What a difference 4 years make: Chong-Aruldoss

SINGAPORE — Acknowledging that she lacked “public presence” during her first contest in Mountbatten SMC, Mrs Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss said that over the past four years, she has committed herself to politics, by way of organising seminars and forums, as well as writing papers.

“I think I’ve been given the time to prove myself. Before, people didn’t know me. Even if my heart is in the right place, maybe they don’t know what I stand for and what I can do,” she said. “Now, four years have passed, and I’ve been active in doing all these things. I feel I’ve been able to show and demonstrate my convictions better.”

Nevertheless, she said she had “a lot of misgivings” over the timeline of the General Election (GE) given that it was called more than a year ahead of the January 2017 deadline.

“The whole timetable is quite packed,” said the 52-year-old lawyer, who is mounting a second challenge against fellow lawyer Lim Biow Chuan of the People’s Action Party. She lost to Mr Lim in 2011, having garnered only 41.4 per cent of the vote.

Candidates and their supporters have had to react quickly, Mrs Chong-Aruldoss said. “It’s a challenge for my team, because 99 per cent of them have full-time jobs. This is another thing about the elections being called all of a sudden. Their programmes and plans will have to immediately dovetail (with) this timetable that has been set,” she added.

She also noted that Opposition politicians are at a disadvantage because the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee can redraw boundaries at every election.

For example, in the run-up to the 2011 GE, Mountbatten was carved out of Marine Parade GRC in February, and Polling Day was held on May 7. “By the time boundaries are carved and I’m announced as a candidate, how much time (did) I have to introduce myself to voters?” said Mrs Chong-Aruldoss. 

She was speaking to reporters after distributing flyers outside Mountbatten MRT Station at about 6.45am today (Sept 2) to catch residents on their way to work.

Reiterating her manifesto mantra, Mrs Chong-Aruldoss stressed that a Member of Parliament (MP) has a dual role: To take care of his or her ward and to speak up in Parliament.

Noting that only seven of the 87 elected MPs in the recently dissolved Parliament were from the Opposition, she said: “This task of ensuring that the debate is robust and also of checking and balancing the ruling party has been shouldered by a minuscule number of Opposition MPs.

“I strongly believe there’s an urgent and vital need for more MPs from a non-ruling party to play this role ... so decisions will be more sound and considered,” she added.