'You just have to be yourself': WP's Kenneth Tiong on replacing Leon Perera in Aljunied GRC

On Nomination Day, the Workers’ Party (WP) team turned up at Poi Ching School in Tampines with four familiar faces — and one new one.

Kenneth Tiong, 36, was the sole new face in a team of veterans. The rest of the slate comprised Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Gerald Giam, and Fadli Fawzi.

A former business analyst and a documented foodie, Tiong will stand in former WP Member of Parliament Leon Perera’s old ward, Serangoon.

But who is he really? He dropped by Mothership's Help Desk to find out more.

Read on for some excerpts of our conversation, or watch the full episode here:

Joining politics

A lot of young people I talk to feel like there are two big things going on in the world right now.

One, the trade war and increased protectionism. The second is the technological revolution — humanoid robots are gonna walk among us, AI is gonna change the future of work.

There’s clearly something profound going on in the 21st century. But the sentiment I get from Singaporeans is, hey, the future being built in the world somewhere. But it’s not really being built here.

For me it’s very important that we build a society…where they don’t have to leave Singapore to pursue a good career.

It was also a sense, over the years, that the policies are not really working. At least for what you want, what you think should be happening.

Why is that the case? Singaporeans? I grew up with a lot of brilliant Singaporeans, so what’s the missing ingredient?

Then coming into the Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP) issue. That was in a different direction from my moral compass.

And just various issues over the years, where I felt we can do better.

LTVP issue and foreign spouses

I participated in a lot of MPSes over the years.

Usually there are two biggest categories; one is HDBs and issues related to that.

The second is always ICA. Issues like, I can’t get a LTVP for my wife. Or it’s very difficult to get my wife over here.

One in four Singaporeans are married to a foreign spouse. So if you had eight people in a room, you would have two people who are married to a foreign spouse.

They come not just once, they come four, five, six times. They keep applying and they keep getting rejected. ICA doesn’t give you reasons for why they reject you, so they have to make their own guesses as to why.

The common wisdom is that you’ve got to earn enough to support your family. So in quite a few cases, the person tries to increase their income through all means possible.

So they work. They may work two jobs, they may work seven days a week. They may try to rent out a room in their house, basically doing everything possible.

To me, this continuing cycle where they have to keep applying, and there’s no real reasons given on why they’re rejected. I don’t think it’s a humane way to deal with the situation.

I think we’ve got to be transparent about what our immigration policies mean for them.

Every year that they don’t have a LTVP for their wife is another year they don’t get back.

Replacing Leon Perera

I didn’t actually meet Leon Perera in person. So I know Leon mainly by his footsteps and his videos in Parliament.

There are famous clips of him sparring with Shanmugam [in Parliament]. But what is less noted is how deeply he cared for his community.

To walk in Serangoon ward is to understand what a giant Leon Perera was.

He was a very, very influential figure in many, many dimensions. I think Leon did a very, very good job on the ground over the years for the party.

So for me to fill his shoes, I do realise it’s a task.

But I try to keep it in perspective. I do have some ideas I want to push for in Parliament. Ideas about being tech forward, ideas about being compassionate.

Ultimately it’s not about filling a Leon Perera-sized hole, because no one can fill a Leon Perera-sized hole. You just have to be yourself.