WP, PAP on why Hougang matters

Parties say area has unique identity which should be retained

By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 14 May 2012

WITH just days to go before Nomination Day, the two parties contesting Hougang have come out to talk about why the constituency is so special to them. Hougang, they say, has a unique identity which residents are proud of and which should be retained.

While Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim lauded the residents for 'defending democracy in their backyard', the People's Action Party's (PAP) candidate Desmond Choo dismissed talk that the single-seat ward could be absorbed into a group representation constituency after the by-election.

Their comments came as the two parties continued gearing up over the weekend for the closely-watched poll that is due to take place on May 26. Nomination Day is on Wednesday.

Mr Choo, the ward's grassroots adviser, was out and about Hougang yesterday, visiting a market and dropping by a blood donation drive.

The WP have been keeping a lower profile, though some say they spotted the opposition party's chief Low Thia Khiang having lunch with residents at a coffee shop, and its candidate Png Eng Huat walking around the estate.

Yesterday, the WP posted a photo on Facebook of Mr Png filling in his nomination forms - at what appeared to be the same coffee shop Mr Choo had been in the morning.

Over the weekend, Ms Lim also made her first public comments on the by-election since it was called last week, and singled out Hougang's residents for praise.

'What's so special about Hougang?' she asked in a blog post. 'Hougang residents have shown that they will defend democracy in their own backyard, even if it costs them.'

Explaining, she recounted a conversation with a former secretary about 15 years ago. She had asked the woman, who lived in Hougang, how it felt when transport routes to the area were cut after Mr Low was elected MP for the ward in 1991.

The secretary's response: 'Never mind - if we have no train, we will take bus! If we have no bus, we can walk!'

Wrote Ms Lim: 'Such is the resolve of her and thousands of her neighbours, who have withstood decades of discrimination to vote for WP and Mr Low Thia Khiang, election after election.'

Mr Low went on to hold Hougang for two decades until last year's general election.

Said Ms Lim: 'Does Hougang matter? You bet it does.'

The PAP's candidate too told reporters that Hougang residents 'treasure' the ward's unique identity. So, he said, he hopes that Hougang will remain a single-member constituency (SMC), no matter who wins the by-election.

Some speculation has been going around online that Hougang might be absorbed into a GRC after the by-election. Pundits noted it had happened in Anson, which the WP's Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam won in a 1981 by-election.

After Mr Jeyaretnam lost the seat in 1986 when he was disqualified from Parliament, Anson's boundaries were redrawn and the ward was absorbed into GRCs created ahead of the 1988 General Election.

Yesterday, Mr Choo, 34, told the media that residents would 'all like to see it remain as Hougang SMC'.

'There's no reason to believe that it wouldn't be so,' he said, adding that he would make sure Hougang remains intact 'as long as I'm here'.

He also wrote in a Facebook post: 'I am proud to be a part of Hougang.'

PAP candidate's 'coffee session' attracts a crowd

By Rachel Chang, The Straits Times, 15 May 2012

THEY arrived just five minutes after the official start time of a weekly 'coffee session' with People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Desmond Choo at the Hougang Community Club last night.

But Mr Taher Uddin, 41, and Mr Tay Beng Boon, 40, were already 28th in the queue. Half an hour before the session's official ending time of 10pm, their number still had not been called.

Two days before Nomination Day for the by-election, Hougang residents swelled attendance at Mr Choo's unofficial meet-the-people session last night to twice the usual size.

About 50 people showed up, some with pleas for assistance for Mr Choo, who is the grassroots adviser, and others - like Mr Uddin and Mr Tay - with a desire to size up the PAP candidate.

Mr A.C. Koh, 56, a contractor, sought Mr Choo's help with a Housing Board dispute. While he denied that he was there because of the impending election, he said that it may be a reason for the large crowd. 'People think that they may be more willing to help now since they want votes,' Mr Koh said of the PAP.

Earlier that evening, Mr Choo emphasised to reporters that he felt part of the 'Hougang family'.

Asked if he had a target vote share in mind for the coming by-election, he replied that 'our target has always been to touch and make a difference in residents' lives, one at a time'.

Mr Choo lost in last year's general election to former Workers' Party (WP) MP Yaw Shin Leong with 35.2 per cent of the vote.

For this by-election campaign, he has emphasised repeatedly that he is his 'own man' and is running the Hougang race with minimum input from PAP headquarters.

Still, he said that the PAP leadership was 'very concerned about how we are faring on the ground, how's the morale'.

Asked if ministers would lend their weight to his campaign or speak at his rallies, he said that 'if they pop by, I won't be surprised'.

Comments on the by-election, such as Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean's remark that voting for the PAP in Hougang would get residents the 'best of both worlds', were a sign that the party is concerned about Hougang and serious about winning it back, he said.

'If none of them has views, I would be disappointed. Their comments show that they are concerned about residents here.'

At Hougang CC last night, Mr Uddin and Mr Tay, business partners in an engineering firm, were surprised to find that other residents were there with concerns, when all they wanted was a conversation.

'We thought this was really a coffee session where we could sit down with him and hear about his plans for Hougang,' said Mr Uddin.

Both voted for the WP in last May's polls.

They decided to stay until it was their turn anyway. 'We decided that we will just say hi and ask him for another time that he is free,' said Mr Tay.

'One ward, two MP' idea flawed, says WP candidate
Opposition candidates do not hold role of grassroots adviser: Png

By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 15 May 2012

THE argument that Hougang residents could still be served by two MPs if they vote for the People's Action Party (PAP) is flawed, said the Workers' Party's (WP) by-election candidate yesterday.

'The two MP system was probably accidentally designed by the PAP,' said Mr Png Eng Huat, 50, referring to past instances when the PAP's losing candidates in opposition wards stayed on in the constituencies as grassroots advisers.

But the system would not work for opposition candidates who do not hold the role of adviser. Mr Png told The Straits Times: 'It only works with an opposition MP and a PAP grassroots adviser. The reverse, unfortunately, doesn't work.'

He was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean's suggestion last Friday that if Hougang residents voted for the PAP, they would get 'the best of both worlds' as they would still be served by WP chief Low Thia Khiang, who was MP for the ward for 20 years.

On Sunday, the PAP's candidate Desmond Choo said he expected the WP to continue being active in Hougang regardless of the by-election results 'if WP is serious about serving the residents'.

Mr Choo, who lost to former MP Yaw Shin Leong in last year's general election, is grassroots adviser in Hougang.

The by-election is being held to fill the seat vacated by Mr Yaw when he was sacked from the WP for not coming clean on allegations of extramarital affairs.

In the 21 years that the WP has been in the ward, it has been running schemes with several voluntary welfare organisations, including a food rations scheme for the poor which Mr Png supervised from 2006 to last year. 

But yesterday, Mr Png suggested that the schemes were not comparable to the PAP grassroots machinery. Despite this, he said, if he lost and 'if Mr Choo is okay with it', he hopes to continue doing welfare work there.

Ahead of Nomination Day tomorrow, his opponent Mr Choo has highlighted his track record of schemes which have helped residents, such as transport vouchers, a job placement centre and a new legal clinic to be launched today.

On his own plans, Mr Png said he did not want to waste resources by duplicating such schemes, adding: 'I'm not in a contest to bring in that many programmes here, to see who will win... I may as well look after other needs so we complement.'

The businessman also stressed his view that local issues cannot be divorced from the national. For instance, he said, while the town council manages the estate, the building of new markets or housing is set by national policies.

Responding to Mr Choo's comments on Sunday that an MP's basic job is to take concrete steps in looking after residents' needs on the ground, Mr Png said the WP has already been doing this. 'Definitely, we have taken care of Hougang to the best of our abilities.'

Over the past three months, he has knocked on the doors of almost all the Housing Board flats in Hougang, recording residents' feedback in his 'little black book', he said. All the concerns - from cleanliness to spalling concrete - are in the process of being solved, he added.

On Mr Choo's claim that he is the underdog in the ward, Mr Png countered that at the national level, the WP is 'definitely the underdog' with only five seats in Parliament, compared to 81 held by the PAP.

Meanwhile last night, six former Singapore People's Party members led by former civil servant Benjamin Pwee also issued a statement urging Hougang voters to 'vote with the national political agenda in mind' and signal to the ruling party that 'business cannot be as usual anymore'.