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GE2015: PM Lee tells Aljunied voters WP ‘buay sai’

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke at the PAP rally for Aljunied GRC, in a bid garner support for the PAP team in the WP-held area (Photo: Kenneth Khoo)

By Kenneth Khoo

Two veteran politicians from the People’s Action Party (PAP) lent their support at a PAP-hosted rally Friday (4 Sep) for Aljunied Group Representative Constituency (GRC) in Defu Lane, in a bid to convince voters to put PAP back into the Workers’ Party-held ward.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reminded voters in his rally speech to believe in his track record, saying residents “know [his] character and [his] personality,” and that if he were to tell them that he would do something, he would do it. However, if he were to “say ‘cannot’, then buay sai (Hokkien for ‘cannot’).”

“WP is buay sai,” he said.

Another battle cry came in the form of former Cabinet Minister Lim Boon Heng, as he tried in his rally speech to underscore the PAP’s past efforts in Aljunied.

“The grey hair that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had, the grey hair that Mr Goh Chok Tong has, the grey hair that Mr Lee Hsien Loong has today, is all for you,” said Mr Lim.

PAP had ceded control of the GRC in the previous General Elections of 2011 to WP, losing then-Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo in the defeat.

PM Lee also reminded Aljunied voters of plans for the ward, including transforming the adjacent Defu industrial estate into a greener, more modern area. He noted that shifting Paya Lebar Air Base to Changi within the next 15 to 20 years will mean that the noises of jet planes will no longer be a disturbance to residents.

PAP’s Aljunied team for this elections – Chua Eng Leong, Shamsul Kamar, Victor Lye, K. Muralidharan Pillai and Yeo Guat Kwang – echoed sentiments of determination to recapture the ward.

“Some of them wanted to intimidate me, and I wanted to tell that that I won’t be intimidated,” said PAP’s Aljunied candidate K. Muralidharan

Although Muralidharan recounted an experience with an Aljunied resident who said to him “I only accept WP rice, I don’t accept PAP rice”, the PAP candidate promises that the PAP will ensure residents have “seamless service”.

“You (Aljunied residents) don’t have to wonder whether or not removing the crow’s nest outside your house is an AVA (Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority) problem or a town council problem.”

“At the PAP, we are not a wayang (Malay for theatre) party. We are an action party!” said PAP candidate Chua Eng Leong.

PM Lee said that a vote for the PAP’s Aljunied GRC team will be a vote towards “stop[ping] things from going wrong” and that the GRC will begin “work again”.

The PAP plans to conduct two rallies for Bukit Panjang Single Member Constituency (SMC), and Choa Chu Kang GRC tomorrow evening (5 Sep) from 7 to 10pm at the field next to Blk 136 Petir Road and Choa Chu Kang Secondary School respectively.