Three fresh faces in the Workers' Party leadership
Just over a week after the announcement of the new Cabinet, the opposition Workers' Party has embarked on its own leadership renewal drive — three new members, all recent political candidates, have been inducted into its Central Executive Council (CEC).
Mohamed Fairoz Shariff, 36, Kenneth Foo, 38, and Leon Perera, 45, were inducted into the CEC Tuesday, during the council's monthly meeting. According to the Workers' Party website, "the co-option is meant to strengthen the CEC to meet the expanded scope of leadership work in the Party". The new appointments take effect immediately.
All three men contested the recent General Election, in the Nee Soon and East Coast GRCs specifically. Shariff was a librarian with the National Library Board, while Foo is a manager with the Singapore Cancer Society. Perera, who has been nominated by the party as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament, is the CEO of an international research consultancy.
The trio were part of a slew of new WP candidates this year, many of them professionals with impressive credentials. In an interview with The Straits Times before GE2015, WP chair Sylvia Lim had emphasised the need for fresh faces in the party, adding that the election would be a "big testing ground" for its candidates.
Meanwhile, real estate agent Ron Tan, 30, sales consultant Cheryl Denise Loh, 31, and engineer Redzwan Hafidz, 30, were also recently inducted into the executive committee of the party's Youth Wing. All three also contested the recent election.
