With all the chess pieces from the People's Action Party (PAP) and Workers' Party (WP) in place, East Coast GRC is set to be one hell of a slugfest this election.
We take a more in-depth look at the East Coast battleground.
1. A little bit of history
WP first contested in East Coast GRC back in 2006, when it was still a five-man constituency.
It is interesting to note that although WP garnered only 36.14% of votes in 2006 – the first time an opposition party contested there since the GRC's inception in 1997 (back then it started out as a six-man GRC) – the party gained significant grounds with 45.17% in 2011.
That was some 9 percentage point gain for the men in blue, which made the men in white looked kinda bad because it meant that East Coast GRC was the worst performing GRC that the ruling party won.
This huge drop may also be due to the retirement of two long-serving Ministers - former Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar and former Speaker Abdullah Tarmugi - in 2011.
In fact, the PAP probably anticipated the issue back in 2011. They moved long-time Tanjong Pagar Minister Lim Swee Say, who was probably expected to take over Mr Lee Kuan Yew, to shore up the East Coast ranks with then Transport Minister Raymond Lim.
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What do the past GE results mean?
In the last two GEs, East Coast was the GRC with the slimmest victory margin after Aljunied. And we all know what happened to Aljunied GRC.
2. The players in the white corner
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Here's a thing to note: East Coast GRC has the most number of office holders.
There is Manpower Minister/poet/wannabe mathematician Lim Swee Say, Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Trade and Industry and National Development Lee Yi Shyan and Southeast District Mayor/Minister of State for National Development Dr Maliki Osman.
That's right. Three office holders.
Although not an office holder, Jessica Tan – together with Lee Yi Shyan – has been part of the East Coast team since 2006.
3. The players in the blue corner
The last time WP contested there the team featured two promising candidates in the form of Gerald Giam and Png Eng Huat. Png is now defending his Hougang seat.
This time round, Gerald Giam, who became the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) after GE2011, continues the fight and is supported by former associate librarian Mohamed Fairoz Shariff, business consultancy CEO Leon Perera and National University of Singapore (NUS) Associate Professor Daniel Goh, who was very nearly slimed by a poison pen letter accusing him of adultery.
Goh, however, proved to be a savvy operator and came out of the saga unscathed. Some netizens noted his classiness when Goh urged his supporters not to sling mud at his opponents or the mainstream media. Looks like WP found a worthy replacement for Png in the associate professor.
As The Straits Times' Chong Zi Liang observed, "the WP's East Coast candidates have a slight edge over their Marine Parade counterparts". Chong noted that all four men were chosen to be part of the panel to present the WP manifesto".
In fact, this might also be what WP Chairperson Sylvia Lim was hinting at - vote for our next generation of leaders too, just like how PM Lee is urging the electorate to vote for the fourth generation leaders.
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Posted by The Workers' Party on Saturday, August 29, 2015
In fact, both Giam and Goh are part of WP's 12-member Central Executive Council (CEC). Goh was also the only non WP MP representing WP at the opposition parties horse-trading talks. The only GRC team with more CEC members? WP's "A" team at Aljunied GRC with five CEC members.
4. WP mirroring PAP's strategy
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So far, PAP's strategy has always been very conventional: every GRC will be led by an anchor minister with one or two new faces. The big guns are usually spread out, which makes a lot of sense, and the noobs get to gain some experience.
But as what we mentioned in point 2, there are three office holders in PAP's East Coast GRC team. Is it a showcase of the candidates calibre? Or is it a subtle reminder to voters that Singapore might lose three office holders if the PAP East Coast team is voted out?
WP, on the other hand, didn't put all its eggs (or candidates) in one basket. Lawyer Dennis Tan, also a CEC member, is contesting in the new Fengshan SMC while corporate lawyer He Ting Ru is part of the WP's Marine Parade team.
In other words, Fengshan will see a fight between two first-time candidates with no national recognition. It will be a proxy test to assess which party brand resonates more with Singaporeans living in the East.
Top photo by Christopher Wong.
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