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GE2015: Kenneth Jeyaretnam to lead Reform Party in West Coast GRC contest

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(L-R): Noraini Yunus, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Andy Zhu, Kumar Appavoo and Darren Soh have revealed themselves as candidates for The Reform Party in the Sep 11 General Elections (Photo: Kyle Malinda-White)

By: Kyle Malinda-White

The Reform Party’s (RP) secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam has announced he will be leading a team in contesting West Coast Group Representative Constituency (GRC) at the 11 Sept General Elections.

At a press conference Thursday morning (27 Aug) at Telok Blangah Food Centre, Jeyaretnam also said the Reform Party would also contest in Radin Mas Single Member Constituency (SMC).

However, Jeyaretnam stressed that the party’s slate of candidates will only be confirmed on Nomination Day.

The People’s Action Party’s lineup for West Coast GRC are Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office S. Iswaran, Patrick Tay and Foo Mee Har.

Joining Jeyaretnam is party chairman Andy Zhu as well as two new party entrants: Darren Soh, 46, a real estate manager at Propnex, and Noraini Yunus, 47, a call centre operations officer.

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Soh (pictured above) is a long-time grassroots member, having received a long service award from the People’s Association for being in grassroots for 20 years. He held the position of assistant treasurer at The Grassroots Club. Soh declined to comment when asked about the grassroots’ reaction to him standing for RP.

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Noraini (pictured above) was a former member of the Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapore (PKMS) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) before joining the Reform Party on the day Parliament was dissolved. She said that DPP chief Benjamin Pwee was “supportive” of her decision to join RP and that Jeyaretnam had extended an invitation to her “very early on”.

She hopes to champion issues of mental health if elected in Parliament, as her brother is being treated for schizophrenia in the Institute of Mental Health. She raised concerns of Malays being treated for mental illnesses and hopes to provide schemes to offer a listening ear to troubled, stressed Singaporeans.

“Welfare is a free good,” she said, stressing that Singaporeans should be receiving the benefits of the country’s success in the form of safeguards.

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Kumar Appavoo (pictured above), 46, the director of an oil and gas company, is set to stand for RP in Radin Mas SMC. He is a treasurer in RP’s central executive committee and studied building and construction management in Singapore Polytechnic.

Appavoo previously contested in the 2011 General Elections under the RP banner in West Coast GRC. He is set to face a contest with the incumbent Sam Tan from the ruling People’s Action Party, who secured 67.1 per cent of the vote in the last General Elections.

Jeyaretnam declined to comment on activist Han Hui Hui’s recent bid to contest Radin Mas SMC as an independent candidate, but Appavoo said he was confident of handling a possible three-cornered fight in the ward.

“This is a democracy. You can’t avoid anyone from coming anywhere. I’m up for the challenge,” said Appavoo to Yahoo Singapore.

Han was previously seen at house visits conducted by The Reform Party in Teck Ghee, under Ang Mo Kio GRC.

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The party has released a seven-point pledge (pictured above) promising to “ensure to wealth of Singapore is properly accounted for and spent on you, the people”.

Some of these points include giving children under 16 a monthly benefit of S$300 per child, and offering elderly above 65 an old-age pension of S$500 per month.

Jeyaretnam believes the latter, coupled with a plan to return Central Provident Fund savings to Singaporeans at age 55 and make savings voluntary, is a better scheme than the S$3 billion national plan announced by the Singapore government to keep ageing Singaporeans active. He said that the national plan amounts to S$600 million a year, while RP’s plan amounts to S$3 billion a year.

Jeyaretnam also lashed out at the government for failing to increase productivity levels in Singapore. “Ask the Prime Minister why he is calling this election two years early,” said Jeyaretnam.

Jeyaretnam said the party’s manifesto will be revealed in due course. He also hinted at an announcement on Friday (28 Aug) for other RP candidates. The party has indicated interest to also contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC.