GE2025: WP’s Faisal says contest in Tampines GRC not between him and PAP’s Masagos
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Workers' Party candidate Faisal Manap speaks to the media during a doorstop in Tampines on April 28.
ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
David Sun
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SINGAPORE - The WP’s Faisal Manap, who is leading the opposition party’s slate in Tampines GRC
During an interview in Tampines Avenue 2 on April 28, Mr Faisal was asked about being pitted against Mr Masagos, who is the anchor minister for the PAP’s team there.
Mr Faisal said: “It’s a competition between two teams. It’s more of a team versus another team, so I don’t see myself going against Masagos.
“But again, being in a GRC, which is a system established by the PAP, you must have a minority. And here I am, you know, a minority for my team.”
Mr Faisal, an incumbent MP for Aljunied GRC who oversaw the Kaki Bukit ward, was moved to contest Tampines GRC in the upcoming election.
WP chief Pritam Singh previously said Mr Faisal had been asking him for “ quite a long time
Besides Mr Faisal, the five-member WP team in Tampines GRC comprises Mr Jimmy Tan, Dr Ong Lue Ping, Ms Eileen Chong and Mr Michael Thng.
The PAP team comprises incumbents Mr Masagos, who is Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Mr Baey Yam Keng and Dr Koh Poh Koon, and new faces Charlene Chen and David Neo.
Aside from the PAP and WP, teams from the National Solidarity Party and People’s Power Party are also contesting in a rare four-cornered fight in Tampines GRC.
During the interview on April 28, Mr Faisal was also asked about self-styled religious teacher Noor Deros, who claimed he had spoken to all the Malay candidates from the WP
Mr Noor had said that the WP had taken seriously his call to raise in Parliament issues surrounding the regulation of Islam in Singapore. He had also criticised Mr Masagos and pushed for support for Mr Faisal.
The WP had disputed Mr Noor’s claims
Mr Faisal said on April 28 that he is open to meeting everyone to listen to them, and has pressed for open conversations in Parliament even for sensitive topics.
“There’re so many things that I press for in Parliament which are deemed as sensitive, but I tell them that that’s the right way to move forward. We must believe in the value of unity in diversity,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean that when we listen to people, that we agree with them. We acknowledge them, we listen to them, to show that we respect your views, but it doesn’t mean that we agree with you.”
Asked if he had anything to say to voters influenced by Mr Noor, Mr Faisal said: “I believe that all voters are smart enough to consider, to weigh the different factors and to weigh the different arguments.”
He added: “So I leave it to the intelligence of the voters, and I respect the voters’ decision to vote whoever they want to vote.”
He also said that in his time in Kaki Bukit, he has not felt a divide between himself and Chinese residents just because he is a Malay Muslim, and does not think this is a hurdle in Tampines GRC either.
“I don’t think there’s any issue with me being a minority, that I cannot represent or become the voice of the Chinese majority in Tampines GRC,” he said.
