GE2015: I bought peanut pancake for Mr Chiam: Sitoh Yih Pin
The People's Action Party's Sitoh Yih Pin says he has "enormous respect" for Chiam See Tong, his predecessor as Potong Pasir MP, even buying him mee jiang kuih (peanut pancake).
"If I know he’s in the coffeshop, I will go and say hello to him. As you may have noticed, when he came here, I made the effort to go and buy the peanut pancake [which Mr Chiam likes] and we shared it together. That is our relationship," says Mr Sitoh of Singapore's longest serving opposition MP (1984 to 2011).
Sitoh, a first-term MP, was twice defeated by Chiam in 2001 and 2006. In 2011, the accountant defeated Lina Chiam by a razor-thin margin of 114 votes. Mrs Chiam is currently a Non-Constituency MP.
Asked if he has managed to accomplish more than Chiam See Tong, Sitoh adds that he has "no intention" of trying to replicate his almost three-decade old legacy. He says he has also been working hard to gain the trust of the ward's 17,389 residents.
Sitoh was speaking to reporters at the recently unveiled $7m Kallang River ABC Park. When asked about a newspaper article which quoted Potong Pasir residents as saying the ward has lost its "kampung spirit" since he came into office, Sitoh denied this emphatically.
"In everything that I have done in the last four and half years, whether it is in the amenities that we are building, or whether it is in the heartware, I am very, very aware of this kampung spirit. We have a very strong gotong royong (team spirit) spirit in Potong Pasir, I make very sure that it’s burning strong, and will continue to burn."
Sitoh cited community outreach activities in Potong Pasir such as the ROSE (Rice, Oil, Sugar and Essentials) programme, which sees residents coming together once to pack goodie bags for needy families. With each goodie bag weighing 15 to 20 kg and 300 families benefiting, some five tonnes of groceries are packed each month.
But Sitoh denied that the recently announced Lift Upgrading Programme, which will benefit 32 more households in Potong Pasir, was an election tactic. He noted that he had brought many amenities and facilities to the area, such as a gym, an NTUC FairPrice and a POSB bank.
Sitoh also revealed plans to bring a new internal bus service to Potong Pasir, which will ply the estate for two hours in the morning and evening respectively, during peak hours.
