Vicki Yang / Benjamin Cheah /
Lina Chiam is proud of the office of the Potong Pasir Town Council. Located at Block 121 in the Single-member Constituency, it was fought for by Mr Chiam See Tong in 1984, when he first won the elections in that ward. It was only five years later that the Housing and Development Board (HDB) developed the office from the void deck area, Mrs Chiam tells The Online Citizen (TOC).
Political recognition does not come easy. Mrs Chiam will face her battle in the upcoming General Election – in the very ward which her husband has represented as MP for 27 years. .
Her credentials come in the form of 35 years of experience of supporting and helping her husband run the town and in his campaign in eight elections, beginning in 1976, when Mr Chiam contested Cairnhill seat.
This makes Mrs Chiam arguably the most experienced fresh candidate for the upcoming elections. Far from a passive bystander, Mrs Chiam has been involved in conducting door-to-door interviews, campaigning, serving on the Potong Pasir Town council as vice-chairman, and helping Mr Chiam prepare for his parliamentary sessions. When the Singapore People’s Party decided to field her as his replacement, it was almost as if her role as her husband’s successor is a natural extension of what she has been doing since the early days of Mr Chiam’s political career. In fact, as she describes, her husband and her “mirror each other”.
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