August 16, 10:01 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) officially introduced its candidates for the four-member Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the coming General Election (GE) today.
The candidates who were unveiled at the Kolam Ayer waterfront in Kallang Bahru are familiar faces - Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim, Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How, Mayor Denise Phua and veteran MP Lily Neo.
Here are 5 reasons why this underrated PAP Jalan Besar GRC team may outperform most PAP teams in the PAP-WP contests this GE:
1. This team is very experienced and their track record is hard to beat.
How experienced are they?
Minister Yaacob Ibrahim: Entered politics in 1997 (18 years in politics)
Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How: Entered politics in 2001 (14 years in politics)
Mayor Denise Phua: Entered politics in 2006 (9 years in politics)
Lily Neo: Entered politics in 1997 (18 years in politics)
Collectively, this GRC team has, in Neo's words "nearly 60 years of experience serving the residents".
Compare this four-member team to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's six-member team which have 45 years of experience.
Despite the changing of GRC names, the four wards held by the four MPs remained relatively intact and stable. For instance, Minister Yaacob has served Kolam Ayer for the past 18 years, while Heng has served Whampoa for 11 years.
2. The Jalan Besar team is the big winner of the electoral boundaries report
Let's face it.
Jalan Besar GRC's earlier "incarnation" - Moulmein-Kallang GRC - under performed in the last GE.
The GRC was 60.6% of Jalan Besar GRC. It was led by Minister Yaacob and Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, who narrowly edged out the Workers' Party Team C (Aljunied was WP's Team A and East Coast was WP's Team B).
Source: Wikipedia
Enter the electoral boundaries report.
The new Jalan Besar has shed its unpopular Transport Minister and Edwin Tong, the MP who is famously known online as the lawyer who defended City Harvest Church and Kong Hee.
Now it welcomes back PAP strongholds in Neo's Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng ward and Heng's Whampoa ward.
According to The Straits Times, party sources said that the "areas under Dr Neo and Ms Phua polled about 70 per cent of votes in the 2006 and 2011 elections respectively, higher than the national average of 66.6 per cent and 60.1 per cent".
Heng's Whampoa ward was also a strong performer, as it registered a 66.1% win in the last GE.
Source: Wikipedia
3. Their choice of venue and invitation of non-mainstream media reveals a certain self-confidence about the team
After the problems of identifying what is a heartland venue (Bishan-Toa Payoh's choice of Toa Payoh central coffeeshop comes to mind), the Choa Chu Kang GRC team and West Coast GRC team have played it safe.
Basically, they followed PM Lee's lead and unveiled their candidates in the PAP branches - PAP’s Nanyang Branch in Jurong West for Choa Chu Kang GRC and PAP's Boon Lay Branch for West Coast GRC.* (Editor's note - A reader informed Mothership.sg that West Coast GRC unveiled its candidates at Boon Lay market. This means that Mothership.sg has made the same error as CNA.)
There is not the case for the Jalan Besar GRC team, who unveiled their candidates at the beautiful Kolam Ayer waterfront in Kallang Bahru.
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Posted by Mothership.sg on Saturday, August 15, 2015
Like the savvy Sembawang GRC team, they also extended invites to reporters from Yahoo Singapore, Mothership.sg and The Middle Ground to the event.
4. Without the distraction of introducing new candidates, the team could focus the public's attention on its five-year concept Master plan.
The team announced that it would implement some 200 improvement projects worth $20 million under its five-year concept Master Plan (2016-2020), called “Kampung in the City”. These include covered walkways, children's playgrounds, fitness corners, community halls and community gardens.
In a more inclusive and consultative approach, the Master Plan will go on a roving exhibition within the Jalan Besar GRC to get residents' feedback on the proposed projects.
5. Lastly, just check out how the candidates worked the crowd:
Making teh tarik
Sipping teh tarik, and moving from table to table like newly-weds at the wedding dinner.
Wearing new Jerseys for a new GRC.
Waving to the residents who were looking on from their flats
The event was well-run and organised, though one wonders whether there is a need for so many over-enthusiastic grassroots photographers to be present. With their amateurish behaviour, they probably intimidated some residents and blocked the mainstream media from taking better photographs.
However, it is a small hiccup for a masterly executed event. There is a certain ease and rhythm in how the four experienced candidates interacted with the residents during the walkabouts - the way the residents shook their hands and how the candidates spoke to them.
These little things, which go unnoticed by many, is a sign of a smooth and well-oiled political and grassroots machinery, where politicians, grassroots volunteers and residents are in harmony.
A word of advice for WP - send your C or D team there.
Related articles:
5 things we learnt from tailing the Workers’ Party in Nee Soon GRC
5 observations on why the PAP Ang Mo Kio GRC team is actually just PM Lee
5 observations from how the savvy Sembawang PAP team introduced their boyband
5 moments from the unveiling of Bishan-Toa Payoh PAP candidates that got us scratching our heads
All photos by Jonathan Lim.
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