Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC) residents are bound to witness a fight between the People’s Action Party (PAP) and Singapore’s newest political party on the block, Red Dot United (RDU).
Speaking at the Nomination Centre at Nan Hua High School today (30 June), RDU’s chairperson Michelle Lee said that the Party has “thought long and hard” to field its group in Jurong GRC.
“RDU thought long and hard but we feel that GE is about more than one person and one party, it’s about people of Singapore having the choice of more than one party. Courage is not about the absence of fear, it’s about doing the right thing despite the odds,” said Ms Lee.
The new Party is headed by secretary-general Ravi Philemon, and chairman Michelle Lee, who are both former members of Progress Singapore Party (PSP). RDU was registered as a political party on 15 June after submitting its application on 26 May.
The five-member team for RDU includes:
- Secretary-general Ravi Philemon, 52
- Chairperson Michelle Lee, 43
- Alec Tok Kim Yam, 55, theatre director
- Liyana Dhamirah, 33, entrepreneur and author
- Nicholas Tang, 28, legal engineer
Ms Liyana is the author of the book titled, “Homeless: The Untold Story of a Mother’s Struggle in Crazy Rich Singapore” which documented the time when she was homeless at 22 with two young children in tow, and one more on the way. She was introduced by the Party on 23 June.
Mr Tang has a law degree from King’s College London and is a legal engineer by profession. His experiences and the challenges he faces as a young Singaporean is the driving force behind his call for empathy.
While Mr Tok joins the fold alongside the RDU’s two new candidates on 26 June. He has a master’s in fine arts (directing) from Yale University and had lived for fifteen years in the US.
In this coming election, they will be standing against the PAP team which includes:
- Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 63 [leading the PAP team]
- Tan Wu Meng, 45, senior parliamentary secretary for Trade and Industry and Foreign Affairs
- Rahayu Mahzam, 39, backbencher and lawyer
- Xie Yao Quan, 35, head of healthcare redesign at Alexandra Hospital
- Shawn Huang, 37, director for enterprise development at Temasek International