Online comments emerge that PAP new candidate Ivan Lim allegedly a “How Lian” character

The People’s Action Party (PAP) introduced a few more new candidates today (26 Jun) to contest the upcoming General Election on 10 July next month. Altogether, PAP has unveiled 27 new faces for the upcoming polls.

One of the new PAP candidates slated to contest in Jurong GRC is Ivan Lim Shaw Chuan, 42. He is the General Manager at Keppel Offshore & Marine (KOM).

KOM was the unit in Keppel involved in a major international corruption scandal back in Dec 2017. It was found to be giving bribes of more than US$50 million over 13 years to Brazilian officials in exchange for business deals.

During an earlier introduction, it was revealed that Lim was awarded a scholarship by Keppel to study at Singapore Polytechnic, after which he continued to pursue his degree in marine engineering, graduating with first class honours at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Rising through the ranks, Lim is now general manager at KOM. DPM and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat praised Lim saying that he has had a very unusual journey in his education.

Lim told the media that he wants to champion the needs of the vulnerable. “I’m concerned about elderly residents and children who require social assistance, especially those with special needs.”

“I chose to serve with PAP because the PAP values and attributes are close to my heart. In particular, being compassionate, and also being self-reliant on the ground,” he added.

Negative stories of Ivan Lim emerge online

Not long after his introduction, netizens began to come forward spewing negative stories of Lim’s past.

A Facebook user shared that Lim was allegedly the commanding officer of his battalion and would speak “using a condescending voice” to tell others not to step into the air-conditioned tentage that he was using.

“His action and speech were simply that of an elitist,” the person wrote. This was reported in Asiaone.

The person added, “So now he is going into politics to represent the ordinary folks in Parliament. With his character and personality – will he?”

Others commented that Lim’s alleged “bad character” can be found all over on Facebook with negative remarks supposedly coming from his poly classmates, colleagues at Keppel as well as people serving with him during NS and reservist days. Some said he was a “shame” to PAP:

Still, more people called him, “selfish”, “arrogant” and “how lian” (Hokkien term for “show off”) with little empathy:

The online comments appear to be contradicting the down-to-earth public persona presented at his public introduction.

Meanwhile, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli has come to Lim’s defence. Masagos said, “General Election is a time when people who have been introduced will elicit responses, which is not surprising.”

“But I think that it’s also important for the candidates who may have been alleged to be something or other, to also prove themselves.”

He added that this is an opportunity for candidates to redeem themselves if they have done something in the past.

As a seeming show of support to stand behind all the candidates, allegations or not, Masagos concluded, “Because we have seen qualities in all our candidates that make them what we think good leaders [should have] that will serve all people well.”