On Monday (March 21), the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) bounced back just a week after suffering their second affair-addled setback in four years to introduce their candidate for the Bukit Batok SMC by-election, lawyer and ex-Aljunied GRC candidate Murali Pillai.

Buffered by heavyweights like Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Minister for Community, Culture and Youth (MCCY) Grace Fu, Murali, who had only on Sunday evening just returned from a holiday, oscillated slightly between calm and slightly unsure of himself — not quite the "titan in the courtroom" his company bio describes him to be. Maybe it is the jet-lag.

We attended his unveiling in the early evening, and here are our takeaways from it:

1. Murali was placed at the centre, but as usual, DPM Tharman took centre stage.

It sounded almost like a repeat of the Jurong and Bukit Batok candidate unveiling in GE2015, which we brazenly titled "The Tharman Show".

We're not sure what it is — his elusiveness to media or his sheer popularity as a minister — but the press is endlessly drawn to him as the person to pose questions to, anytime he's in the room, barring the added presence of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself.

Despite the press conference being about Murali, most of the questions asked were aimed at him, resulting in Tharman speaking even more than the party's candidate.

It was Tharman who opened the press conference, and Tharman who addressed the higher-level strategy questions, including several questioning the timing of the party's announcement of its candidate.

It was also Tharman who tackled the issue of Murali being of minority race despite Bukit Batok having a higher concentration of Chinese residents than the national average head-on.

When asked about it, he said "race is never absent from politics anywhere and we did consider this very carefully", adding that even after Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Chief Chee Soon Juan's announcement of his candidacy, "we are still very comfortable with Murali as our choice".

Tharman also mentioned a vote for Murali is "a vote for cohesiveness", explaining that coming from a humble background, Murali is a representation of Singapore's multiracialism, and people "see something about Singapore in him that they can associate with very easily".

2. DPM Tharman tried to stay away from outrightly criticising the SDP chief, who on Sunday announced his candidacy. But he couldn't resist subtle digs at two points:

"I think we've chosen the right person with regard to character, the way people know him and the way people have worked with him in the past. I don't want to make direct comparisons but I think you know what I mean in Murali. One, we feel very comfortable with Murali being up against Dr Chee Soon Juan. We think he is the right person. And we think Bukit Batok residents will appreciate that." (Our emphasis in bold)

And later on, here:

"I'm glad Dr Chee has now recognised the importance of running a town council well — because the last time this came up because before the Punggol East election he had wanted to outsource it to the Workers' Party if you recall — he must have had a change in mind and realises that here in Bukit Batok, it is important to focus on those tasks. It's not the only duty of an MP but we should focus on the task and do it well apart from all the other ways in which we represent our residents." (Our emphasis in bold)

3. Minister Grace Fu spoke only Mandarin at the press conference, signalling she might become Murali's Chinese point-(wo)man in this election.

According to The Straits Times, some analysts pointed out that Murali may be at a disadvantage as a minority candidate, "given that Bukit Batok has a higher proportion of Chinese residents than the national average — some of whom are elderly who may be more comfortable speaking in Mandarin."

This is where the bilingual MCCY Minister chipped in to help.

Speaking fluently in Mandarin, the popular Yuhua SMC MP was an effective wing-(wo)man in endorsing Murali as the "number one person" and the "best man" to be PAP's Bukit Batok SMC MP.

During the past week, Fu said her informal survey with residents and grassroots leaders revealed that Murali was a name that many of them highlighted and endorsed.

Even without Fu, Murali appeared quietly confident in winning over the Chinese-speaking residents in Bukit Batok.

Maybe it is because Murali was rumoured to have already bested a Chinese-speaking star candidate at Paya Lebar in Aljunied GRC last year.

Incidentally, Paya Lebar also has a higher proportion of Chinese residents than the national average, a fact Murali himself pointed out during the press conference.

Speaking about the Chinese-speaking star candidate...