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Independent candidates Lim, Tan join forces for FAS polls

SINGAPORE — They may be competing against each other for individual council seats at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) upcoming elections on April 29.

Sebastian Tan (left) and James Lim have decided to join forces to help each other in the FAS elections. Photo: James Lim

Sebastian Tan (left) and James Lim have decided to join forces to help each other in the FAS elections. Photo: James Lim

SINGAPORE — They may be competing against each other for individual council seats at the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) upcoming elections on April 29.

But independent candidates James Lim and Sebastian Tan have decided to also campaign together in their bid to convince the majority of the 44 eligible FAS affiliates to vote for them.

TODAY understands that Lim, Tan and Kumar Appavoo, another independent candidate, met last evening to discuss forming an alliance ahead of the elections.

But in the end, Tan and Lim decided to band together as they did not agree with Appavoo in some areas.

In all, 16 people, including former national defender Lim Tong Hai and Hougang United treasurer Jeffrey Sim have registered to contest for the six individual council seats.

However, only four — Lim, Tan, Appavoo and Tanjong Pagar United chairman Edward Liu — are not aligned to either of the two teams competing in the elections, which are led by former FAS vice-president Lim Kia Tong and Hougang United chairman Bill Ng respectively.

The idea of working together with non-aligned candidates was mooted by Lim, 52, who believes that the new FAS council must have people who can provide alternative views on how local football should be run.

“The announcement that both Kia Tong and Bill have entered teams of 15 (a slate of nine, with six individual candidates) threw me off because I think it is against the original intention of how the council was designed,” the diehard fan of now defunct S.League club Woodlands Wellington said.

“There must be diversity in the new FAS council … voices who can keep the winning team in check, and provide different views and ideas in the governance of local football, or we may end up with a case of groupthink within the council.”

Lim, a general manager of an education company, explained that he and Tan can now present their own credentials and campaign messages via shared platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, emails and possibly even a press conference. “We are tapping on one another’s networks because all of us have our own supporters and contacts,” said Lim, who added that he has not contacted Liu yet, but is open to working with him.

“This way our credentials and messages will be spread to more people than if we were to campaign as individuals.”

Tan, a FAS registered referee, is open to an idea of a wider alliance but thinks it can only work if all are on the same page and sincere in wanting to help Singapore football progress.

“We have to ensure that our values don’t conflict with each other,” said Tan, a deputy director with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

“But assuming that all ideas are in sync, it would definitely make sense to have an alliance, because we won’t have as much resources as the individual candidates aligned to the two main teams.”

Appavoo, a businessman who has sponsored National Football League (NFL) club Gymkhana FC since last year, plans to get the affiliates to know him better.

“I have planned some events and talks to engage the relevant stakeholders and put forward what I can do if I’m elected,” said the 48-year-old who ran in the 2015 General Election as a Reform Party candidate.

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