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GE2015: SPP-DPP unveil candidates for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC

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Democratic Progressive Party’s former secretary-general Benjamin Pwee interacts with veteran politician Chiam See Tong. Pwee is part of the joint Singapore People’s Party-DPP team to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC (Photo: Calum Stuart)

By: Calum Stuart

After extensive negotiations to field a joint team, the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) finally unveiled the candidates who will contest in the 11 Sep General Election.

The five-person team campaigning under the SPP banner in the Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representative Constituency (GRC) comprised ex-DPP secretary-general Benjamin Pwee, 47, and ex-DPP chairman Hamim Aliyas, 51, and SPP members Abdillah Zamzuri, 30, grassroots leader, Law Kim Hwee, 55, former marketing manager, and Bryan Long, 37, techpreneur.

This was announced at a news conference held on Sunday (30 Aug) in a hawker centre at Lor. 8 Toa Payoh, where one dominant political figure took centre stage among the members of the SPP, the DPP and the media. Veteran opposition politician and SPP Secretary-General Chiam See Tong, 80, announced that he will not be running in the GE. Instead, he will play the role of mentor to guide the SPP-DPP team.

“As you have seen for yourselves, we have a strong team here; a very good line up,” Chiam said. “We have two leaders in one [team], with Bryan Long and Ben Pwee. They are both very capable with much experience.”

Chiam won’t be retiring from the political arena as yet and insisted that “he still has a long way to go”.

In the event if the joint team were to lose the election, Pwee and Hamim will resign from the SPP and return to the DPP, though both maintained that the alliance between the two parties would remain strong.

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The SPP-DPP joint team contesting in the 11 Sep General Elections (Photo: Calum Stuart)

“It is not a partnership of convenience which just stops at this election, and we will continue to partner and walk the ground over the next five years if we lose,” said Pwee. “If we win, Hamim and myself will continue under the SPP banner, but we also agreed there will be a joint team with representatives from both parties coming together to run the constituency.”

On a possible merger between the two parties, members from both sides said while there was enough goodwill to make it happen, the issue will be addressed only after the GE.

“The whole talk of alliances just came up only a short time ago, and the topic of a merger is more of a legal [issue]. Should talk of a merger happen in future we’ll let that unfold, but for now what needed to be done to contest together is this alliance,” DPP member Nadine Yap said.

On the team’s electoral campaign, Pwee said members from both parties were familiar with the heartland issues facing residents.

“[There are] those in both our teams who live in HDB flats, so a lot of the issues they bring to the table are real-life issues that [directly affect] our candidates, their families, their neighbours. So we hope to bring a more authentic voice to the campaign.”

The SPP will unveil its policies when its manifesto is launched on Nomination Day on 1 Sep, Pwee added.