Keen fight in West Coast, with ex-PAP man facing off PAP team

Singapore

THE western front will be in the spotlight, with the ruling party's dual-minister slate up against what some observers consider one of the most formidable opposition candidates this election.

With Tan Cheng Bock's Progress Singapore Party (PSP) declaring its intentions on West Coast GRC early, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) moved Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee, 43, to strengthen its team there.

The other anchor minister, S Iswaran, 58, is Minister for Communications and Information.

The rest of the PAP's slate are Foo Mee Har, 54, first-time contender Rachel Ong, 47, and Ang Wei Neng, 53, who, like Mr Lee, last ran under PAP's banner at Jurong GRC.

Dr Tan, 80, a former PAP MP, has picked the fight in a constituency that houses his former stronghold Ayer Rajah, where he served from 1980 to 2006.

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His PSP team comprises assistant secretary-general Leong Mun Wai, 60, founder of a venture capital firm, party vice-chairman Hazel Poa, 50, who was formerly secretary-general of the National Solidarity Party, retired military officer Nadarajah Loganthan, 57, and Jeffrey Khoo, 51, Asia-Pacific chief marketing officer of global insurance firm Ed Broking.

Asked what he thought of the PAP moving a minister, Mr Lee, to face off against his team, PSP's Dr Tan said: "In politics, it's that way. I'm not going to question why they do that. But if they say that I must be somebody quite strong, so they are trying to put all their heavyweights and come to West Coast, well, it's good."

Dr Tan said West Coast is familiar ground to him, having served there as an MP and a town councillor back in the day.

Political analysts and former MPs are expecting a keenly-fought battle in what is traditionally considered a "safe ward" for the PAP.

"The campaign there will likely get contentious and even heated. The ward may well be a bellwether of how the PSP performs in its maiden electoral outing," said law don and former Nominated MP Eugene Tan.

Political analyst Loke Hoe Yeong expects it to be interesting to see voters' response to an opposition party convened by a number of ex-PAP members calling for a return to the "values of the old PAP".

Political analyst Woo Jun Jie noted that both Dr Tan and Mr Lee are known to be strong at the grassroots level. "Tan Cheng Bock's experience on the ground will be an advantage, since he will be recognisable among older residents. However, the PAP's decision to move Mr Lee can also be seen as an effort to capture the ground," he said.

Former PAP MP Inderjit Singh thinks the PSP faces an "uphill task" here, with the PAP having "cultivated the ground" in past years. "(Dr Tan) has been away for 10 years and the population mix would have changed over the years. So it will not be easy."

Still, Mr Singh thinks Dr Tan is perhaps the most formidable opposition candidate this election and the constituency has the "hottest seats" this election.

Formed in 1997, the West Coast GRC has been a PAP stronghold. In the last elections, the ruling party won 78.57 per cent of the votes against the Reform Party. This made it the PAP's third-best performing GRC - after Jurong and Ang Mo Kio, which were helmed by then-Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong respectively.

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