RP’s Ang Mo Kio candidates ‘not seeking to raise ruckus in Parliament’
Reform Party’s secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam (right), party members and the party’s Ang Mo Kio GRC candidates, including Mr M Ravi and Roy Ngerng, before a press conference yesterday. Photo: Raj Nadarajan
SINGAPORE — Although they pitched themselves as activists with “loud voices” whom Singaporeans have come to be acquainted with, the Reform Party’s team for the Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency (GRC) is not seeking to enter Parliament to raise a ruckus, said party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
“We are not going there to heckle, to protest, to throw eggs. We are going there seriously,” said Mr Jeyaretnam, who introduced the potential candidates at a press conference held outside a hair salon at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1.The event was delayed by 30 minutes after the party was forced to change venues twice. They had originally scheduled to hold the introductions at a coffee shop, but the owner of the place changed her mind about letting them use the space.
Lawyer M Ravi, who has not contested an election before, will be leading the six-man team, which comprises three other political debutants, blogger Roy Ngerng, former banker Jesse Loo and infocomm technology trainer Siva Chandran. The other two members are social activist Gilbert Goh and businessman Osman Sulaiman, both of whom contested in the 2011 General Election.
The coming elections will be the RP’s second time contesting Ang Mo Kio GRC, which is Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s constituency. At the last polls, the opposition party took 30.7 per cent of votes — Mr Osman was part of the team.
Despite the fact that some of the members had come into public prominence through unpleasant circumstances — Ngerng, for instance, had been successfully sued by Mr Lee for defamation — Mr Jeyaretnam stressed yesterday that the team is “not a protest movement”.
The RP candidates also spoke at length about their diversity, given there are “experienced social activists” and new faces.
Mr Goh, who started the protest against the Population White Paper in 2013, said he sees a desire among more Singaporeans to become “agents for change”.
“In the next five years, I believe we will see more Singaporeans coming out to speak against policies,” he said, adding that their protests have garnered much support among young Singaporeans. Mr Goh returned to the RP this year after leaving in 2011.
Meanwhile, Ngerng is also embroiled in a criminal case for causing a public nuisance at Hong Lim Park last year where a protest he allegedly staged without a valid permit clashed with a charity carnival. For his defamation suit, Mr Ravi was one of his lawyers. The court has yet to rule on the damages he has to pay Mr Lee.
On whether the controversial protests may adversely affect the team’s electoral chances, Mr Ravi pointed to party founder J B Jeyaretnam, who “made significant change in Parliament” despite the negative publicity centred on him.
Mr Ravi also rejected suggestions that the RP team was a “suicide squad” despite acknowledging that coming up against an incumbent team led by the Prime Minister would not be easy.
