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GE2015: Replace me in Marine Parade? Let them try: Goh Chok Tong on Workers’ Party

PAP unveils candidates for its Marine Parade GRC.

“They (Workers’ Party) are stronger than the NSP (National Solidarity Party), there’s no doubt about that. There’s a certain arrogance in them… Will that same arrogance be able to replace me in Marine Parade? Let them try,” said Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, during a Wednesday press conference to unveil PAP's Marine Parade GRC candidates.

He was responding to questions about facing up to opposition parties in the coming general election. Earlier, it was announced that besides Goh, the Marine Parade GRC candidates are Social and Family Development Minister Tan Chuan-Jin, Associate Professor Fatimah Lateef, NTUC Fairprice CEO Seah Kian Peng and new member lawyer Edwin Tong, a former MP from Moulmein-Kallang GRC.

The team will most likely contest against both the Workers’ Party and the National Solidarity Party in the coming elections.

Goh, who has been a Member of Parliament in Marine Parade for 40 years, also highlighted the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) saga, involving the Workers’ Party.

“I will just tell the Marine Parade residents, look at the way they (Workers’ Party) run their town council’s finances. Look at the way we run our town council’s finances. You decide,” said Goh.

The Workers’ Party has been embroiled in an ongoing saga over the accounts of the town council it oversees.

Among the lapses found in its accounts include lack of governance over transactions with related parties, and poor monitoring of Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC).

Opposition parties are like ‘nomads’

Goh also commented on opposition parties in Singapore, saying that they “come and go” like “nomads”.

“Nomads do not have interest in the people’s welfare, they are looking for plunder. In Marine Parade’s case, since the 1990s, there have been three or four parties that have come and gone. Now a new tribe is coming, do they really have interest in Marine Parade’s people’s welfare?”

In the last general election, PAP won by 56.7 per cent against the NSP. This year, there are about 140,000 electors within Marine Parade GRC, according to Electoral Boundaries Review Report.

Polling day has been set for 11 September.