SDP's Chee Soon Juan may contest in Bukit Batok by-election but so are 2 other opposition candidates

The Singapore Democratic Party’s (SDP’s) political machine kicked off with their upcoming by-election walkabout barely a day after Bukit Batok SMC People’s Action Party (PAP) MP David Ong resigned from party and parliament over his extra-marital affair.

SDP party chief Chee Soon Juan stated that there was a possibility that he may stand in the Bukit Batok by-election.

The SDP, which contested in the area in 1991 and 1997 as well as in the last General Election, announced its intention to send a candidate there barely two hours after Ong resigned.

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However, SDP is not the only interested party: A multi-cornered fight is a strong likelihood with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chief Benjamin Pwee confirming that the DPP will be contesting in the SMC and People's Power Party's (PPP) Goh Meng Seng said that he will discuss with SDP before making any decision.

Independent candidate Samir Salim Neji, who contested in Bukit Batok SMC in the last GE but only garnered 0.6% of the votes, also threw his hat into the ring.

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Progressive Party-Singapore chief Benjamin Pwee confirms he will run in the Bukit Batok by-election. bit.ly/1Wgxiq6

Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Saturday, 12 March 2016

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independent candidate Samir Salim says he will "very likely" contest the Bukit Batok by-election. http://bit.ly/1Wgxiq6

Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Saturday, 12 March 2016

Although the SDP has not been in contact with other opposition parties, Chee said it was "looking forward" to a one-on-one contest with the PAP. “(Of) course, we cannot stop anyone from contesting, this being an open system whereby any opposition party that wants to come in can do so,” Chee said. “Our hopes is that there will be a one-to-one contest with the PAP.”

Chee added that the party was “happy to discuss matters” with other opposition parties if there was a need to. “Right now, our intention is clear. We’ve contested in the elections in this constituency before it got roped into a GRC, and immediately when it became a single seat we contested in 2015, and now we’re going back to contest the by-election,” he said.

In a statement on Facebook, the party said that its campaign team has been activated.

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SDP will be contesting in the Bt Batok by-election which we expect will be called soon. Our campaign team has been...

Posted by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on Saturday, 12 March 2016

When asked whether this was a move to pre-empt a multi-cornered fight, Chee said no. “We measure how we do things according to our intention, and yesterday it became clear that a by-election was going to be held,” he said.

“That was what we needed to know, to make our intentions clear that we are going to come here to contest.”

Chee declined to comment on media reports of David Ong’s extra-marital affair with a PAP Women’s Wing member, and said that the party intends to focus on the issues Singaporeans and Bukit Batok voters are concerned about. “But look, he’s already said that he’s hoping that the family can be left alone, it’s an unfortunate episode and I think we should respect that,” he said. “Going at each other in terms of what we do on a personal basis, that’s not something that we want to do.”

In the last General Election, SDP’s Sadasivam Veriyah won 26.4% of the votes, while independent candidate Samir Salim Neji only got 650 votes (or 0.60%). The SDP won in the area back in 1991, when SDP’s Ling How Doong contested in the constituency, which was named Bukit Gombak. Ling lost in the 1997 General Election.

Not to be outdone, the PAP was also spotted walking the ground at Bukit Batok East Avenue 3 on Sunday morning led by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Accompanying him was fellow Jurong GRC MP Rahayu Mahzam.

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SDP's Chee Soon Juan may contest in Bukit Batok by-election but so are 2 other opposition candidates

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SDP's Chee Soon Juan may contest in Bukit Batok by-election but so are 2 other opposition candidates

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