Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong will lead the PAP team in East Coast GRC at the coming polls on May 3.
The five-member team will include two new candidates, Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash, 50, former chief executive of the Agency for Integrated Care, and Madam Hazlina Abdul Halim, 40, senior vice-president at advisory firm Teneo.
Rounding up the team are two incumbents – Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, 47, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ms Jessica Tan, 58.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, 64, who led the team the last round, announced his retirement from politics, after serving the nation for nearly 24 years.
Minister Maliki Osman, 59, and Cheryl Chan, 49, have also announced their retirement from politics. They served five terms, and two terms of government respectively.
The PAP slate for East Coast GRC was formally introduced at PAP Headquarters on April 23.
Acknowledging that it will be the toughest general election for him, Mr Tong pointed out that East Coast has always been a tough ward for the PAP over the many decades of GEs that they have seen. But the team hopes to persuade voters that “we do deserve their trust and confidence”, he added.
“We believe that the freshness that we have, coupled with the experience and the diversity of life experiences that each of the five of us bring to the table individually… will stand us in good stead,” he said.
Mr Tong pointed out that when fresh PAP candidates are fielded, they “don’t take over from ground zero”. He noted that new candidates “build on and work off the work that has been done in preceding terms, by preceding teams”. He stressed the “sheer continuity” of the work done by PAP East Coast teams that have “successively and successfully” contested the constituency.
“We want to assure our residents that despite the retirement of DPM, we will continue with work that he has started, and we will build on it, add to it, and make it even brighter for our residents at East Coast.”
Dinesh Vasu Dash: Serving people as he did during Covid
Mr Dinesh said that he has been in public service almost his entire life, including multiple volunteer roles, and he felt that the best way to continue contributing was to do so through political service.
“I believe I will be able to rally my teams that are with me and to serve our residents better. I believe I am able to make policies work for the residents of East Coast, just as I did during the COVID operations and the vaccination operations,” he said.
Mr Dinesh said that he will focus on three areas: supporting seniors and caregivers; helping young families, and uplifting minority communities and the vulnerable.
“I hope to also mobilise the community and to propose new ideas to support both our seniors and our caregivers.”
A father of three school-going children, Mr Dinesh will be taking over Bedok constituency.
Hazlina Abdul Halim: Experience across the public, private and people sector is useful
Madam Hazlina, who will be taking over Siglap ward from Dr Maliki Osman, is passionate about social impact and believes everyone has a part to play so all Singaporeans can pursue and achieve our aspirations.
She started her career as a radio presenter for Mediacorp’s Ria 89.7FM and later transitioned into television as a CNA editor. She has served as Chief Executive of Make-A-Wish Singapore.
She said that her experience across the public, private and people sector is useful to her work, understanding how one another works so that they can work better.
“As a journalist, we are very interested in the core of the issue, really behind the story. And that ability to go deeper and peel the layers of the onion is a very useful skill that I find when I’m interacting with residents to connect better and to understand.”
During the press briefing, Mr Tong also shared his priorities for East Coast GRC. They include caring for the elderly, helping them to age in place, providing opportunities and mentorship programmes for youths, and looking after the well-being of private estate residents.
“I understand deeply what the concerns are as a private estate resident, both in terms of social programmes, subsidies, grants, budget measures, but also in terms of how we can enhance the estate, make their living environment better and grow their common spaces,” he said.
