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The Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has confirmed the five members of their joint team who will be contesting Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC in the upcoming General Election.
The five include DPP Secretary-General Benjamin Pwee, 47, and DPP Chairman Hamim Aliyas, 55; their SPP teammates are former marketing manager Law Kim Hwee, 55, training company manager Abdillah Zamzuri, 31, and tech entrepreneur Bryan Long, 37.
The two parties will run in the election under the SPP banner with Mr Pwee and Mr Hamim quitting their party to re-join SPP. The two previously participated in the 2011 General Election under the SPP flag.
“We believe they are a strong team,” said Mrs Chiam.
It was announced that Mr Chiam will not be standing in the upcoming election due to his age and health. But he turned up at the press conference to give the joint team his backing.
[vimeo id=”137729493″ align=”center” mode=”normal”]“As you’ve seen for yourself, we have a strong team here, a very good line-up. They are professionals with good experience,” said Mr Chiam. He added, “They (Bryan Long and Benjamin Pwee) are capable people who can run the Bishan-Toa Payoh constituency well.”
Mr Pwee is the managing director of a business consulting firm. He was formerly a senior civil servant and Executive Director for China for a global American healthcare corporation.
Mr Long was a civil servant and former government scholar. He is currently a stay-at-home dad.
Mr Law has 30-odd years of experience in sales and marketing, working mainly in MNCs in Europe across many industries such as fashion, electronics and paper, packaging and publishing.
Mr Abdillah runs a training education company and sports academy. He is a grassroots leader with the Cairnhill CC Youth Executive Committee and was a grassroots volunteer with Mendaki.
Mr Hamim, who has been running his own company Hamim International for the past seven years, says, “We are very happy with the partnership between SPP and DPP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. I hope that we can work together for the future of Singapore.”
The SPP-DPP joint team will be contesting in the General Election against the People’s Action Party’s team, made up of the following candidates: Dr Ng Eng Hen, Ms Josephine Teo, along with three new faces to local politics, Mr Chee Hong Tat, Mr Chee Kee Hiong and Mr Saktiandi Supaat.
New electoral regulation compels resignation
Mr Pwee and Mr Hamim were secretary-general and chairman of DPP respectively, but they resigned and rejoined SPP under terms laid out by a Memorandum of Agreement revealed on Saturday.
A new election regulation in this election dictates that all candidates in a GRC team must either come from one party or consist of five independents. TOC has written to the Elections Department to ask about the reasons behind the introduction of this new regulation but has yet to receive any reply.