PUBLISHED ONMarch 22, 2025 8:36 AMByChing Shi JieOpposition People's Power Party (PPP) secretary-general Goh Meng Seng has said that his party will not contest in Nee Soon GRC in the coming election.
Instead, his party will "step aside" for Red Dot United (RDU) to run against the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP).
The PPP and RDU had both staked their claim in Nee Soon GRC after the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee released its report on March 11.
But in a Facebook live stream on March 16, Goh said that he will be "glad" to withdraw his team from Nee Soon GRC if the PAP slate, currently led by Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, confirms that an "LGBTQ activist" will not be fielded in its team.
In a press conference on Saturday (March 22) Goh, with RDU secretary-general Ravi Philemon, said that since the PAP is "unlikely to field the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) activist", his party will no longer contest in Nee Soon GRC for the sake of "opposition unity".
He said: "Mr Shanmugam had gone to meetings with the church leaders twice, and thereafter a certain messaging came up that no decision has been made about the (LGBTQ activist).
"My good friend here, Ravi, has also indicated that they have walked the ground in Nee Soon, In view of that, we felt that our objective has been achieved in certain ways … I don't think that the PAP could actually carry out the intention of fielding the LGBTQ activist.
"We have come to the agreement we will not touch Nee Soon and allow RDU to carry on to contest [there].”
While Goh declined to identify the "LGBTQ activist", Chong Pang PAP branch volunteer Deryne Sim was seen with Nee Soon MPs at a constituency event on Jan 26.
The 40-year-old is also the executive director of Same But Different, a group that offers legal resources to help the LGBTQ community here.
During a walkabout at Nee Soon GRC on March 16, Goh had said that the party would contest in the election to push for a "non-discrimination and non-promotion" of the LGBTQ "agenda".
At Saturday's press conference, Goh was asked whether his party will U-turn and contest in Nee Soon GRC if the PAP decides to field "the LGBTQ activist".
"I think that's unlikely, unless they really want to try their luck," he replied. "Then we still can convince other Singaporeans in other places we are contesting… to vote against that agenda specifically."
In the 2020 General Election, the contest for Nee Soon GRC was between Progress Singapore Party and the incumbent People’s Action Party, with the ruling party winning 61.9 per cent of the vote share.
The Workers’ Party had contested in Nee Soon in the 2011 and 2015 elections.
Nee Soon GRC will have 151,634 electors for the upcoming general election.
Meanwhile, Philemon hugged and thanked Goh for "conceding" Nee Soon GRC to his party.
He said that his "friendship" with Goh, which goes back some 17 years ago, meant that he was able to "look past their difference in opinions" and find common ground.
Philemon said the RDU has been active in the constituency since August 2024, adding that his party has 25 potential candidates who have been training with them since February 2024.
“When we say that we will contest Nee Soon GRC, this means that we have the capability and capacity to do so. We will not make blind and empty promises," he added.
Multi-cornered fights for constituencies in elections will only benefit the incumbent party, said Philemon.
"Sometimes, when all this speculation about three-cornered fights, it may make the opposition seem as though we are so full of ourselves, so full of ego… that we just want to contest and prove something," Philemon said.
"Prove something for what? Prove to who? The cost is very high… we don't want to raise $70,000 to $150,000 and just wash it down the drain just because we have big egos."
While the PPP and RDU had also staked their claim for the Jalan Kayu SMC, Philemon declined to comment whether his party would make way for Goh's.
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