October 12, 08:02 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 The Sunday Times ran a "one month after GE 2015" feature on the Workers' Party (WP) in their October 11 edition that ruffled the feathers of two WP candidates who were part of the team contesting Marine Parade GRC.
These are the offending words:
"It is also, perhaps, trying to send a signal about the importance of party discipline, insiders say.
They point to how its Marine Parade team was also made up of highly-qualified candidates - including crowd favourite, legal counsel He Ting Ru, 32 - none of whom were brought into the CEC (Central Executive Committee). The team was apparently plagued by simmering discord among members, which displeased party leaders, who have always prized tight discipline and frowned upon power play."
It prompted former Non-constituency MP and Marine Parade team leader Yee Jenn Jong to respond on his blog on Sunday night, clarifying that none of the candidates were aware of any “power play” or “discord”.
His view was supported by new candidate and fellow team member He Ting Ru:
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Posted by He Ting Ru 何廷儒 on Sunday, October 11, 2015
Since the two candidates have asserted that all is well with the team (with a polling day group hug used as an example by Yee), Singaporeans should perhaps be less sceptical and give them the benefit of the doubt.
That said, one should not just dismiss this Straits Times reporter's observations.
After all, he was the one who accurately identified 15 out of the party's 16 candidates making their debut in this year's election, as well as where they would be sent to, long before they were formally introduced.
In his article, he raised a question that has yet to be addressed in Yee's blog post: Why was Nee Soon GRC candidate Kenneth Foo chosen as a CEC member ahead of any of the new Marine Parade GRC candidates?
This thought is especially puzzling, bearing in mind that the Marine Parade team produced the third-best GRC performance after Aljunied and East Coast.
Perhaps one weakness to his observation would be that he concluded that the CEC snub was due to simmering discord among candidates. And he based the observation on "insider" sources that he did not identify.
Guess we'll find out more when the party unveils its next team in 2020.
Top photo from He Ting Ru's Facebook page.
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