MP Yeo Guat Kwang – I was quite shaken in the 'Cheng San Battle'

the following is a non-verbatim translation of an article from mypaper dated 12 Jan 2012:

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Question posed to MP Yeo Guat Kwang: You were originally from Aljunied GRC but your constituency was redrawn into AMK GRC for the last election held in May. PAP eventually lost in Aljunied GRC and looking back, how do you feel?

MP Yeo Guat Kwang: Ever since I joined politics, I have faced great risk in every General Election. The first GE was in Chengsan GRC where we contested against J B Jeyaretnam and Tang Liang Hong.

I was quite shaken in the ‘Cheng San Battle’  where I witnessed how one could create tremendous impact by inciting racial emotions.

Subsequently I was sent to Aljunied. The first challenge was from James Gomez and the second from Sylvia Lim. I feel that within that 8 to 10 days of campaigning, it is like a Tsunami. Voters’ emotions could be easily swayed. Their decision to cast the vote could be due to certain impressions cast.

We have lost George Yeo in this battle and this is the saddest thing I have experienced since joining politics.

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Thanks to Goh Meng Seng for the translation