GE2015: Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss of the Singapore People’s Party

In this series, Yahoo Singapore speaks to candidates for the upcoming General Election. Members of Singapore's various political parties have been invited to participate. Featured here: Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss of the Singapore People’s Party, who was interviewed Monday, 7 September.

It’s 830am, and most people are still on their way to work.  But for Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, 52, the day began hours ago.

From 630am, she and her volunteers have been giving out flyers and shaking hands outside Mountbatten MRT station. The night before, Chong-Aruldoss spoke at a rally before a sparse crowd near Stadium MRT, before going for supper with her volunteers.

But the lawyer is still smiling and pumping as many hands as she can. Many of the residents already recognize her, or have her flyer. Later on, she will be going door to door in the estate to canvas for votes. “Sometimes, I have to force her to eat,” says her husband James Aruldoss, 56, who is among the volunteers and also spoke at the rally.

Perhaps it is simply the nature of an electoral battle in a Single Member Constituency – literally every vote counts, especially in a ward with just 23,143 residents. Back in 2011, Chong-Aruldoss got 41.4 per cent of the vote as a candidate for the National Solidarity Party, versus incumbent Lim Biow Chuan’s (People’s Action Party) 58.6 per cent.

This is especially so when almost half of the ward – some 42 per cent – live in condominiums and private apartments, where political activities are frowned upon, and both candidates cannot enter.

Her manifesto

To that end, Chong-Aruldoss’s campaign may well be the most thought-out of the 13 SMCs. Like many of the Group Representation Constituencies, it includes a detailed manifesto for Mountbatten, with plans to improve social mobility and preserve the area’s architectural heritage, among others.

There is also a regularly-updated Facebook page (Jeannette For Mountbatten) that has attracted more than 5,000 likes. Not to mention personalized campaign T-shirts with a caricature of Chong-Aruldoss and the message “Mountbatten knows her. Do you?”

At her rally on Sunday (6 Sept) near Stadium MRT, attendees that Yahoo Singapore spoke to said they were impressed by  her campaign. Some had come to hear her speak, even though they were not Mounbatten residents.

After wolfing down her breakfast of soya bean curd, tea with milk and kaya toast, Chong-Aruldoss tells Yahoo Singapore that the highly personalized nature of the campaign has been a conscious choice.

“I think the credentials of the candidate must come though. The advantage I don’t have is that I’m not the incumbent, and I don’t have a platform by which people could get to know me,” says Chong-Aruldoss. “So what I need to do as a primer is I need to introduce myself first. I need to say who I am…before I start telling you, this is what I think, what I feel., this is my manifesto."

Her campaign includes a proposal for a social mobility bursary fund that will benefit ITE and polytechnic students, in an effort to address income inequality. Chong Aruldoss says society is "pulling apart" because of this issue. "We all know that we must do something about it, but I just want to put some words into action. We can write a lot of articles to talk about elitism, equal opportunities, natural, artificial aristocracy and all that jazz. But lets be done talking, and let’s be contributing to the solution".

Family support

It is almost a family campaign for Chong-Aruldoss, with her husband and children ever present on her walkabouts and speeches.  And she has said that her desire to serve in elected office is motivated by her four children, the oldest of whom is 25. She says, “I want to be an example to my children. We have so many people saying, why like that, how come like this, this is no good…but I say, can we stop pointing it out? And let’s do something about it.”

She adds, “Active citizenry should be a virtue, but it’s regarded almost like a vice - don’t be so kaypoh lah. We don’t have to impose our opinions on others, but to have an opinion, that’s important.”

It’s a spirit of proactivity that she expects of her children as well, “Every time my children say ‘Eh mum ah, you know ah, like that, like that,’ I say, “Hey hey, I don’t want to hear that. What are you going to do about it?”

Chong-Aruldoss says that she also consulted her children as to whether they would be comfortable with being in the public eye. “I’m very proud of them, they said, mom it’s okay, you’re free to introduce us and all that. This kind of support is like, I appreciate it lah. They are brave enough to say, this is my mom,” says Chong-Aruldoss with a smile.

Addressing political fears

The fear that is associated with getting involved with opposition parties was also a factor — she can remember a time when joining politics was “a dangerous game”. Chong-Aruldoss says, “The chill that set in is so palpable, because it makes you so constrained and so worried. It makes you so self-conscious about everything you do. You become very inhibited.”

Chong-Aruldoss recalls meeting a resident some time back who worried that if she voted for the opposition, her mother might not be able to use the exercise facilities in the estate. “I was like, how do I explain this to you? They just have this fear. But you cannot tell a person, don’t be silly, don’t be illogical,because you’re not them. So you have to respect their own comfort zone," the politician says.

But it’s a fear she is actively working to combat. “I told my polling agents: your job is to verify the integrity of the polling system, but also to testify as to its integrity. So that we stop this myth that your vote is not secret. So you volunteer for me, you go out and tell people," she says.

Fiery personality

And Chong-Aruldoss is far from inhibited when speaking, whether at rallies or on Nomination Day. Lina Chiam even joked that the both of them are Hakka women, who are known to be “fierce”.  Asked about her fiery style, Chong-Aruldoss says, “I think that politicians are very passionate people. If you’re not passionate, you wouldn’t do what they do at all. This is not a job. It’s a cause.”

It certainly helps that Chong-Aruldoss has the backing of a man who may well be the most respected opposition politician in Singapore: former Potong Pasir MP and SPP’s most prominent members, Chiam See Tong. Chiam’s name has literally opened doors for Chong-Aruldoss. It was reported by The Middle Ground that during her walkabouts in Jalan Batu, she has often introduced herself as the candidate from Chiam See Tong’s party, to residents who were unfamiliar with her.

Ravaged by ill health, Chiam has been confined to speaking briefly at Chong-Aruldoss’ rallies, to loud cheers and applause. At the end of her rallies, there were also long queues to shake Chiam’s hand and take photos with him. Lina Chiam, whom Aruldoss calls a “sister”, has also spoken at her rallies.

When asked if there is a danger that Chiam’s presence might overshadow her own campaign, Chong-Aruldoss bristles.

“You just asked me about my personality. I’m not here to put Mr Chiam’s face in front of me, like how some people are doing,” says Chong-Aruldoss. Placing her mobile in front of her face, she adds with a laugh, “They put their sec-gen in front of their face like that. I don’t do that what, I talk about myself.”

She is referring to the multiple posters of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that have been placed all over Singapore, even in wards where the PM isn't contesting, including Mountbatten. Chong-Aruldoss wrote to the Elections Department to question this practice, while both Lina Chiam and the National Solidarity Party’s Kevryn Lim have also spoken up against it.

Sticking it out?

Given that Chiam was the reason that she joined the SPP this year – her third party after NSP and the Reform Party – will she emulate his “undaunted spirit” if she does not win in Mountbatten?

“I won’t want to pre-empt anything, but I think that whatever it is, I will always…be part of this. I don’t see myself disappearing or fading away. I’ll try and contribute in whatever way I can, if not as an elected office holder, then I’ll be doing other things also. “

Chong-Aruldoss adds, “My cause is the development of Singapore politics. I want Singapore politics to progress in a way that I feel is progressive. I just feel that I want people to think about things, not just to abdicate their sense of reason, their decision-making roles, their role in society. “

Check out our other interviews with Dennis Tan (Workers' Party), Nadine Yap (Democratic People's Party), Terence Tan (Workers's Party), Paul Tambyah (Singapore Democratic Party) and Lee Li Lian (Workers' Party).