'MOE guy' Ong Ye Kung breaks electoral rules, takes down video on Sembawang hours later

Who knew Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung was the sort to break rules? 

Ong — also a Sembawang GRC MP — uploaded a seemingly innocuous video to his Facebook page this afternoon (July 2) titled "The 'MOE guy' vs The Sembawang TripAdvisor". In it, he meets a young boy Jony, who lives in his constituency Sembawang GRC.

The two talk about what's good there — wonton mee at Blk 313 Sembawang Crescent, says Ong — the places in Sembawang that Jony likes, and whether Ong gets free food at said coffeeshop, since y'know he's the guy "in charge of that area".

Ong then shares with Jony about the food scheme for lower income residents, and the many changes that have taken place in the GRC. However, when Ong brings up Build-To-Order HDB flats, he loses little Jony.

As Ong talks about getting married and moving into a flat, the boy blinks, widens his eyes, and takes a sneaky glance at his watch.

"Erm, you tell me all of these for what?" he asks Ong.

"I'm explaining all these to you so that you know if you support us, these are all the things that we will deliver, and make life better for you," Ong says.

To which Jony replies: "But, what if you guys don't get elected?"

Around 2,000 Facebook users have liked the video in over two hours and left positive comments.

But the video was taken down around three hours later. Ong explained in another Facebook post: "I had a nice conversation with a boy Jony who lives in Sembawang about how it is a good place to grow up.

"Jony is a great sport, we had a good chat, and we put up a short vid. However, we have been informed by authorities that this is not in line with electoral rules. We have therefore taken down the video. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused."

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/ongyekung/posts/3590604080954168?__xts__[0]=68.ARCCellUf4jU3ibRY1nOPoTn1WM6LkV1KFz0-oEmayYTZGb2RAMPF148[/embed]

According to Elections Department Singapore website, "The Parliamentary Elections Act prohibits primary and secondary school students from taking part in election activities during the period beginning with Nomination Day and ending with the start of Polling Day.

"Thus, primary and secondary school students are not allowed to appear in a video or take part in other activities to promote a political party during this period.

"While this prohibition does not apply outside of this period, political parties should refrain from inappropriate use of young children who will not fully understand what they may be promoting or subjecting themselves to."

Oopsie.

Incumbents Ong, Lim Wee Kiak and Vikram Nair, as well as newcomers Poh Li San, and Mariam Jaafar make up the team from the People's Action Party defending the GRC. They are going up against the National Solidarity Party's team of Spencer Ng, Ivan Yeo Tiong Boon, Sebastian Teo, Yadzeth Hairis, and Sathin Ravindran.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com