SINGAPORE — With the General Election (GE) battle lines in place, more of the People’s Action Party’s potential candidates for the upcoming election made appearances at various community events today (July 26).

Among them was former civil servant Joan Pereira, who accompanied the Tanjong Pagar GRC Members of Parliament on a visit to Bukit Merah View Market today, and has been seen walking the ground with Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah since last year. 

The former director (Family Life & Active Ageing) at the People’s Association recently joined Temasek Cares, and started official party work in May.

Speaking to the media today, the mother of two expressed a passion for working on elderly issues, and added she had learnt a lot from Ms Indranee. “When I accompanied her for community events, for walkabouts — and if you noticed the walkabout just now — practically everyone whom we spoke to all love her,” she said. 

She added: “I really have deep fulfilment serving the elderly because that is my passion. When I worked on the (PA’s) wellness programme, I found that it was indeed a joy to serve the elderly. When they have their needs, they come over and talk to me and if I’m able to help them and they feel that I care for them, I help them. I find joy in that.”

Tanjong Pagar remains a five-man GRC in the latest electoral boundaries review committee report released last Friday. After the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s death in March, the remaining MPs are Ms Indranee, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing, Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Dr Lily Neo. 

Mr Chan said the team’s focus is not “on who’s coming in” and that opposition parties viewing the constituency as a trophy win are doing “injustice to residents”.

Instead, the focus is to put in their work every day so residents will see who is genuine. “It’s the wrong starting point to say that I want to come to Tanjong Pagar because I want to see a fight,” he said. 

Meanwhile, in Tampines GRC, Ms Cheng Li Hui, deputy chief executive officer and executive director at Hai Leck Holdings, was introduced alongside Mr Desmond Choo by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is anchoring minister for the constituency, as potential candidates for the party’s campaign in the five-man GRC. 

Ms Cheng is also vice-chairman of the Citizen Consultative Committee in Tampines East. Said Mr Heng of the two on the sidelines of the Tampines SG50 Walk today: “They have the right spirit to serve residents and we are working with them to do a good job of serving our residents, and our residents have been responding to them. But at the same time all our MPs have been also working very hard. So our final line-up will be announced when we are ready.”

Mr Choo, who is deputy director at the National Trades Union Congress, is no stranger to politics, having previous contested against the Workers Party’s Yaw Shin Leong in Hougang in the 2011 GE, and against in the Hougang by-election a year later, when Mr Yaw was expelled from WP following an extramarital affair. After losing to WP’s Png Eng Huat, he left his grassroots position in the ward and was appointed second adviser to Tampines Grassroots Organisations for Tampines East.

Tampines GRC, like Tanjong Pagar, remains a five-man GRC after the redrawing of electoral boundaries. Apart from Mr Heng, the five MPs currently serving the constituency are Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Masagos Zulkifli, Mr Baey Yam Keng and Ms Irene Ng. CHANNEL NEWSASIA