GE2020: Murali Pillai faces 'same underhand tactics' now as he did five years ago, says Victor Lye

A few days ago, People's Action Party's (PAP) Murali Pillai released a video criticising a "scurrilous attack" on his family.

Earlier today (July 3), fellow party member Victor Lye took to Facebook to share that Murali would not be deterred by "unscrupulous political intimidation" as he had "faced the same underhand tactics with [the team] in Aljunied."

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/victorlye.singapore/posts/1457527837764882[/embed]

The two had contested together back in 2015 in a close fight against the Workers' Party for Aljunied GRC, with the latter winning.

The following year, Murali contested in the by-election for Bukit Batok SMC, edging out Singapore Democratic Party's leader Chee Soon Juan by a small margin. 

During the by-election, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had spoken out against playing a race card, amid online chatter that allegedly asked Chinese voters to cast their ballot along racial lines.

It is, however, unknown what kind of "underhand tactics" Murali had allegedly faced in 2015's general election and in this current election.

AsiaOne has reached out to Lye for more details.

Chee, who will be facing Murali in a rematch for Bukit Batok SMC this election, has also condemned the recent attack on the latter.

"I stand with Mr Murali on this," he wrote in a post on Facebook. "This is not what politics should be. Politics is about ideas on how we can make our nation better, not personal attacks like this."

He added that while he disagrees with Murali with regards to their political views, he emphasised that their debates are healthy and professional, and frowned against "unseemly smears" against candidates.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/cheesoonjuan/posts/10160575418658849[/embed]

rainercheung@asiaone.com