Bukit Batok will be a model town if I’m elected: Chee

SINGAPORE — Vowing to make Bukit Batok a model town that is the envy of others if he is elected, Dr Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said he will continue pounding the streets to meet residents and keep up outreach efforts on social media during the nine days of campaigning, besides holding rallies.

In a press conference after he was successfully nominated as a by-election candidate, Dr Chee responded to comments by People’s Action Party (PAP) second assistant secretary-general Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Tuesday that the SDP was unprepared.

If the PAP was better prepared, it would already have provided an update on the S$24 million worth of infrastructure plans promised by former Member of Parliament David Ong in the General Election last year, retorted Dr Chee, 53, even as he reiterated his call for the by-election campaign to be a contest of ideas, instead of mudslinging.

The war of words was sparked by his PAP rival Murali Pillai’s additional S$1.9 million-worth of infrastructure plans for the ward, if he is elected — which Dr Chee criticised as an “unethical” carrot-and-stick tactic.
Mr Ong’s promises included the refurbishment of the estate’s market and surroundings under the Housing and Development Board’s Remaking Our Heartland initiative. Mr Ong, who won 73.02 per cent of the vote before resigning last month due to an alleged extramarital affair, had also said the Single-Member Constituency would get a new eldercare centre and two new early childhood education centres.

Dr Chee criticised Mr Murali for saying he wanted to serve residents but that plans, such as those for a multi-generation fitness park, could only carry on if he is elected.

“What (Mr Murali) should be saying is, ‘I want to be your MP but I will abide by the people’s wishes. If I am not elected, I will ask the successful candidate, the MP, to carry on (with) this project.’ That is truly, genuinely caring for residents,” said Dr Chee.

His party’s attempts to serve Bukit Batok residents, such as by holding a health screening for them, had been blocked by the town council, he added.

Before heading into the nomination maelstrom at Keming Primary School on Wednesday (April 27) morning, the SDP chief had rallied supporters, urging them to “go all out” in the “final sprint” towards Polling Day on May 7.

Flanked by his wife, Dr Huang Chih Mei, and many of the party’s candidates who had stood in last year’s General Election, Dr Chee said his party would continue its work “no matter what happens on May 7”.