George Yeo hints of possible line-up for Aljunied GRC

Clivebenss SG

Apr 2, 2011 - Straits Times

By Teo Wan Gek

ALJUNIED GRC team leader George Yeo on Saturday gave a hint of the possible line-up for the People's Action Party team in the constituency.

Mr Yeo, who is the Foreign Minister, went on a market visit in the Eunos ward with three of the existing GRC members in the morning, and a new PAP candidate.

They are Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua, Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs) Zainul Abidin Rasheed and MP Cynthia Phua. Mr Ong Ye Kung, 41, an assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, who is among the 12 fresh faces introduced by the PAP so far, was also present.

But Mr Yeo would not give away more.

'I'm not in the position to confirm this, because the Prime Minister will decide. This is a possible line-up,' he said.

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, the fifth MP from the original line-up, did not join the market visit. Half of his Aljunied-Hougang ward, previously part of Aljunied GRC, is now mostly under Ang Mo Kio GRC, with a slice of it now part of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

charlize SG

This GRC team looks strong.

The opposition might want to try other GRCs.

Clivebenss SG

This GRC team looks strong.

The opposition might want to try other GRCs.

Are they strong enough to get tin peeling in?

Junyang700 SG

We will know things on polling day.

likeyou SG

This GRC team looks strong.

The opposition might want to try other GRCs.

They always looks strong.

What opp wants is the pples vote to change, vote to let them in to fight.

But pple very wavy too, if vote opp in, what will happen to their estate?

4sg SG

They already said final lineup not confirmed until the last day of canvassing.

These words already echoed what happened in Cheng San and some here will remember Cheng San.

ditzy SG

WP should not waste their effort on aljunied anymore, they lost the first time, they won't win the second time round. Honestly, the incumbent party is doing a pretty darn good job maintaining the GRC, so I hope they could keep it up because they are supposed to, and not because WP is fanning flames below their asses.

Rock^Star SG

PAP has done a lot improvements to the Aljunied GRC. A lot of upgrading works over the past 5 years and they are very visible. George Yeo also conducts himself credibly in the international arena.

I'm afraid this is a very tall order for WP. Then again if these people want higher GST and the cost of living to keep rising and they don't mind the president's pay at $4m, then vote PAP. But dun kpkb when your HDB is too expensive for your children to buy hor.

ditzy SG

Actually, if you weigh in everything, and I mean every farking little thing, the PAP is doing a darn good job.

Rock^Star SG

what i think is let the PAP improve the town, take the GST rebates and vote opposition. If aljunied GRC is lost, let's see if they still keen on the residents.

ditzy SG

what i think is let the PAP improve the town, take the GST rebates and vote opposition. If aljunied GRC is lost, let's see if they still keen on the residents.

I know opposition can't run a government, but I don't trust them with a town council either.

4sg SG

With the battle in Aljunied GRC possibly pitting Mr George Yeo's People's Action Party team against the Workers' Party's strongest team, Mr Yeo yesterday weighed in on the star catch on the other side - lawyer Chen Show Mao.

At a market visit in Eunos in the morning, Mr Yeo told The Sunday Times: 'He has got very good credentials. I'm looking forward to knowing more about him.'

Mr Chen, 50, a Beijing-based lawyer, has been spotted wearing WP colours during walkabouts in Aljunied GRC. He arrived in Singapore last weekend for the WP's election activities.

A partner in international law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell's Beijing office, he studied economics at Harvard University and languages and history at Oxford University, and obtained a law doctorate from Stanford University. He also sits on the advisory board of the Singapore Management University law school.

If he does contest the GRC, he may join WP chairman Sylvia Lim, who has indicated her interest in running there again.

In 2006, she led her party's 'A' team to secure 43.9 per cent of valid votes, making Aljunied GRC the most hotly contested constituency.

The PAP and the WP teams have yet to cross paths, however.

Mr Yeo said that although his branch activists have spotted the WP 'here and there', he has not met them.

'I've been on the ground every day but I've not seen them yet,' he said.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister remained tight-lipped on the PAP team's line-up.

Four of the five current Aljunied GRC MPs were present at the walkabout yesterday - Mr Yeo, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua, Senior Minister of State (Foreign Affairs) Zainul Abidin Rasheed, and MP Cynthia Phua.

New PAP candidate Ong Ye Kung, 41, an assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, was present as well. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, the fifth MP in the original line-up, was not there. Much of his Aljunied-Hougang ward is now under Ang Mo Kio GRC.

Of those present, Mr George Yeo said: 'This is a possible line-up.'

But he added that he is 'not in a position to confirm this, because the Prime Minister will decide'.

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It seems like our Sg election becoming battlefields for the China ah Tiong, India ah neh, Malaysian Singapore-wannabes.