PAP Sengkang team on life, LDRs, & lost elections

The four members of the People's Action Party (PAP) Sengkang team have a couple of things in common.

One, they're all parents.

Two, they're pretty young for politicians, with an average age of 43.

And three — compared to most of their fellow PAP candidates, anyway — they face arguably much tougher odds, contesting an opposition-incumbent ward.

Which has led to some dubbing the Sengkang slate one of the party's "suicide squads".

Young parents

In GE2020, the PAP Sengkang team lost to their Workers' Party (WP) opponents with 47.88 per cent of the vote.

But the PAP's Sengkang team is today revamped. Lam Pin Min, an opthalmologist who represented Sengkang West SMC through two elections before it was absorbed into Sengkang GRC in 2020, is the only remaining member of last election's slate.

The other three members are new faces Theodora Lai, 39; Elmie Nekmat, 43; and Bernadette Giam, 38.

Lam has two daughters, Elmie has four daughters, and Lai and Giam both have two children each, a daughter and a son.

By no accident either. It's a carefully curated team meant to appeal to to young parents, which are an overrepresented group in Sengkang town.

Still, "we are under no delusion that bringing back Sengkang GRC will be easy", Lam said previously.

Parenting is like GE

In an episode of The Mothership Podcast with XQ, the young team opened up about their parenting experiences.

Like with the General Election, you're "never gonna be fully ready" for parenthood, Lai said.

When your kids are young, other things might have to take a backseat: maybe friends, maybe your career.

"But then when your kids grow up a little bit bigger, and you have a little more time for yourself, then you can start exploring something new and different," she said.

Giam, whose first child was a honeymoon baby, added that she hasn't always been comfortable with kids.

"To be honest, before I became a mum, I was the worst at [making children comfortable]. I was the kind of person who if you asked me do I want kids, I wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer," she admitted.

She had to adapt, even through difficult circumstances.

She recalled one occasion in which her child came down MIS-C (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children), a post-Covid infection.

"She had four days of high fever, on the fifth day she turned different shades of red. And if not for the fact that she was admitted and got some intravenous drugs, we could have actually lost her," she said.

"Seeing your kid go through that, with the IV...that was really very heart pain. Very, very heart pain."

She added that as a couple, all you can do is make sure you love children and want them in your lives.

"And then when you actually have them, the pieces will have to fall into place."

Love stories

The men, on the other hand, spoke about their relatively eventful love stories.

As a youth, Lam had an 11-year-long long distance relationship with his now-wife, carried out mostly through handwritten letters and international calls.

She was studying overseas, while he was living in Singapore, he recalled.

"In those days, we don't have email or FaceTime or Skype," he said. "People are always very amazed...but at the end of the day it's about trust."

In contrast to Lam's longtime relationship, Elmie proposed to his now-wife after just two weeks.

They met in 2010, and after their first meeting, he went home and told his mother: "Ibu [mum], I think I met the person who I want to marry."

While she didn't immediately agree to his proposal — "she was like, 'is this guy for real?'", he quipped — their love story does have a happy ending.

They got married within a matter of months, had their first child one and a half years later, and 15 years later, are the proud parents of four daughters.

"So at the end of the day, I'm here to promote the future for women, [because of] my daughters," he said.

Losing elections

Finally, they spoke about loss.

For Lam in particular, the memory of his 2020 electoral loss still seems fresh.

"It was a difficult moment in my life," he admitted. He'd been serving for Sengkang West in 14 years before his SMC was absorbed into Sengkang GRC; the loss hit him hard.

"It was very surreal. You wonder, is it a dream? You pinch yourself — you mean we lost? But of course, the outcome is something we have to accept."

Lam was fortunate enough that immediately after his loss, his friends invited him to rejoin the medical practice, and he accepted.

But having spent so many years on the ground, his residents and volunteers had become "almost like a family to me".

He decided, eventually, to try again this election. And he hopes to come back stronger, work harder, and try to win back the hearts of Sengkang residents.

Suicide squad?

In a previous Instagram post, Lam addressed the question: Is the Sengkang team a suicide squad?

This was the label given to the team, after the PAP's refreshed slate revealed no political heavyweights, and Lam as the sole veteran.

But Lam pointed out that in 2020, they had not one but three political office holders in the team — and still lost.

"I think it's not about whether you have a political heavyweight or not. I think you must have the right person, with the right heart, and the passion to do so," he said.

Going up against the WP team — with several of what are arguably the party's most popular candidates — will be a challenge. The PAP team is well aware.

But they're still gonna try, and they have been trying, over the past four years.

Elmie sums it up pretty well. "I felt that I've given it my all for the past four years already," he said.

"There's more of me to be given, and it's really up to the residents on how they would want our team to serve them moving forward. There's more to be done, and it's not about winning or losing to me already.

It's a very strong purpose, to just serve, and to be the best that we can be to serve Sengkang residents. So that is my mindset, going into the GE."

Top image from Mothership