tin is a new PAP candidate. She is currently understudying Mr Yao.

Dr Fatimah and Mr Seah are incumbent MPs in the constituency.

Besides Dr Ong, the other two current MPs in Marine Parade are Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim and Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Faishal Ibrahim will move to Nee Soon GRC while Mr Lim will most likely be fielded in Mountbatten, which will be carved out of Marine Parade GRC to become a single-member constituency following the re-drawing of electoral boundaries.

A participant at the Ubi dialogue had asked about the rationale for retiring some MPs after two terms in Parliament. Dr Ong is a two-term PAP MP.

Mr Goh said: "But if you do not retire because all MPs are generally good, then nobody will be retiring. So the poor party has got a poor time, painful time trying to decide who would have to make way for renewal.

"But you notice that the Ministers serve longer than three terms. So if ministers serve three terms, four terms, like myself, five, six terms, on a basis of average, you must touch some of the MPs serving only two terms. Otherwise how do you get the one quarter to be self-renewed."

Mr Goh added: "From the people's point of view, I can understand your frustration. The people have got to know an MP....(who becomes) very effective on the ground and then we have to say, 'please make way for somebody new'.

"They've got to get to know the new person (MP) again; they don't mind but they may ask, 'how long will he be here?'

"(After) two terms, he goes away. This is a very painful process, because ties are very emotional. They are bonded through face-to-face (interactions), (then the MP) goes off, and you start bonding again.

"But at the end of the day, the (PAP) party is behind you. We make sure that whatever happens, people come and go, but you do have good people to serve you. That must be so.

"So if we can assure that the successor to Ong Seh Hong at the minimum must be as good as him in terms of rapport with the people......otherwise, we have made a mistake.

"......Policy-wise, thinking-wise, (the new MP) could be better than Ong Seh Hong but in terms of rapport with the people he must be as good. Every time there is a new man.....you set new standards."

Senior Minister Goh explained that there is a need to create space in the Cabinet for new people coming in.

He said: "So a time will come when Ministers will not be serving more than two terms, generally speaking, on average, so that you can get new blood coming into Cabinet. Otherwise, the Ministers will be growing old. Well, they do make exceptions for former Prime Ministers....This is in the interest of Singapore, because you want to have a team with older people with the experience and newer people with new ideas, new perspectives.

"This is actually a very painful process. PM has a tough time looking ahead. If he has five new men who can make it as a Minister, then he has to decide where to post them."

Political watchers believe the five new men are likely to be Brig-Gen (NS) Tan, unionist Ong Ye Kung, Lawrence Wong, Major-General (NS) Chan Chun Sing and Heng Swee Keat.

Brig-Gen (NS) Tan, Maj-Gen (NS) Chan, Mr Wong and Mr Heng are among several high flyers from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the public service who have stepped down in recent days to enter politics and have been seen in the wards they are likely to be fielded in.

Maj-Gen (NS) Chan, former Chief of Army, has been introduced in the Buona Vista division of the Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Mr Heng, former Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director, was seen walking the ground in Tampines GRC while Mr Wong, former CEO of the Energy Market Authority, was seen in West Coast GRC.

Mr Goh also spoke about the reactions of netizens to the introduction of 27-year-old Ms Tin as a candidate for the PAP.

Mr Goh said: "She is ok. Actually, I had lunch with her, Fatimah and Foo Mee Har. It was a casual lunch. I was also observing her, how she was reacting under this stress, she was perfectly ok.

"But when you do a blog, my mistake was I knew the context but I forgot that netizens outside may not know the context. And I tried...to squeeze it in a very concise form and tried and play around with words, but the context of my lunch with her and Fatimah was not there, and so the first quote caused some alarm, but she is perfectly ok."

He also said: "My own advice is, this election should not over-emphasise on just one person. She has to learn. As to all the other candidates, once you are a public face, people have to examine you and your past may come and visit you. She would overcome this.

"But I would move on from here to focus on bigger issues, who will form the core team, who are the candidates, what is their position and in the party, so that as you go into the elections, people have the knowledge on who are the candidates. Then they can make a better decision.

"She has got some time to prove herself. I am not too worried about that, unless there are problems of integrity, then it is a different matter. Other than that, we would field her."

Mr Goh noted that many had spoken about the criteria for including a young person.

He said it is to signal to the youths in their late 20s and early 30s that there is a place for them in Parliament.

So when the PAP found a suitable young person like Ms Tin, it decided to field her.

But Mr Goh stressed that Singaporeans cannot expect a 27-year-old person to have the experience and maturity of a 40-year-old and certainly not the wisdom of a 70-year-old person.

He cautioned that if Singapore does not give younger people a chance, the country would end up with candidates in their mid-30s and above.

This, he said, would send a wrong signal to the young.

He said: "If you do not do this, the next time I get a young person to stand for election, no young person is going to stand for election. A young person on Facebook, they will pose their baby photographs, teenager photographs in all kinds of poses and they would not want to be exposed.

"The signal therefore is to look at the larger picture. Do we or do we not signal to the younger people that they have got a place in politics and Parliament, to me the answer is yes.

"We want to signal to the young people, we want to reach out to the young people. So do not just look at the young person, no experience, and try and squash the young person, that is negative."

Mr Goh said he believes the young can play a very important part and if this is done carefully, he is confident more of them would be interested in politics.

The Senior Minister also took the opportunity to give a glimpse of the Marine Parade GRC's manifesto for the coming election.

He said it will focus on 4Gs - a great home, graciousness, generosity and a green community.

And Mr Goh said his team for the election is almost ready.

- CNA

Clivebenss SG

Apr 4, 2011 - Straits Times

PAP rolls out 3 more candidates

Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan Jin (L), 42, Trade unionist Patrick Tay Teck Guan (C), 40, and former Economic Development Board director Low Yen Ling (R), 36. -- PHOTO: PAP

THE People's Action Party rolled out three more new faces in the fifth batch on Monday, bringing to 15 the new candidates it has introduced so far.

The latest trio who faced the media at the PAP headquarters are: Trade unionist Patrick Tay Teck Guan, 40, Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan Jin, 42, and former Economic Development Board director Low Yen Ling, 36.

PAP's first assistant secretary-general Wong Kan Seng, who is Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister, introduced the three who are likely to be fielded in Nee Soon GRC, Marine Parade GRC and Chua Chu Kang GRC respectively.

All three candidates pledged to build a better, stronger Singapore for future generations. Said BG (NS) Tan: 'I believe that our nation, our people and our future are worth fighting for.'

The three PAP candidates in the 5th batch introduced on Monday are:

Patrick Tay Teck Guan

Age: 40

Occupation: Executive secretary of the Healthcare Services Employees' Union and Advisor/Senior Consult of the Union of Security Employees

Marital Status: Married with two sons and a daughter

Highest educational qualifications: Master of Laws (honours) from the National University of Singapore

Career: Joined NTUC in 2002 as an industrial relations officer, and became chief IRO of Shipbuilding and Marine engineering Employees Union

Grassroots involvement: Secretary of Bedok CCC and a councillor with East Coast Town council

Languages spoken: English, Chinese

Likely to be fielded in: Sighted in Nee Soon GRC

'It is an honour for me to come forward to serve in a larger capacity, be a voice for workers in Parliament and positively impacting even more lives to the best of my ability.' PATRICK TAY TECK GUAN

Tan Chuan-Jin

Age: 42

Occupation: Retired from the Singapore Armed Forces on March 31 after 24 years of service

Marital status: Married with two children

Highest educational qualifications: Masters in Defence Studies from Kings College London in 1998 and Masters in Public Management from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Career: Commissioned at Sandhurst and has held various appointments in the SAF. Led SAF's relief effort to Meulaboh, Aceh after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Chaired the 2009 National Day Parade executive committee.

Languages spoken: English, Chinese

Likely to be fielded in: Marine Parade GRC

'I believe that our nation, our people and our future are worth fighting for.' TAN CHUAN-JIN

Low Yen Ling

Age: 37

Occupation: Was a director of professional services with Economic Development Board

Marital status: Married with two young children

Highest educational qualifications: Bachelor of Business Studies (2nd upper honours) from Nanyang Technological University, majoring in financial analysis

Career: Five years of experience in private sector before joining EDB as a senior officer in 2001. Handled commercial lending accounts for UOB and Keppel Tat-Lee Bank and was a business development manager with a start-up.

Grassroots involvement: Active in Hong Kah GRC

Languages spoken: English, Chinese

Likely to be fielded in: Chua Chu Kang GRC

'I hope to play a part, however small, in creating a Singapore that our future generations will be proud to call home, just like how we have been proud to be called Singaporeans too.'

- LOW YEN LING

charlize SG

well if you read what he said properly, it says he had to go down to talk to eacch and every soldier 20 years ago. not when he becacme higher in rank.

You registered just to post this feel good piece?

Confirmed he is outstanding.

Really.

charlize SG

GE: SM Goh hints ministers may not serve for more than two terms
By S Ramesh | Posted: 03 April 2011 1217 hrs

Cabinet ministers only.

Nothing about PM, SM and MM.

"May" is the operative word here also.

charlize SG

which one is the ice cream general as claimed by fellow netizen NS men in the net?

What do you mean by ice cream general?

Cold and sweet?

Melts under heat?

charlize SG

After what happened to previous candidates, new candidates being introduced from the ruling party must be sweating big time.

Yes, they probably have deleted all their Twitter, Facebook and Myspace accounts.

reyes SG

BG tan, whatever you had said, i am not a happy man in the SAF. i think SAF in many ways sucks big time. however the food now compare to my BMT time has improve alot. your guys dont know what shit we gone thru for RTs. Fxxk u

Clivebenss SG

GE: PAP introduces another batch of new candidates
Posted: 07 April 2011 1614 hrs

SINGAPORE: The PAP has introduced three more new candidates for the coming General Election.

They are Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai, 39; Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, 35; and David Ong Kim Huat, 50.

Dr Intan has been active in volunteer work, working with Mendaki and the Singapore Muslim Women's Association (PPIS).

The mother of three who is an Assistant Professor in Policy and Leadership Studies at the National Institute of Education (NIE) also volunteers with the Singapore Children's Society and has been an active in grassroots work in Jalan Kayu.

Another grassroots activist, is David Ong, who serves at the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng constituency.

The father of three runs his own publishing firm which specialises in providing media solutions for Singapore's tourism industry.

Coming from the Administrative Service, is Lawrence Wong, who was the Chief Executive of the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

An economist by training, Mr Wong who has served as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from 2005 to 2008, started his career in the Trade and Industry Ministry before moving to the Finance and Health Ministries.

- CNA

charlize SG

You should ask him whether Singapore is a country or not.

See what he says.

Clivebenss SG

So far 2 ex PM secretaries plus one current PM secretary wife.

It's a small small world.