GE2020: New candidates Nadia Samdin and Ng Ling Ling in PAP’s line-up for Ang Mo Kio GRC

• Two new candidates in Ang Mo Kio GRC will replace Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar and Mr Ang Hin Kee
• PM Lee said that the PAP team has improved amenities over the years in Ang Mo Kio
• He also spoke about first-time voters and his brother joining an opposition party

 

SINGAPORE — The People’s Action Party (PAP)’s line-up for Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency (GRC) headed by its secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong will include two new candidates Nadia Samdin, 30, and Ng Ling Ling, 48.

Mr Lee, 68, announced the line-up in a virtual press conference on Monday (June 29), and said that the other two candidates will be incumbent Members of Parliament Gan Thiam Poh, 56, and Darryl David, 49.

Lawyer Nadia Ahmad Samdin is an associate director at TSMP Law Corporation and is active in grassroots in the Cheng San-Seletar ward of Ang Mo Kio GRC. She is also active in grassroots in the Cheng San-Seletar ward of the GRC.

Ms Ng is a former managing director of Community Chest.

Both candidates will replace Jalan Kayu’s Intan Azura Mokhtar, 43, and Cheng San-Seletar’s Ang Hin Kee, 54. 

The opposition Reform Party (RP), led by its secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, 61, is vying for Ang Mo Kio GRC this year.

RP chairman Andy Zhu, 37, and first-time candidate Mr Charles Yeo, 30, have been spotted making the rounds in the constituency.

Another incumbent Ang Mo Kio GRC MP, Mr Koh Poh Koon, 48, is expected to run in the Yio Chu Kang Single Member Constituency (SMC) after it was carved out of the GRC to make it a five-member one. The party will announce plans for Dr Intan, Mr Ang and Mr Koh later.

With 26,046 voters, Ang Mo Kio GRC is headed for a three-cornered fight with RP and Progress Singapore Party.

Mr Lee, who is also prime minister, said that the PAP team has improved amenities from lifts, community centres and cycling paths in the years that it has served Ang Mo Kio residents. 

If PAP wins, the GRC will also work with the Yio Chu Kang and Kebun Baru SMCs to form a new Ang Mo Kio town council. It will be run by seven MPs. 

"I ask for the voters in Ang Mo Kio GRC to vote for us and my team.

"I also ask for the voters in Kebun Baru and Yio Chu Kang to vote for the PAP candidates there, in order that we can all work together to make Ang Mo Kio an outstanding town for residents to live, work and play,” Mr Lee said.

Ms Nadia, who first spoke in Malay then English, said: I would like to assure you that underlying our lives, our jobs and our future will always be our people… I hope you will give me the chance to know you better. My intention is to serve you sincerely and honestly.”

Ms Ng, who had earlier addressed questions about her role in the setting up of the Social Service Training Institute, said: “As I step up to this role, I am very aware that I will be subject to public scrutiny. My journey to help people and to care for people — I'll continue to do that and I'll focus on that in the campaign.”

In response to a question about the new candidates having ministerial potential, Mr Lee said it is too early to say as it depends on their performance in this election and afterwards.

“I’m quite confident that several of them will become office holders in due course,” he added. 

Asked about policies that would appeal to first-time voters, Mr Lee said that the Covid-19 pandemic remains a concern among voters, including the younger ones. 

Jobs are also of concern to younger voters, who will want to get “started in life”.  

“Which is why we have a very big effort to create traineeships and temporary jobs, and to incentivise employers to take on new hires, even in this very unfavourable environment, so that people can get a leg up and can get started,” he said. 

Younger voters are also interested in the “softer, more long-term aspects” such as sustainability and climate change, he added. 

“There are many young people who are passionate about that and we have to take their interests very much at heart when we set policies for Singapore.” 

On his brother Lee Hsien Yang  joining the Progress Singapore Party, Mr Lee said: “He is within his rights as a citizen. This GE is not about me or any family disputes, which involve my brother and me.

"It's about Singapore's future at a very grave moment in our history when we are facing the most serious crisis we have seen since independence... health, jobs and the future. And I think we should focus our attention on those big issues."

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