PAP - THE WEAKEST LINK

IDENTIFY PAP'S WEAKEST LINK IN MARINE PARADE GRC - VOTE NOW!

In the previous two elections SM Goh Chok Tong committed himself to campaign the PAP’s attempts to win the two Opposition wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang. He did so in confidence that his Marine Parade GRC was secure, and indeed no Opposition dared to challenge him then. This time round, Goh is a man on the edge.

He has lost half his team. Lim Biow Chuan is contesting in the Mountbatten SMC, Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim has been moved to the Nee Soon GRC and Dr Ong Seh Hong has chosen to quit politics altogether. Goh has reinforcement in the form of army general BG Tan Chuan-Jin, but was also given Tin Pei Ling the wife of Lee Hsien Loong’s principal private secretary in his team. To put mildly, she has failed to impress the public.

Dealt with such a poor hand, Goh may find it difficult to deliver to an overwhelming victory as he did in the past. Someone from this team will be most responsible for the fall in support.

Who is The Weakest Link? Your votes will determine.

Candidate 1: Seah Kian Peng

Seah is former Acting Principal Private Secretary to late President Ong Teng Cheong, who has since built a “corporate” career within the NTUC structure. He is also a non-executive director of at least three listed companies, including one in Australia.  Seah became Member of Parliament after a walkover at the Marine Parade GRC in 2006.

Highest Education Qualifications

Advanced Management Programme (Harvard Business School)

Fellow (Chartered Institute of Marketing)

Career

1986	Senior Contracts Executive, Indeco Engineers Pte Ltd
1989	Head, Budget Department, Mindef
1992-1993	Acting Principal Private Secretary to Ong Teng Cheong, then Deputy Prime Minister / Secretary General, NTUC
1992-1994	Head, Planning & Research, NTUC
1994-1996	Senior Manager, Sum Cheong Corporation Pte Ltd
1996-2000	CEO, NTUC Healthcare Co-operative Ltd
1997-2005	CEO, NTUC Media Co-operative Ltd
2001	COO, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd
2007	Managing Director (Group Business), NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd
2010-Present	CEO, NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd (Singapore)

Board Directorship

Lead Independent Director, Heatec Jietong Holdings Ltd

Independent Director, Soilbuild Group Holdings Ltd

Non-Executive Director, Skywest Airlines Limited (Australia)

Other Key Appointments

Chairman Singapore National Co-operatives Federation (SNCF)

Board of Directors, International Co-operative Alliance (ICA]

Vice-President of The Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Co-chair of the Social Enterprise Association

Board member, Centre for Fathering

Candidate 2: Assoc Prof Fatimah Lateef

Judging from appearance alone, A/P Fatimah looks like a person with the ears to listen to the people. She is a specialist in Emergency Medicine, but was recently mistaken by Goh Chok Tong to be a shrink. Has never faced an election contest as she entered parliament in 2006 via a walkover in Marine Parade.

Highest Education Qualifications

Sub-Specialisation in Emergency Cardiovascular and Neurovascular care and Prehospital care Medicine (Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, USA and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, USA)

FRCS(A&E) (Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh)

Career

1990-1995	Various MOH Hospitals, and Polyclinics
1995-1996	Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Royal Liverpool University Hospital (HMDP)
1997-1998	Associate Consultant in Emergency Medicine, USA
1999-2000	Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, USA University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, USA (HMDP)
2001-Present	Consultant, Dept of Emergency Medicine, SGH

Other Key Appointments

Senior Clinical Lecturer at Yong Loo Lin School of medicine, NUS and School of Health Sciences, Nanyang Polytechnic.

Candidate 3: Tin Pei Ling

Need we say more? Tin’s only apparent qualifications to become a PAP candidate appear to be her status as wife of Ng How Yue, the principal private secretary of Lee Hsien Loong, and her age. Both are working against her in the opinion of Singaporeans. Difficult to see her avoiding “The Weakest Link” tag.

Highest Education Qualifications

Bachelor of Social Sciences in psychology, National University of Singapore

Career

2007	Associate, Ernst & Young Advisory
2011	Senior Associate, Ernst & Young Advisory

Candidate 4: BG Tan Chuan-Jin

BG Tan has an impressive paper resume. He began his career as a SAF Overseas Scholar and was commissioned at Sandhurst. Thereafter he led the SAF's relief effort to Meulaboh, Aceh after the 2004 Tsunami and the highlight of his career was chairing the 2009 National Day Parade executive committee. On the downside, all these were achieved in the army where generals barked orders and subordinates followed. For someone who even went on to master public policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School, he is odds on to be a misfit in the new age of democratic Singapore. 

Highest Education Qualifications

Masters in Defence Studies from Kings College London

Masters in Public Management from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Career

1987-2011

Officer, SAF. Last appointment was Commander of Training and Doctrine Command.

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