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GE2015: PAP unveils candidates to contest in Aljunied GRC

The People’s Action Party (PAP) on Friday unveiled its five-member team of candidates for Aljunied GRC. 

They are party activists Victor Lye, 52, K. Murali Pillai, 47, Chua Eng Leong, 44, and Shamsul Kamar, 43. The team will be led by veteran MP Yeo Guat Kwang, who has been in politics since 1997.

This is the final batch of candidates unveiled by the ruling party for the upcoming general election.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam arrived together with them to present the team to the press.

"We chose them because they know residents of Aljunied GRC well," said Tharman, who will be contesting in Jurong GRC. He added that if elected, the team will firstly "tackle local issues", secondly "straighten out town council finances" and thirdly, advance "national agenda in the interest of Singaporeans".

He also believed that the team, who will be contesting against the Workers' Party, has a "fighting chance" in the coming elections. This is because they "go in with the mindset of the underdogs" and "of being humble with everything they do", he said.

PAP lost Aljunied GRC to the Workers’ Party in the 2011 General Election, obtaining just 45 per cent of the votes. At that time, the candidates contesting were George Yeo, Lim Hwee Hua, Zainul Abidin Rasheed, Cynthia Phua and Ong Ye Kung.

This year, there are about 148,000 electors within the GRC, according to the Electoral Boundaries Review Report. Polling Day has been set for 11 September.

The four new faces

Chua is married with two sons, aged 9 and 14, and is an executive director at Standard Chartered Private Bank. If elected, he wishes to champion issues affecting "youths at risk".

"It is my hope that all youths are given different opportunities to do well in life," he said.

Murali is married with four children and heads the commercial litigation department at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP. He has been contributing to grassroots organisations for the past 15 years and was appointed as chairman for PAP's Paya Lebar branch in May 2012.

"I'm confident that I'm able to bring our community together as one and help the disadvantaged," said Murali, who also wants to focus on social mobility. He believes that the government has done a lot to enhance this. However, the "challenge is for families to grasp these opportunities".

Lye is married with two children and is a former chief executive of Shenton Insurance Pte Ltd. In 1999, the financial analyst helped residents in Aljunied GRC who were affected by the Asian Financial Crisis. However, it was only in 2001 that he joined PAP.

"I want to connect with Singaporeans from my heart, to give hope, and build better lives for Singaporeans. Please support our cause, and bring us home to Aljunied," he said.

Shamsul is a former head of department at Spectra Secondary School. He has taken over Kahar Hassan as chairman for PAP's Kaki Bukit Branch. If elected, he hopes to champion issues involving education.

"As an educator, I also spent a large part of my career teaching normal technical kids... I call them the underdog," said the former teacher, who noted that a number of these students who come from underprivileged families, fail to finish school. If elected, he would like to "work with like-minded stakeholders" to prevent this.

 


 

With additional reporting by Nurul Azliah