Potential PAP candidates spotted

 Potential PAP candidates spotted

SINGAPORE - Two potential People's Action Party (PAP) candidates for the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC team in the next general election were spotted yesterday.

They are 48-year-old Chong Kee Hiong, chief executive of Singapore Exchange-listed OUE Hospitality Trust, and 41-year-old Saktiandi Supaat, a former Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) economist now heading the foreign exchange research team at Maybank.

The duo were among Bishan-Toa Payoh grassroots leaders who accompanied Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen when he opened a newly renovated Residents' Committee Centre at Toa Payoh East.

Dr Ng, who is the ward's anchor minister, described them as among potential candidates who are already active on the ground in many GRCs across Singapore, well ahead of the next general election which must be held before January 2017.

The move was in response to Singaporeans' feedback after the 2011 General Election, said the PAP organising secretary.

"Many Singaporeans said that they prefer candidates who have spent some time on the ground before elections come."

It will also allow potential candidates time to get to know residents, and residents can decide whether the new faces can serve them better, added Dr Ng. "That is good not only for the PAP, but all political parties."

These candidates with a "record of service" are PAP's "preferred type of person" to put up as candidates, he noted, although he acknowledged it is "not always possible" to find such people.

Both Mr Chong and Mr Saktiandi are newly minted grassroots leaders at the Toa Payoh East and Bishan East citizens consultative committees, but they also do other volunteer work.

Mr Saktiandi was president of the youth wing of self-help group Association of Muslim Professionals for three years, from 2011 to January this year.

He was also a volunteer at the Kolam Ayer PAP branch in Moulmein-Kallang GRC from 2008 under Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, before moving to Bishan-Toa Payoh last year.

The father of three young children said he is passionate about, among other issues, the low-income group and broken families whose main breadwinners are in prison.

"They deserve the extra help," said Mr Saktiandi, whose wife is a social worker.

Mr Chong is a familiar face in corporate circles. The accountancy graduate was the chief financial officer of international hotel chain Raffles Holdings and senior executive in the Ascott group, including being its chief executive from 2012 to last year, before joining OUE Hospitality Trust.

The father of four boys aged between eight and 16 said that volunteer work takes up at least two nights a week, but he has the full support of his wife, who is a housewife.

He is also active in the labour movement, serving as president of the union-linked Orchid Country Club and chairman of NTUC Foodfare cooperative.

Both new faces also help out at the PAP's weekly Meet-the-People Sessions at Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC on Tuesdays.

While both were not shy about speaking to reporters, they gave uncannily similar answers on their prospects of being picked as PAP candidates, saying that "it is up to the party to decide".

Mr Chong added with a smile: "It is too early to ask, right? My focus now is to get to know residents and the ground."

This article was published on April 21 in The Straits Times.

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