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SINGAPORE: A refreshed People's Action Party (PAP) slate will take on Red Dot United's (RDU) top leadership in Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the May 3 General Election.
The candidates' nominations were confirmed on Wednesday (Apr 23).
Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, 66, anchors the PAP's team that includes four newcomers.
They are Ms Goh Hanyan, 39, a former director at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information; Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi, 40, a psychiatrist and former Nominated Member of Parliament; Mr Jackson Lam, 40, a director of a cleaning and pest control company; and Ms Lee Hui Ying, 36, a communications director.
RDU's secretary-general Ravi Philemon, 56, and chairman David Foo, 60, lead three first-timers in their fight for the constituency.
They are Dr Syed Alwi Ahmad, 57, a teacher and theoretical physicist; Mr Pang Heng Chuan, 56, a director at an international company based in China; and Ms Sharon Lin, 40, a senior consultant in the IT sector.
Nee Soon GRC has 151,634 voters and will return five MPs. Its boundaries remain unchanged from GE2020. It is the third-largest constituency behind Ang Mo Kio and West Coast-Jurong West GRCs.
In GE2020, the PAP went up against the Progress Singapore Party in Nee Soon GRC and won with 61.9 per cent of the vote.
Speaking to reporters after the candidates were confirmed, Mr Shanmugam said people are "naturally concerned" about the economy, jobs and job security.
"These are the issues, and both at the national level and at the ground level, we have to deal with them," he said, adding that the prime minister has talked about how the government plans to help people.
When asked about the four new faces in the PAP team, the minister said that "every MP was a new face once".
"They have been walking the ground ... I'm looking forward to working with them. I am very enthusiastic about this group of candidates."
Mr Philemon said he was glad there was no three-cornered fight in Nee Soon GRC.
"The issues are there, plain for the people to see – how much money you have in your pockets or don't have in your pockets, the value of your flat, whether it will be retained or whether it will become zero at the end of 99 years, unfair competition for jobs with non-citizens.
"These are issues that are out there."
He reiterated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) should be reverted to 7 per cent from the current 9 per cent.
