Holland-Bukit Timah GRC: Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Now... this is a fight...

Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will be fielding a strong team for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. See the green patch in the middle of the map. That's Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

From SDP

Name	Age	Marital Status	Education	Experience
Dr Vincent Wijeysingha	41	Unmarried	PhD (Sociological Studies) (University of Sheffield)	Executive Director of Transient Workers Count Too
Tan Jee Say	57	Married with 4 kids	MA (Econs & Politics) (University of Oxford), Chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment	Investment Fund Advisor. Former Administrative Officer, headed the economic and manpower planning unit in MTI, PPS to then DPM Goh Chok Tong.
Dr Ang Yong Guan	56	Married with 2 kids	MRCPsych (Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists) (Edinburgh University)	Consultant psychiatrist in private practice Current founder/chairman of Action Group for Mental Illness (since 2004) Current member of National Council on Problem Gambling (since 2005) Current member of Clinical Advisory Committee for Chronic Disease Management Programme (since 2009). Retired Colonel and former head of Psychological Medicine Branch (currently known as Psychological Care Centre) at the Military Medicine Institute, HQMC. Former president of Singapore Psychiatric Association (1997-1998) Former chairman of the Chapter of Psychiatrists, Academy of Medicine (2001- 2003),
Michelle Lee	35	Married with 3 kids	B.Sc. (Hons) in Government and Economics (London School of Economics) She scored first-class honours in the Government component of her degree programme.	Private teacher for underprivileged children. Former public servant in the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Former financial analyst for Salomon Smith Barney Citibank and Mercer Management Consulting in Hong Kong.

From PAP

Name	Age	Marital Status	Education	Experience
Vivian Balakrishnan	50	Married with 4 kids	President Scholar MBBS (NUS) Specialist – Paediatric Ophthalmology	Minister of Community, Youth & Sports MP since 2001 Read long CV here.
Christopher De Souza	35	Married	LL.B (First Class Honours) (King's College London) B.C.L. (Distinction) (University of Oxford)	Partner, Lee & Lee MP since 2006
Liang Eng Hwa	47	Married with 3 kids	Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) (University of Melbourne)	Managing Director, DBS Bank, MP since 2006
Sim Ann	36	Married with 2 kids	President Scholar M(Political Science) (Stanford) BA(PPE) (University of Oxford)	Former Administrative Officer, Singapore Public Service Restructured National Popn & Talent Div (now headed by DPM Wong), Regional Director (East China), IES, DD, MTI

As usual, the PAP team CV is all gloss and glitter.
In addition, PAP fields, in this 4-person GRC, not 1 but TWO President's Scholars!

The fight in this GRC has started while you and I were not paying attention. Both sides provide 'juicy bits' for every Singaporean to chew on.

Dr Balakrishnan's Performance as Minister
On the PAP end, Dr Vivian is the Minister in-charge of the Community, Youth and Sports portfolio which has been in bad light recently.

Obvious outrage includes the ballooning of the Youth Olympics Games budget from S$104mil to S$387mil in 2011, the S$25mil spent on constructing the still semi-conscious *SCAPE, the 2-year stalling of  the $1.33bil sports hub project (at first, it was due to 'rising construction costs', then it was due to financial crisis),  the infamous comment he made in Parliament about public assistance for the poor etc.

Meanwhile, the other 3 members melt into the background, though SPH has featured a full-page of Sim Ann today.

SDP's Uphill Struggle for Legitimacy
On the SDP end, former public servant, Tan Jee Say, has drafted and shared a 45-page report on the New Singapore Economy, which his competitors have been putting down as mere rhetoric. Rhetoric or vision. The voter needs to learn to read, understand and decide for himself.

SDP has a image problem due to past antics of SDP's Secretary General, Dr Chee Soon Juan, his sister and a few comrades. And SDP is keenly aware of this. As such, it has stepped up to do long-overdue damage control. Firstly, Tan Jee Say publicly stated that Dr Chee has learnt his lesson. Secondly, SDP has launched a party mascot. A refreshing first in this election.

ORRRRHH!!! You are Gay!
Most recently, the spotlight on SDP has been turned blindingly onto Dr Vincent Wijeysingha.

Yesterday, Dr Balakrishnan has started to cast doubts on his competition by mentioning an online video which SDP would need to 'suppress'.

Though Dr Balakrishnan has not confirmed whether this is indeed the video, his GRC team has since issued a media release on this issue, i.e. signed by everyone in his GRC team.

A search online reveals this video.


I tried to understand what's 'wrong' with the video, but the only thing I could fault was the quality of recording. I can't really catch the gist of conversation. If you really want me to 'get it', please provide a subbed version.

I only know that at one point, Dr Vincent Wijeysingha acknowledged that he's gay.

Dr Vincent Wijeysingha's gender inclination may well be problematic for some, but in my world, it's irrelevant.

And in my opinion, it would be very silly for Dr Balakrishnan and/or PAP to play the gay card at this time and in this age.

Being Gay versus Being Incompetent
Being gay, if it's even a problem, should be a lesser problem than one's inability to control project expenditure as the Minister-in-charge, especially one who has been in political office for the past 9 years. No one, including himself, can't say that the President Scholar Minister doesn't have the smarts nor the opportunity to do the sums. So that just leaves the question of motivation.

Yeah... Perhaps one can blame the civil servants in MCYS for 'not doing their jobs'. They should have warned the politicians in MCYS about the project expenditure overrun. But did they?

Oh yes... Don't forget, Dr Balakrishnan is not the only politician heading the MCYS portfolio. Helping him with the Youth and Sports portfolio segments, is Senior Parliamentary Secretary Teo Ser Luck, who, along with other ministers, was on the panel of advisors for YOG. Also see my earlier entry on the curious anonymous defender of Teo Ser Luck, commenting on my blog from Vientaine, Laos, during SEA Games 2009. Teo Ser Luck is the MP in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

So, if being gay is a problem, being straight doesn't guarantee sound public policies and administration all the time either.

In any case... Holland-Bukit Timah GRC is a hot hot hotspot.
May the more prudent team win and enter Parliament.