[SINGAPORE] The PAP team contesting the new Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC at the upcoming election will be led by Manpower Minister Tan See Leng and include new face Diana Pang, a business development director and long-time party volunteer.
Also part of the party’s slate for the GRC are Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, and incumbent MPs Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) and Tin Pei Ling (MacPherson SMC), Dr Tan told a press conference on April 20.
The newly renamed Marine Parade-Braddell Heights is formed from parts of Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson SMC, Mountbatten SMC and Potong Pasir SMC.
Ms Pang’s confirmation on the slate means incumbent Marine Parade GRC MP Mohd Fahmi Aliman, who oversaw the Geylang Serai ward during his single term in Parliament, will not be part of the PAP’s Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC team.
Meanwhile, PAP will field shipping lawyer Gho Sze Kee to contest the Mountbatten single seat in place of incumbent Lim Biow Chuan, who is stepping down after serving four terms in Parliament.
Dr Tan, 60, who is contesting his second election, said he is grateful to the residents of Marine Parade for welcoming, supporting and encouraging him over the last five years.
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He added that the PAP’s work in the group representation constituency is “never done”.
“We continue to want to improve the infrastructure, the intergenerational connectivity. Therefore, I seek a strong mandate from all of the residents.”
Dr Faishal, 56, who entered politics alongside Mr Seah in 2006, said that even though he has been an MP for Nee Soon GRC for 14 years, he has continued to be on the ground in Marine Parade. This includes being the lead adviser to Wisma Geylang Serai, the cultural heritage integrated hub that falls within Marine Parade GRC.
Dr Faishal was a Marine Parade GRC MP in his first term in Parliament.
Ms Pang, 51, said she believes that leadership is not about making speeches, but about “giving your heart”.
“It’s about action… I hope to be a voice, not just to listen, but I will also act on it.”
At the 2020 election, the PAP team won 57.74 per cent of the vote in Marine Parade GRC, beating a WP team, which garnered 42.26 per cent.
Of the PAP’s five-member team then, only Dr Tan and Mr Seah, 63, are set to remain in the constituency.
Incumbent Marine Parade GRC MP Edwin Tong, who oversaw the Joo Chiat ward, is expected to run in neighbouring East Coast GRC after the ward was carved out and absorbed into East Coast.
Former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, who led the PAP’s Marine Parade GRC team in 2020, resigned in 2023 over an extramarital affair with fellow MP Cheng Li Hui.
The PAP team is expected to be challenged by a team from the WP, which has continued to walk the ground since 2020.
Mr Fahmi, who is in his early 50s, was an army colonel and stepped down as deputy chief executive of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore in March 2020 before joining politics. He is now a director at the National Trades Union Congress.
Dr Tan said that whether Mr Fahmi will be fielded at the coming election in another constituency is a “decision that we will make in the final analysis on Nomination Day itself”. Nomination Day falls on April 23.
Ms Tin, 41, a three-term MP who has served MacPherson since 2011, prevailed against the People’s Power Party’s Goh Meng Seng at the 2020 polls, with 71.74 per cent of the vote.
About 75 per cent of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC’s 131,493 voters are from the previous Marine Parade GRC (98,341). THE STRAITS TIMES
