GE2015: Workers' Party unveils election theme, first batch of candidates

[SINGAPORE] The Workers' Party on Wednesday unveiled its campaign theme - Empower Your Future - as it urged Singaporeans to check if they want a government that casts "a long shadow" over their lives.

"It's important in this election that every Singaporean, every voter, should think about the future, take stock of the past, and think about what is the best way forward for Singapore," Workers' Party Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang told reporters at a media briefing.

He noted that after fifty years of successful nation-building, Singapore's success over the next few decades would have to be built in a very different world. He questioned if "the same model and formula" would create the same effect.

"The important question that the voter will have to think about is, first of all, whether it continues to be a good model for Singapore, where the political leaders cast a long shadow over every aspect of life, every aspect of society, organisation, profession," he said at the party's headquarters.

"You might want to think about whether or not you want to continue to allow the PAP to decide your future...rather that you should participate in the decision-making process, so that you can have a say in what the future that you want."

Mr Low said the party's election theme started to have such a big picture of the future in 2006. That year, the theme was "You Have A Choice". In 2011, it was "Towards A First World Parliament".

The Workers' Party also introduced its first batch of candidates. Three are new faces: Daniel Goh, 42, an associate professor of sociology at the National University of Singapore; engineer Redzwan Hafidz, 30; and wealth manager at a Malaysian bank Dylan Ng, 40. The fourth candidate is software engineer Koh Choong Yong. The 42-year-old had contested Sengkang West single-member constituency at the 2011 General Election. He lost, after securing 41.9 per cent of vote against People's Action Party's then-candidate Lam Pin Min.

Read more about the coming Singapore General Election here.