Ex-PAP activists, opposition members join new party

SINGAPORE — Besides five opposition party members who have jumped ship, the 11 seeking to form a new political party, Singaporeans First, also counts among its line-up four former activists from the People’s Action Party (PAP).

They are logistics professional David Foo and communications professional Fahmi Rais — both former Young PAP members — and leaders, social entrepreneur Tan Peng Ann and educationist David Tan, both former grassroots leaders.

Former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say, who ran under the Singapore Democratic Party banner in the 2011 elections with psychiatrist Ang Yong Gan, are familiar faces from the Opposition.

Mr Winston Lim and Ms Fatimah Akthar were former members of the Democratic Progressive Party’s central executive committee, while Dr Loke Pak Hoe, a director of three multinational educational companies, was from the Workers’ Party.

IT professional Jamie Lee Swee Yan, together with retired engineer and volunteer social worker Michael Chia, make up the rest of the line-up.

Mr Fahmi, who was part of the PAP grassroots for more than 20 years and often helped out at Meet-the-People sessions, was motivated to join the new party, as he saw a need for more compassion in the way residents’ problems were being managed.

Similarly, Dr Foo felt he had more in common with the aspiring new political party. “We saw eye to eye, politically,” he said.

Mr Lim and Ms Akthar added that they were “united by the Singaporeans First’s manifesto”.

On the line-up, analysts noted that they were all from the middle-class demographic, which throws up questions of their appeal to voters — should they be fielded — at a time when social equality is an issue.

Associate Professor Bilveer Singh, from the department of political science at the National University of Singapore, said: “Now, it’s about poverty and equality issues. Are such candidates what Singaporeans will go for?” TAN WEIZHEN