GE2015: PAP's Tin Pei Ling spells out hopes for ward and country

[SINGAPORE] People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Tin Pei Ling on Wednesday evening laid out her plans for MacPherson and her vision for Singapore in her first and only rally speech at this year's general election.

Ms Tin, who is defending her seat in a three-cornered contest in the single-member constituency (SMC), said in Mandarin that she wants Singapore to be a country that supports young families, has a world-class education system and lets people retire without worry.

She also criticised opposition party policy proposals, though without naming specifics, suggesting that they essentially wanted the government to spend more but had not sufficiently considered the resulting burden on the next generation.

Her opponents are Bernard Chen from the Workers' Party (WP) and Cheo Chai Chen from the National Solidarity Party (NSP).

For MacPherson SMC, which Ms Tin called her second home, she said she planned to improve infrastructure further to help the elderly, as well as provide more support for low-income families and children.

Noting that medical fees were a major source of worry for the aged, she said she would continue to raise money for a fund to take care of the elderly.

Elderly residents may also find it difficult to climb the stairs on overhead bridges, she added, saying she intended to install lifts at three overhead bridges in the ward. This drew loud cheers and applause from the crowd.

Switching to English in the final 10 minutes of her 45-minute speech, she also spoke out for mothers, saying she believed mothers could still contribute in the workplace.

"We should improve the situation in Singapore so that women are not forced to choose between motherhood and career," she said, adding: "I would like to assure Mr Cheo from NSP that mothers will not give any less of ourselves at work compared with our colleagues. I would also like to remind Mr Cheo that this is no joking matter."

Mr Cheo had drawn flak when he said last week that Ms Tin's new status as a mother was a "weakness". He later said he was joking.

Mr Chen complimented Ms Tin at a separate WP rally at Bedok Stadium on Wednesday evening, saying: "I would like to thank Ms Tin for running a clean campaign."