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The Workers' Party


[h=2]Daniel Goh 吴佩松[/h]
Haha! Okay, my side of the story. I do take the trains and buses most of the time. We used to have a family car that my wife mostly used to ferry our boy around, but we sold it last year, and I prefer trains anyway as I like to think on my feet. I take cabs if I need to rush. In this case, I had to rush from Caldecott, after I finished the party political broadcast in English, so I went in a cab to Hougang Mall, grabbed a burger for dinner, decided to buy a samsui woman hello kitty for my boy, just so that I can sneak in a history lesson while playing with him (yes, yes, very geeky me).


So after I got my meal, I walked out and a young man and a young woman greeted me. They recognised me when I was waiting for the happy meal and asked to follow me as they did not know how to get to the rally site. Very warm people who came from eastern wards. Am familiar with Hougang Central, so I led them down to the MRT and then across to other exit. Along the way we bumped into CY from TMG who took the photo of me riding up the escalator. We all had a good chat and said goodbye at the field.


I am going to the Nee Soon rally at Yishun Stadium by train tonight, so if you bump into me, do say hello!









The Middle Ground with Daniel Goh 吴佩松

SPOTTED! Workers' Party new face Daniel Goh leaving Hougang MRT to head to the rally at Hougang Central. Yes, he tabao-ed dinner. So clever! ‪#‎professormah‬ ‪#‎GE2015‬ ‪#‎WPrally‬ (Photo: CY Kong/TMG)
 

[h=2]Terence Tan 陈励正[/h]
[h=1]GE2015: Terence Tan of the Workers' Party[/h]By Nicholas Yong | Yahoo Newsroom – 4 hours ago








  • Yahoo Newsroom Videos - Terence Tan, one of the WP candidates for Marine Parade GRC



In this series, Yahoo Singapore speaks to candidates for the upcoming General Election. Members of Singapore's various political parties have been invited to participate. Featured here: Terence Tan of the Workers’ Party, who was interviewed Monday, 31 August.


At first glance at his resume, one might almost think that Terence Tan, 44, was a People’s Action Party candidate. The lawyer at Peter Low LLC attended Anglo-Chinese School and Raffles Institution, before going to boarding school in England.


Tan, who is of Peranakan stock, grew up in a condominium on River Valley Road. His father worked as a doctor, while his mother was once a newscaster with the now-defunct Radio Television Malaysia. He has two half-brothers from his mother’s first marriage.


At the start of his legal career, Tan even did his pupilage under Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam, and also worked under retired Member of Parliament Alvin Yeo. “I respect the both of them very much. Perhaps we have slightly different political views, but I’m hoping that this is all part of the diversity and plurality that Singapore needs,” says Tan in a slightly British-tinged accent.


With candidates like him, the Oxford-educated Leon Perera and the Cambridge-educated He Ting Ru, Yahoo Singapore points out during the interview that the Workers’ Party seems to now be drawing from the same elite circles as the PAP. When asked if the WP is in danger of becoming too similar to the PAP, the candidate for Marine Parade GRC demurs.


“On the face of it, if you look at the PAP manifesto, they aspire to the same things that the Workers’ Party does. I think it’s a question of trying to keep the government as honest as it keeps us, and/or the other way around. Is it elitism that people have a deep and abiding concern for the future of Singapore and Singaporeans?,” says Tan.


“If you look at the composition of WP MPs, we actually come from a very diverse background, but we’re all genuinely committed to making Singapore better.”


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Terence Tan (right), a Workers' Party candidate for Marine Parade GRC smiles as he is introduced.

Tan certainly has diverse interests apart from the law – he has worked in hotel management and the real estate industry, and managed several restaurants and bars. He has also worked in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.


Tan and his fellow Workers’ Party candidates are certainly well prepared for the media. He rattles off well-rehearsed talking points with ease, repeating the point that the WP wants to be a “rational, reasonable and responsible” opposition several times. He adds that the party isn’t here to “tear the system down", and that he doesn’t believe in a “natural aristocracy”.


But there is a genuine idealism about Tan, especially when he recalls his days in RI as a time of “uncorrupted meritocracy”. “We were also told by the principal in my time, that our primary duty was not to be vainglorious, but to give back to society,” says Tan. He sounds almost in awe of the 1970s and 80s, when Singapore was the “Swiss clock” of Asia, everything worked well and income inequality “had not reared its ugly head”.


While Tan remains soft spoken throughout the interview, there is a certain fieriness lurking just beneath the surface. “Mr Lee Hsien Loong wants a very strong mandate. It sounds like his definition of a strong mandate is not to have any opposition at all,” says Tan


21512aa0-52d4-11e5-9e55-cf0e736fe596_IMG_6370.JPG

Workers' Party candidates He Ting Ru and Terence Tan in the lead up to the 2015 General Election. Photo: Hannah …


And his hackles really begin to rise when the subject of income inequality comes up. Tan notes that Singapore has “virtually the largest income inequality gap in the developed world", a phenomenon he calls an “affront” to him.


“I’m not naïve to think that no poverty ever existed in Singapore, but I don’t buy any argument that people do this for exercise, and certainly not in the numbers that I see on a day to day basis,” says Tan.


Perhaps his concern for the underprivileged is not surprising, given that Tan has done extensive pro bono legal work. He sits on the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme Committee, the Criminal Practice Committee and the Advocacy Committee for the Law Society. Tan also volunteers at the Hougang Community Legal Clinic


But his political awakening started in his late 30s, when he began reflecting on his “me, myself and I” way of life, he says. Then in 2011, Tan attended political rallies in a bid to understand the “loss of optimism” among his fellow Singaporeans.


Ultimately, it was the Workers’ Party that resonated most with him. “It’s not about extremist politics. I think that the WP does deliver a very nuanced position on these things. That’s what attracted me,” says Tan. “We’re not disconnected from the ground. That’s our strength.”


eda2a180-50b1-11e5-b355-a1fa2b234921_IMG_5733.JPG

The Workers' Party team contesting MacPherson SMC (Bernard Chen, left) and Marine Parade GRC (L-R: Yee Jenn Jong, …

And what of the ‘psychological baggage’ of fear in Singapore that WP chief Low Thia Khiang has spoken of? Did that hold him back from getting involved in politics? Tan readily admits that he felt reservations initially.


He says, “My earliest memory is, when adults had discussions in respect of politics, even in their own homes, they would speak in hushed whispers. Anyone of my generation understands the underlying climate of fear back in those days.”


Well-meaning friends also tried to warn him off getting involved, “A lot of comments are ‘Be careful, be careful’. I really think that we have to reject those notions of ‘be careful’. More Singaporeans need to participate and be more concerned.”


But in the end, perhaps it is really about overcoming your fears. Tan notes, “I tell you, it does take a little bit of courage, I think, to marshal your fears, to make sure that you’re always reasonable and responsible on behalf of Singaporeans."


https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ge2015--terence-tan-of-the-workers--party-055551078.html
 

[h=2]Mohamed Fairoz Shariff[/h]Public Figure

Took a break from campaigning to attend my wife's graduation ceremony.


It has been a long and sometimes difficult journey for my wife to realize her dream of attaining a nursing degree. As an adult learner, not only did she need to juggle between her work commitments and her studies, she also had to cope with the pregnancy and birth of our third child.


Congratulations to my wife and all the graduates of SIM - UniSyd!

Having personally experienced and seen the many challenges that adult learners have to face to realize their dream, I am always concerned about the kind of support that we as a nation can provide to them. I hope to talk about this issue in the upcoming rallies.






 
Workers' Party crowd at Yishun stadium, waiting for the rally to start.


 


Dylan Ng Foo Eng 黄富荣

Public Figure

Good morning Serangoon Central. The entire Marine Parade team is here this morning! Hope to meet you all!




 


Dylan Ng Foo Eng 黄富荣

Public Figure

Hi Chloe, thanks for supporting us!


 
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