The voters of Pasir Ris-Punggol might be forgiven for thinking that the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) would not be returning for the upcoming general election.

After all, the coalition has tried three times to take the group representation constituency (GRC) and come up short. But Desmond Lim Bak Chuan, the SDA's 53-year-old Chairman, is hoping that fourth time's the charm.

Lim himself is no stranger to setbacks.

He made his debut in the 2001 general election, and has been a regular fixture in Singapore's GE landscape during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's premiership.

He participated in the general elections of 2006, 2011 and 2015, as well as the Punggol East by-election in 2013.

This meant that Lim has participated in all the elections since 2006, save for the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election.

And he has so far been unsuccessful in winning a seat in Parliament, and lost his deposit twice.

But Lim, who is also the Secretary-General of the Singapore Justice Party, has no intention of giving up.

The SDA will indeed contest Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC in the next GE, the only constituency they are aiming for.

Charity work

Lim may not have dominated headlines since his defeat in 2015, like other opposition politicians, but that doesn't mean he's been idle.

We met him at his office in Kembangan, where posters and other mementoes of his charity organisation, Dedicated Locals' Caring Community, adorn the walls and shelves.

"I may be low-profile in the social media, but that doesn't mean that I'm low profile in Pasir Ris-Punggol," he said.

Lim, who is married with an eight-year-old son, elaborated that the organisation has set up five "stations" in Pasir Ris and three more in Punggol East.

With help from another organisation, it supplies close to 2,000 packed lunches every day for residents "without fail, 365 days for the past five years."

He added that some residents are well-off enough to get food by themselves, but appreciate the social interaction.

Lim said that the organisation has around 1,500 volunteers, including migrants and new citizens. Lim believes it provides a good opportunity for interaction and integration within Singapore society.

"This organisation, besides doing charity work, is a very good platform for the new migrants, new citizens to integrate into our society, because we provide them the opportunities.

While they serve, they interact with our locals, understand what is the local culture, especially with the old folks. The different religions, different food cultures, languages."

Donating masks

Lim is not a businessman, but a professional principal engineer. The organisation is funded, at least in part, by his network and contacts of other organisations, companies and friends.

These links came in handy when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in late 2019. Concerned about the situation in Wuhan, China, Lim organised overseas volunteers, including in China and Indonesia, Lim managed to gather 150,000 masks and distribute them to 10 hospitals in China in December 2019.

"I personally believe that whether it's our immediate neighbour that whether it's our immediate neighbour, or our distant neighbour, if there's a need and if we can, we will try to help," he said.

Lim also clarified that he did not personally purchase masks within Singapore to send to China back then. But when Covid-19 broke out in Singapore, Lim's contacts stepped up to the plate once more.

Initially, in line with the government's advice not to wear masks unless one is ill, Lim donated other supplies like slippers to local dormitories.

But when the need for masks in public became mandatory, Lim leveraged on his contacts to help send masks from Indonesia and China to Singapore.

As of June 18, Lim shared that he has helped to donate around 40,000 masks to two hospitals in Singapore, and also donated masks to old folk's homes and nursery homes in Pasir Ris and Tampines. The organisation also donated new clothes and toiletries for migrant workers held in dormitories and designated facilities.

Lim was modest about his volunteering efforts, and said that it is part of his role as a citizen to help out when there's a need, within his own abilities.

That viral video

But you probably know Lim better from a viral video than his charity work.

Singaporeans of a certain age may recall Lim's "online rally" in 2013.

Following the resignation of then-PAP MP and Speaker of Parliament Michael Palmer, a by-election was called in the Single Member Constituency of Punggol East.

Lim had contested Punggol East SMC before, in 2011, and received 4.45 per cent of the vote in a three-cornered fight with Palmer and Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party.

To make his case to the voters, Lim told the media he would be using the Internet and social media to spread its campaign message.

Lim's explanation for not holding any physical rallies was the high costs of holding rallies, and the fact that he wanted to try out something beyond "his comfort zone".

Lim made a video, branded "Singapore's first online rally", that quickly went viral due to some verbal gaffes.

How viral? His online rally garnered more than 202,000 views on YouTube as of 20 June, 2020, although there were undoubtedly more views on other platforms.

But the views did not translate to votes as Lim garnered just 168 votes, 0.57 per cent, as he came in last in a four-cornered fight.

Matter of Principle to contest Punggol East

When asked about his decision to stand in Punggol East in 2011 and 2013, despite the multi-cornered fights, Lim said he had no regrets.

Lim said that traditionally, among the opposition, there was a mutual agreement that if any party contests a GRC, and if a single division is carved out, that party would be given the priority.

He mentioned that at the time, SDA did not have a "prominent figure", possibly alluding to Chiam See Tong's exit in March 2011, two months before the GE, which meant that he had to step up.

Lim said that it was a "matter of principle" to participate in the by-election, and if the SDA had not stood in 2011 and 2013, it would not have been able to contest in 2015, or in the upcoming general election.

"People still laugh at me, doesn't matter"

However, Lim still calls the online rally a "good experience", despite the criticism he received.

He explained that the speech was done at the "last minute", and someone else wrote the script for him, which meant he was unfamiliar with the exact words.

In fact, he received the script ten minutes before filming and he recorded the video late after midnight during the campaigning.

He remarked:

"People till today will still use that to laugh at me...doesn't matter. The more that you laugh at me, the more that I want to put in more effort to improve myself. Never give up."

He also explained further:

"Now you have to understand, I (grew up in) a poor family. I cannot speak good English. During that time, a few days we don't even have rice to eat. But then, I'm learning. I'm trying to improve. I hope that now I have improved better than last time. We have to admit our weaknesses and accept criticism."

Pioneer of online rally prepared to hold more such rallies this GE

When asked if he was better prepared today to campaign online, Lim replied that the use of online rallies was "inevitable" and that he was prepared to take up the challenge, and try his best.

At the time of our interview, the announcement that there will be no physical rallies for a General Election held in Phase 2 had not yet been announced.

As such, in giving the rationale for having online rallies, Lim stated that the priority for SDA was the safety of its residents and volunteers. "We don't know who is a carrier, a virus carrier," he added.

He also questioned the safety in the upcoming commencement of Phase 2, by highlighting that China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand were seeing a "resurgence."

Other politicians

On having a "father and son" relationship with Chiam See Tong

When asked about veteran opposition Chiam See Tong, Lim stated that his relationship with Chiam was that of "father and son" and that he travelled together with Chiam multiple times in both their public and private capacities.

He also highlighted how he had been invited to attend some of the functions of the Chiam See Tong Sports Fund.

It was a response that was different from the one recorded in The First Wave: JBJ, Chiam & the Opposition in Singapore, a book by London-based political analyst Loke Hoe Yeong.

According to Loke's book, there had been a major issue between Lim and the Chiams on the question of Lim succeeding Chiam to contest in Potong Pasir in 2010. In addition, Loke also wrote that Lim also declined to be interviewed for his version of the events.

When asked about his relationship with Chiam today, Lim told Mothership that "we have no grudges".

Lim also added that the important matter was to focus on "what is good for the people" and that there was no such thing as being "forever enemies or forever friends" in politics.

Sharing similarities with Tan Cheng Bock

With regard to Tan Cheng Bock and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), Lim stated that he had only come to know Tan personally in 2019, after meeting and having meals with him a number of times.

Lim highlighted that Tan was like him in the sense that both of them had a "good job and a good life" and could easily enjoy a comfortable retirement with their families.

Lim said he "couldn't compare to Tan", but both of them decided to step into politics and offered themselves up to scrutiny and criticism.

Lim added that he admired Tan's effort at his age, and said,"You can’t find many of those retired MP and ministers who, after (retiring), are willing to come up again."

Helped out Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the Reform Party once

As for Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the Reform Party, Lim stated that he had only one instance of contact with Jeyaretnam, when he requested for help on filling up the forms for nomination and declaration ahead of the 2011 General Election.

Lim added that he had sent his legal adviser to the RP to conduct a lesson for them on how to do so, and said that he did not have any comments beyond that.

Let the residents of Aljunied judge the Workers' Party

As for the Workers' Party, Lim also gave a similar reply and stated that he had no comments for the party and its leaders as he did not have any direct contact nor any working relationship with them.

Lim said he left the judgement of the Workers' Party to the residents of Aljunied as they were in a better position than him to do so.

The Mothership Covid Interviews is a series of conversations where our young writers sit down with key figures in Singapore to talk about the ongoing pandemic, its effects on Singapore’s society, economy and polity, and how the folks we talk to are coping, or helping Singaporeans cope. And in some cases, we talk about fun stuff too.

Top image by Rachel Ng.