WP's Faisal Manap says Aljunied GRC residents can vouch he served 'fairly and equally'

Workers’ Party (WP) candidate for Tampines GRC Faisal Manap said that residents of Kaki Bukit in his former constituency of Aljunied GRC will confirm he has served them "fairly and equally".

Faisal was in charge of the Kaki Bukit ward for five years. 

Responding to a question posed by the media that residents have expressed concerns about mixing religion with politics, Faisal said: "We serve everyone, fairly and equally, regardless of race, language and religion. That's what I've done.

"You can go to Kaki Bukit, especially the market at block 511 and 538.

"You just can interview anyone there to get the sense or the feel of how… I have performed my duty as an MP…towards the multi racial and multicultural community of Kaki Bukit."

The question asked was in reference to posts by Malaysia-based religious leader Noor Deros, who claimed that he had talked to Malay/Muslim candidates from WP about prioritising the rights and concerns of the Malay/Muslim community in Singapore.

The posts had garnered significant attention, with PM Wong addressing it in a press conference on April 26.

WP secretary-general Pritam Singh had previously said in response to Noor's claims: "There is no situation of if the WP pushes forward this agenda, I would support you. I'm sorry, we don't work politics like that in Singapore, we don't work politics like that in the Workers' Party."

Faisal also addressed Tampines residents, reassuring them that the party's candidates for the constituency are capable of running the town council if elected.

WP's Tampines GRC team is helmed by Faisal and consists of new faces Jimmy Tan, Dr Ong Lue Ping, Eileen Chong and Michael Thng.

The party has fielded deputy organising secretary Kenneth Foo in the newly-formed Tampines Changkat SMC.

Faisal compared members of the Tampines and Tampines Changkat team to fingers of a hand with each bringing different skills while working together.

When asked how the team feels about PAP senior leaders such as Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong visiting the constituency, Faisal said: "It shows that our presence does bring some form of competition.

"That is the purpose of us coming (to the constituency), right? We want to give competition to the incumbent so that they do better."

He then cited the analogy of the opposition being a co-driver to the incumbent, which was first used by former WP chief Low Thia Khiang in 2011.

Low had previously said: "There’s a driver here, so if the driver doesn’t drive the car well, you need to… slap the driver. So that is the purpose of us coming."

4-cornered fight in Tampines GRC

With just two days of campaigning left, WP's Tampines team was at Tampines Central, interacting with residents, snapping selfies and even signing merchandise.

Tampines GRC will see a rare four-cornered fight with WP, the People's Power Party (PPP), National Solidarity Party (NSP) and People's Action Party (PAP).

PAP's lineup led by Masagos Zulkifli consists of Dr Koh Poh Koon, Baey Yam Keng as well as new faces Assistant Professor Charlene Chen and David Neo.

PPP's slate comprises party secretary-general Goh Meng Seng, Derrick Sim, Arbaah Haroun, Peter Soh and new face Vere Nathan, while NSP's team is made up of Eugene Yeo, Mohamad Ridzwan, Phay Wei Jie, Reno Fong and Thamilselvan Karuppaya.

bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com

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