SDP unveils transition team to take over Bukit Batok if elected

SINGAPORE — Should they win the upcoming by-election at Bukit Batok, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will have a team in place to help ensure a smooth transfer of town council management, the party announced on Sunday (April 10). 

The Bukit Batok seat was vacated last month after People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament David Ong resigned over an alleged extramarital relationship with a grassroots activist.

The PAP has named lawyer Murali Pillai as its candidate to defend the ward, while SDP chief Chee Soon Juan has announced his plans to stand in the by-election. 

At a media conference on Sunday, Dr Chee said its four-man transition team will help ensure that the handover process from the PAP-run town council will be smooth and uneventful “if we are so fortunate as to be elected to run the Bukit Batok constituency”. 

“We’re doing this well in advance … ,” he added. “This is important because we want to be able to assure residents of Bukit Batok that we are prepared and that is why we put together a panel here basically to advise us, to act as a resource panel.” 

The team, which will oversee the hiring of key professionals and ensure deadlines are met, include chartered accountant Wong Hong Koon, 75, and Mr Yeo Yeu Yong, 67, chief executive officer of Primech Services International Ltd, an international facilities management, property development and construction company. 

The other two on the team are Mr K Siva Sankaran, 60, director of East West Supplies, a firm that trades in building materials, metals and textiles, and lawyer Peter Low, who represented Aljunied-Hougang Town Council in its legal tussle with the Housing and Development Board over town council matters. 

For now, the team is supposed to see the party through the first hundred days of taking over the town council, but Dr Chee said it does not preclude them from continuing as advisors to oversight committees, which are teams that would assist the town council. 

He added that the party wants to ensure that all the hardware, such as the cleaning of lift landings and common area, will be taken care of. They will also announce the party’s plan for social programmes to enhance residents’ quality of life at a later date. 

Asked if the team was formed in response to the Workers’ Party’s (WP) town council woes, which has led to government grants being withheld and protracted court proceedings, Dr Chee said the SDP had raised points about taking over town councils as far back as the 2011 General Election.

“The whole intention is not in response to what happened with WP (AHTC) ... We know that residents are concerned about what happens when an Opposition party takes over a constituency ... This is a continuation of what we had been planning for,” he added.

Meanwhile, most of the Bukit Batok residents interviewed by TODAY said they were satisfied with their area’s infrastructure and facilities so far. They added that they would consider the ruling party’s track record in the area when asked who they were inclined to vote for in the upcoming by-election.