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Part of SDP's northern strategy.
Hannah Martens
Joshua Lee
Here's another piece of Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) "northern strategy" puzzle.
The party will be contesting in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC at the upcoming general election, confirmed party secretary-general Chee Soon Juan today (Mar. 30) at a distribution drive.
Chee told the media that the distribution was SDP's way of helping folks who need support.
"It's nothing big but whatever we can do, we'll try to do."
The party gave out items like rice, vegetable oil, instant oatmeal, instant milk tea, dried rice noodles, cream crackers, and canned mackerel.
Priority is sending "best team"
Speaking about the resources and backing the party has to take on a GRC, Chee said, "We're up there....Anytime that we're called to run a town council, consider it done."
On the SDP's thoughts on potentially running against Prime Minister Lawrence Wong who is currently an MP in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, party chairman Paul Tambyah said:
"We don't know whether he's going to stay in Marsiling-Yew Tee. There's all kinds of rumours of him being moved to East Coast or West Coast.
Just like in the last general election where DPM Heng Swee Keat was moved to East Coast. So we don't really know.
But in any case, our priority is to send the best team to the constituency where we've been walking the ground. And what the PAP does is kind of secondary."
Challenge is reaching out to every resident: Chee
Chee said that the main challenge that the SDP faces in this upcoming election is having the resources to reach out to "each and every resident" in the constituencies the party is contesting in.
"As you know, my difficulty right now being new in Sembawang GRC. But I think we made great inroads," he said.
"As I said, you know, all the residents have come out to say, 'Oh, we've seen your flyer, we've seen your message.'
And now for me, it's just a dash right up into the finishing line. We intend to cover all the households with the house visits. I was here yesterday, in fact, here every day, doing different means of communicating with them—Sembawang GRC as well.
So no matter how they redraw the boundaries, we're going to make sure that we get to deliver the message."
SDP embarking on a "northen strategy"
On Mar. 23, Chee announced that he intends to stand for election in Sembawang West SMC in the upcoming general election.
This came after Bukit Batok SMC, where he contested in the last general election, was absorbed into the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.
Sembawang is not a new area to the SDP.
The party campaigned in the region in the 2000s; SDP chairman Paul Tambyah delivered his first political speech at an SDP rally in Sembawang in 2011.
The SDP will be embarking on a "northern strategy".
In addition to Sembawang West SMC, the party will field a team in Sembawang GRC.
Meanwhile, Tambyah will once again stand in Bukit Panjang SMC, where he contested in the last election but lost to the PAP's Liang Eng Hwa with 46.26 per cent of the vote.
Aside from Sembawang West SMC, Sembawang GRC, Bukit Panjang SMC, and Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Chee said that SDP is looking to contest in other constituencies as well.
The party is currently holding talks with other opposition parties on how best to "optimise resources".
For the past three general elections (2011, 2015, and 2020), SDP also contested in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.
Photos by Hannah Martens.
