August 25, 09:22 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) announced its first two candidates for the General Election (GE) during a press conference today (Aug 25).
SDP follows the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and the Workers’ Party (WP) as the fourth opposition party to reveal who is on their ticket. In a departure from the previous candidate press conferences in coffee-shops, however, the SDP opted to hold their press conference at their new headquarters in Ang Mo Kio.
SDP’s Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan joked that the party wanted to "show off" their new office - but added that the SDP would be running campaign events at the constituency level.
“Right now I think this is a good place, a proper place where (we can) introduce our candidates, and make sure that you guys get to ask all the questions you (reporters) want to ask,” he said.
Posted by Mothership.sg on Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Chee, introduced healthcare administrator Chong Wai Fung, 45, and accounts manager Khung Wai Yeen, 34, as their first two candidates on the slate.
Chong is the party’s treasurer, while Khung is a member of the SDP’s ground operation team - both have been active with SDP since 2011.
Chong Wai Fung
It is not known where the two will stand. On queries on where the party will field its A-team, Chee said that the SDP is fielding "a strong team of 11 candidates".
The party will announce its candidates two at a time in the run-up to Nomination Day, which has been set on Sep 1.
Chee discouraged speculation by saying that the duo would not necessarily be doing groundwork in constituencies they would be running in before Nomination Day.
“Let’s not speculate - it would be coming out anyway in a couple of days,” added party chairman Jeffrey George.
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Chong, who is single, said that she always had a passion caring for the vulnerable. “I’ve seen healthcare policies impact patients in hospitals, in their own homes,” she said. “In many of these cases VWOs try (to) fill up the gaps when people fall through the cracks… I worked for a VWO, but the thing is I believe that I can make a bigger impact if I step up to be a voice in Parliament.”
The administrator at Ren Ci Hospital's Nursing Home in Moulmein had previously spoken at popular protests such as the Return Our CPF movement introducing her party’s stand on issues such as the CPF and population policy. Responding to queries from Mothership.sg, she said that her party was "never about populist measures".
“We raised the CPF issue many many years ago - when the Minimum Sum was first introduced, SDP was really dead against it, so it’s not new; it’s not a populist measure,” Chong said. “When the Minimum Sum was first mooted SDP was the one and only party that stood up against it.”
On other parties taking a similar stand regarding CPF and the Population White Paper, Chong said: “So long as everybody is doing it for the good of Singaporeans, it really doesn’t matter."
Gerous Khung Wai Yeen
Khung, married with one child, reiterated the party’s stand on the CPF Minimum Sum, saying that he did not feel that it was right to withhold CPF from people aged 55 years old and above.
“I think (reneging) on promises is not something that the government should be (doing),” the former Chief Engineering Naval Specialist in the Republic of Singapore Navy told the media after the press conference.
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On healthcare, Khung said that public hospitals should not be open to medical tourism. “We hope that public hospitals would change… to a not-for profit nature,” he said.
The SDP will be fielding candidates at Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC as well as Bukit Panjang, Bukit Batok and Yuhua SMCs.
All photos by Ng Yi Shu.
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