Khaw's team romps home with biggest GRC win

PAP team secures 76.7% of votes, trouncing the SDP by a margin of 90,609 votes

By Audrey Tan
May 7, 2006
The Straits Times

IN HIS first election contest, Mr Khaw Boon Wan led his group representation constituency (GRC) to a sterling result, romping home with the biggest win in a GRC for the People's Action Party (PAP).

Mr Khaw's team - Mr Hawazi Daipi, Dr Mohamed Maliki Osman, Mr K. Shanmugam, Ms Ellen Lee and Dr Lim Wee Kiak - secured 76.7 per cent of valid votes in Sembawang, trouncing its Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) opponents by a margin of 90,609 votes.

The SDP, which contested one GRC and one single-member seat, was the biggest loser in this election.

In Sembawang, its team fared the worst of all parties contesting GRCs. Its chairman, Mr Ling How Doong, was the worst-performing opposition politician, pulling in just 22.8 per cent of the vote in the single-member constituency of Bukit Panjang.

But unlike the Workers' Party, which congratulated its PAP opponents in Aljunied GRC, the SDP extended no such courtesies.

Instead, SDP candidate for Sembawang Chee Siok Chin issued a one-page statement from the party's headquarters in Serangoon Road last night, saying: 'The SDP does not concede anything to the PAP, least of all the so-called mandate that the PAP claims it has.'

She offered three reasons why the elections have been 'undemocratic'.

Rules were changed and introduced before and during the elections so that SDP's podcast was banned, and the party's secretary-general, her brother Dr Chee Soon Juan, was not allowed on stage during rallies or even to talk to voters off-stage, she said.

The 'PAP media' also waged a campaign against the SDP, she alleged.

Lastly, she said, the lawsuit by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong 'silenced' the SDP and prevented it from questioning Mr Khaw over the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) issue, she said.

'With such undemocratic electioneering, is it any wonder that the PAP has won the contests in Sembawang GRC and Bukit Panjang?' she asked.

In fact, the SDP had performed 'creditably' by securing 24 per cent of the vote, she added.

Unlike the other parties, the SDP did not plan for supporters to gather at any assembly point to await the results of the election.

Instead, Ms Chee waited for the outcome at the party's headquarters, along with Dr Chee and Ms Monica Kumar, a member of the team which contested Sembawang GRC.

The other members of the team were Mr Christopher Neo, Mr Mohamed Isa Abdul Aziz, Mr Francis Yong Chu Leong and Mr Gerald Sng Choon Guan,

Except for Mr Yong, none of them turned up at the counting centre either. Even Mr Yong left after a quick 10-minute tour of the centre.

Mr Sng said he learnt of his loss only over the car radio, while he was driving with some friends to a Potong Pasir coffee shop for dinner.

His first reaction on hearing of the results was to joke: 'Phew, at least we kept our election money.'

In contrast, PAP supporters were out in full force at Woodlands Stadium last night, waving their banners, long balloons and pom-poms.

A jubilant Mr Khaw told the cheering crowd that he was touched by their support for him.

'I promise that over the next five years, I will work my guts out for you so I can touch your hearts too.'

The strong support also shows approval for his work as the Minister of Health, he said.

'As Health Minister, I hope to serve Singaporeans to make you healthier and keep health costs affordable,' he said.

Sembawang, the biggest GRC with 184,804 voters, has not seen a contest since 1988, when former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tony Tan saw off a challenge by the United People's Front. Dr Tan's team won with 70.1 per cent of the vote.

But SDP thought it had a chance in Sembawang after Dr Tan retired from politics and Mr Khaw was moved in from Tanjong Pagar GRC to anchor the ward.

While the PAP focused on bread-and-butter issues such as lift upgrading, the SDP team found its election campaign marred by a rift in its ranks.

All the SDP candidates in Sembawang, apart from Ms Monica Kumar, faced the threat of a lawsuit from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew over alleged defamatory articles in the party's newsletter, The New Democrat.

Cracks began appearing in the party almost as soon as letters of demand were filed against 12 of its leaders: Either apologise or face a lawsuit.

By the midway point of the hustings, only Ms Chee and Dr Chee had not apologised, as the PAP leaders had demanded.

Asked if she would contest the next elections, Ms Chee said: 'We will look into that.'

She added that the SDP will begin work immediately on the lawsuit, as well as on 'reforming the election process to make it genuinely free and fair'.