Trust us to press Govt for a better deal: RP chief

SINGAPORE — The Reform Party (RP) had gathered its supporters at a public housing estate just across the road from the nomination centre at Keming Primary School more than an hour before its candidates were scheduled to submit their nomination papers yesterday morning.

“We wanted to make sure that we had got our paperwork in order,” said party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam, 56.

Speaking to reporters at an open court near Block 285 Bukit Batok East Avenue 3, he noted that the party was relatively new during the 2011 General Election. “This time, we’re a credible team,” he said. “We’ve done our work on the ground and we noticed that people are even more unhappy than last time.” Addressing the crowd at the nomination centre after his party’s candidates had been confirmed, Mr Jeyaretnam said: “We are not an elite, we’re not an aristocracy, but we want to serve you ... You can trust us … with your estate, you can trust us to press the Government on national issues for a better deal.”

For the Sept 11 polls, the RP will be contesting again in West Coast and Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), just as it did in 2011.

Mr Jeyaretnam, a full-time politician, will lead property agents Andy Zhu, 32, and Darren Soh, 45; and customer service executive Noraini Yunus, 47, in a straight fight with the People’s Action Party (PAP) team in West Coast GRC. The RP took 33.43 per cent of the votes in 2011.

In Ang Mo Kio GRC, lawyer M Ravi, 46, will lead the RP charge against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s PAP team. Mr Ravi’s team-mates are blogger Roy Ngerng, 34; entrepreneur Osman Sulaiman, 40; activist Gilbert Goh, 54; infocomm technology trainer Siva Chandran, 32; and former banker Jesse Loo, 52. During the last GE, the RP team took 30.7 per cent of the votes.

Over at Radin Mas Single-Member Constituency, RP’s Kumar Appavoo, a 46-year-old businessman, will face the PAP’s Mr Sam Tan as well as independent candidate Ms Han Hui Hui, a blogger. VALERIE KOH