The difference between the ruling party’s Nomination Day swap of key Cabinet ministers across constituencies and Chee Soon Juan’s departure from Bukit Batok, according to People’s Action Party ( PAP ) organizing secretary Alex Yam, lies in the promise he made to voters before, Yam said.
Mr. Yam claimed on Friday ( Apr. 25 ) that the ruling party had “valid reasons” to support its decisions and that they were” not willy nilly” and that the PAP had been able to explain why they had done them.
The difference is that Dr. Chee made a common vow to stay in Bukit Batok and then made the switch-off decision days later. That is the central point, he claimed of the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party’s ( SDP ) plan to run for the Sembawang West seat.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who leads the PAP team in Sembawang GRC, addressed Dr Chee’s determination in his rally speech the night before, calling it a” determined social shift” that was made after a generation of not being interested in the northern area.
After a Yew Tee walkabout with Lawrence Wong, the outlet secretary of the PAP’s Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC staff, on Friday night, Mr. Yam spoke to investigators.
At Yew Tee Square and Yew Tee Point stores, as well as the hard court in front of Yew Tee MRT place, the trio spent about two days shaking hands, taking pictures, and handing out flyers. Additionally, they made a trip to the nearby Sparkle Care senior care facility.
According to Mr. Yam, who has served in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC since its founding in 2015, each political party has the right to choose which candidates to use” as they deem best in the interests of voters and in the interest of the representation.”
He reiterated Mr. Wong’s earlier assertion that the new Punggol GRC needed Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong so that” the east of Singapore has a good heavyweight minister who would be able to carry the ground there.”
According to Mr. Yam, the late deployments of Mr. Gan and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng were done for the sake of democracy, not” for exigency sake,” but were purposefully planned to give voters the best chance to make a choice.
He referred to Dr. Chee’s move to a different constituency for the May 3 elections as” but here you have an individual who made a promise, who made a public pledge to do so, but who then changed his mind right away.”
In the former Bukit Batok single-seat ward in the 2020 General Election and the 2016 by-election, the SDP leader ran and lost. Prior to that, he had failed to lead the SDP team for the 2015 hustings in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.
In accordance with the most recent revision of the nation’s electoral map, the Bukit Batok seat was renamed Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.