WP's Yee Jenn Jong apologises for not contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, hopes WP will be back 1 day

Workers' Party (WP) Yee Jenn Jong was "emotional" when it came to not contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC for the 2025 General Election.

Speaking at the NUSS X The Mothership Podcast, Yee shared that he personally invested a lot of his time in Marine Parade GRC since running in that constituency during the 2015 General Election and the 2020 General Election.

However, he noted that much of Marine Parade has changed, and it is no longer the same as it was in 2015 or 2020.

According to the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, some polling districts from Potong Pasir SMC were moved to Marine Parade GRC due to high population growth resulting from new HDB developments in Bidadari.

In addition, Marine Parade absorbed MacPherson SMC and an adjacent polling district from Mountbatten SMC to form the new Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

"I'm very sorry to the residents, and more so to the many hundreds of volunteers," Yee said.

Yee brought up his volunteers, who would continue to walk the grounds of Marine Parade after the 2020 elections.

"Imagine how sad they were when we had to eventually tell them that we could not contest because we were simply out of resources. We do not have enough candidate and enough resources to run one more [General Election] and succeed."

He went on to explain that WP is a small party compared to the People's Action Party (PAP); thus, for them to have a realistic chance to "make breakthroughs", they needed to consolidate their resources.

"And personally, I would hope that, one day, the party would still be back at Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, or whatever you call it subsequently."

When asked if he appealed to WP's chief, Pritam Singh, to field a team in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, Yee said it was inevitable.

So, the focus moving forward is on what to do in the areas WP has decided to contest, which are East Coast, Punggol, Sengkang, Aljunied, Hougang, Jalan Kayu and Tampines.

Opposition unity

When asked if opposition unity was a "real concept," WP's new face, Jasper Kuan, noted that the concept "seems sound," but the political parties stand for different things.

Though he joked that his political career was only three days old, Kuan pointed out that Singh's outcome for the WP as a "loyal opposition" was to achieve one-third of the seats in Parliament.

"Once the other parties gets seats in, I think maybe that's up for discussion," he said.

"But right now, the Workers' Party stands, and the Workers' Party role is to contest the seats that we have sounded out for, that we are nominated for, and fight for it. Anything else should come when the Parliament is formed."

Kuan added that this was how a democracy works, where the party contest is where they want to be the voice for the people.

A walkover

With the WP not contesting in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, it resulted in a walkover.

It was widely speculated that WP would contest in that GRC as they won 42.26 per cent of the vote in 2020, but no prospective candidates arrived at the nomination centre.

The five seats automatically went to the PAP team, comprising Faishal Ibrahim, Seah Kian Peng, Tin Pei Ling, Goh Pei Ming, and Diana Pang.

That was the first walkover since 2011, when a PAP team for Tanjong Pagar GRC won uncontested.

In a turn of events, WP decided to field a five-member team in Tampines GRC, a constituency that did not contest in 2020.

This sets the stage for a four-way fight between the PAP, the People's Power Party (PPP), and the National Solidarity Party (NSP).

However, WP's decision not to field a team in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights led to anger, sadness and surprise from other opposition parties.

"Anger filled up my mind, sadness [came] to my eyes in tears and disappointment," PPP secretary-general Goh Meng Seng said of the walkover to the media.

"It is very ironic that the slogan of Workers' Party is working for Singapore. But do you really work for Singapore when you deprive 130,000 voters [of] their right to vote?"

Speaking to the media on Apr. 23, National Solidarity Party (NSP) secretary-general Spencer Ng said, "[The walkover] is definitely a surprise to everyone of us."

During PPP's first rally at Temasek Junior College, Goh harped on WP's decision not to contest Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

According to Goh, there was "no good strategy" for WP contesting Tampines GRC.

Goh, however, said he had one good reason in mind as to why WP might have decided to contest Tampines.

"They want to make sure Goh Meng Seng does not go into Parliament"

Goh said this was because his party was the only one in Singapore that had "raised concerns about the vaccine during the Covid period", despite Goh having been issued multiple POFMA orders for falsely exaggerating the dangers of Covid-19 vaccines.

Retirement?

While Yee noted that he had "actively retired" from politics in 2020, he did not entirely retire as he continued to be active in the community.

Now, he is back in politics, leading the WP's East Coast team against the PAP's team helmed by Minister Edwin Tong.

"I'm just an active person. I cannot really retire, I have to do something."

If asked if he would return for GE2030, Yee noted that there are many other younger prospects in the party with a longer runway.

"If I am elected, I will see the preparation of the team going forward. If I'm confident they can run and I can bring somebody else in to take over, I'm happy to do that."

Top photos via Loh Hui Si/Mothership