PAP - THE WEAKEST LINK

IDENTIFY PAP'S WEAKEST LINK IN CHUA CHU KANG GRC - VOTE NOW!

Chua Chu Kang GRC is a newly created entity. It is formed loosely from the merger of Hong Kah GRC, which will be dissolved with the retirement of its anchor former Minister Yeo Cheow Tong, with the existing Chua Chu Kang SMC, helmed by Minister of Manpower Gan Kim Yong.

However Gan will head a team that is more new than old as incumbent Hong Kah GRC MPs Ang Mong Seng and Amy Khor are retiring and contesting in a SMC respectively. Two lightweight newcomers, Low Yen Ling and Alex Yam, are expected to join existing Hong Kah GRC MPs Alvin Yeo and Zaqy Mohamad in the Chua Chu Kang team. However neither Yeo nor Zaqy have experience in an election contest.

The PAP appears to be taking a genuine gamble in fielding such a raw team in Chua Chu Kang. Perhaps they are taking a bet that the Opposition will be giving Chua Chu Kang a miss? They could be wrong

Who is The PAP’s Weakest Link in Chua Chu Kang? Singaporeans, you decide.

Candidate 1: Alvin Yeo Khirn Hai, Senior Counsel

Yeo is a stellar solicitor to say the least. Managing Partner of a top local law firm, he was the youngest lawyer to be appointed Senior Counsel in 2000. He must have heaved a sigh of relief on nomination day in the 2006 general election when the PAP team in the now-defunct Hong Kah GRC was given a walkover. After all, even without the burden of being a MP he holds a heavy load of responsibilities in the legal and corporate world. Wonder if he squeezes time for the unemployed middle-age Singaporean if he has a queue of MNC CEOs and foreign millionaires waiting outside his office door?

Highest Education Qualifications

LL.B (2nd Class Upper Honours) (King's College - Law, University of London)

Barrister-at-law (Inns of Court School of Law)

Career

1988-1991	Associate - Shook Lin & Bok
1992-2002	Partner - Wong Partnership
2003-Present	Managing Partner  (banking and corporate disputes, insolvency and restructuring, and construction and civil engineering)

Board Directorships

Non-Executive Independent Director, Keppel Corporation

Non-Executive Independent Director, United Industrial Corporation Limited

Director, Singapore Land Limited.

Director, Tuas Power Ltd

Director, Tuas Power Generation Pte Ltd

Other Key Appointments

Vice-Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee

Member, ICC Commission on Arbitration

Member, Court of the LCIA

Member, Singapore International Arbitration Centre's Council of Advisors

Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators

Member, panel of arbitrators, International Centre for Dispute Resolution

Member, Korean Commercial Arbitration Board

Member, Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration.

Member, Appeals Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Chairman of Audit Committee, Law Society of Singapore

Director, Civil Service College

Candidate 2: Low Yen Ling

Little known new PAP candidate from the civil service. 

Highest Education Qualifications

Bachelor of Business Studies (Financial Analysis), Second Upper Honours degree, NTU

Career

1996	Commercial lending accounts, United Overseas Bank and Keppel Tat-Lee Bank; Business Development Manager in a “start-up company”
2001-2011	Senior Officer, Economic Development Board (EDB).  Last appointment Director, Singapore Welcome Centre for Corporates

Candidate 3: Zaqy Mohamad

A rare PAP candidate from the private sector. Zaqy got into the Parliament in 2006 via a walkover in the now-defunct Hong Kah GRC. The YoungPAP website claims Zaqy has “a strong interest in youth development, concerns of the working class, and Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) as well as Singapore’s economic agenda.” Has resolving the employment woes of middle-aged PMETs been on his actual “to-do” list?

Highest Education Qualifications

M.Sc (Financial Engineering)/ Certificate in Computational Finance (Nanyang Technological University/ Carnegie Mellon University)

Career

1999	Senior Consultant, Arthur Andersen
2002	Business Consultant, IBM/ PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting
2005	Director, Solutions (South-East Asia) Avanade
2008-Present	Sales Director, Datacraft (Singapore)

Other Key Appointments

Board Director, SPRING Singapore

Board Director, MENDAKI

Candidate 4: Alex Yam Ziming

The choice of Yam as a candidate is a mystery. The 30-year-old was initially characterised by the mainstream media as a “unionist” and “Principal Executive” at NTUC. The PAP later officially introduced him as “Head (Strategies & Planning/Youth Lab) of Young NTUC”, and he supposedly oversees the development of young activists and helps chart the engagement with young workers. Yet searches on the internet reveal that he has been no more than someone from NTUC’s Youth Development Unit / Young NTUC Secretariat, and the contact person (not even the team manager) of Young NTUC’s “P-L-A-Y” department, which organises activities for volunteers such as performing at the NDP etc. The startling lack of quality notwithstanding, Yam was appointed in June 2010 unto the Board of Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC).

Highest Education Qualifications

Honours degree in Politics & International Relations, University of Kent

Career

2005	Administrative Officer, NUS
2006-Present	Head (Strategies & Planning/Youth Lab), Young NTUC

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