'Better distribution of senior leadership': PM Wong explains surprise deployment of Gan Kim Yong & Tan See Leng

Speaking on the surprise movement of candidates for the People's Action Party (PAP) teams for Punggol GRC and Chua Chu Kang GRC, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong explained it was a "better distribution of our senior leadership for the campaign".

This is keeping in mind the fact that he would be in the west in Marsiling-Yew Tee and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong "in the centre" in Ang Mo Kio.

"...If we are elected, that's also a better spread of leadership to make sure that we can cover the whole of Singapore and make sure that we do our best to serve all residents."

Swaps

On Nomination Day (Apr. 23), Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng, who was previously part of Marine Parade GRC, will now be leading the team for Chua Chu Kang GRC.

His team consists of Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, Jeffrey Siow, and Choo Pei Ling.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who was previously part of Chua Chu Kang GRC, has now been fielded to Punggol GRC.

His squad includes Sun Xueling, Janil Puthucheary and Yeo Wan Ling.

They will go up against Workers' Party (WP) newcomers Harpreet Singh, Alexis Dang, Alia Mattar and Jackson Au.

Adjustments

In response to media queries at a press conference on these movements, PM Wong also stated that with the retirements of Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, he had to make some adjustments to his deployment.

Particularly for the newly-formed Punggol GRC, SM Teo had been the anchor minister for what used to be Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC for many years.

It was therefore "really not easy to have a senior [political] office holder of a similar stature take over from him."

"That's why I considered it very carefully and eventually decided to deploy DPM Gan Kim Yong there," he said.

Surprise!

PM Wong also expressed his surprise that WP decided not to contest for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

"This morning, our own people were telling us that there wasn't presence of WP in the nomination centre. We heard it, but we were never able to confirm whether or not there will be a contest."

However, PM Wong said that even if the GRC had been contested, he had confidence that Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng would be able to anchor the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights team and that the team would hold its own.

He stressed that last minute changes happen in the elections, as preparing for an election is always "a dynamic matter" with numerous moving parts and different considerations that need to be taken into account.

"We try our best not to have too many movements, but from time to time, we have to make some of these, and we have done so in this election," he added.

"The ministers may be new, but they are not the only ones who are in the team. There are others in the GRC who will be familiar, and the ministers, I'm sure, will be able to hold their own wherever they are fielded."

Top photos via Mothership & Gan Kim Yong/Facebook