TODAY: WP shows off its 'global citizens'

General Election 2006


OOI BOON KEONG
MATURE WORLDVIEW SINGAPOREANS: WP candidates (from left) Glenda Han, James Gomez and Tan Wui Hua.

GLOBAL citizens with a mature worldview - that was how the Workers' Party (WP) described its final batch of candidates yesterday.

First was 29-year-old Glenda Han, the founder of Ig's Heaven, a local chain store retailing in giftware and homeware.

Ms Han, who sold her business before living in France for two years, said that her political awareness was heightened during her days in Europe. The entrepreneur then returned in 2004 to start a cocktail bar business in Robertson Quay, and joined the WP.

The National University of Singapore graduate hopes to address issues close to her generation, including the political apathy she senses in Singapore's "sheltered" environment.

Party treasurer Tan Wui Hua, 39, the chief financial officer of a publicly-listed Australian multi-national company in Singapore, wants to fight for unemployment insurance, stressing, however, that he was not advocating a welfare state.

Mr Tan, who obtained his business administration degree in Canada, also feels that his international perspective gives him the ability to think out of the box.

While the last candidate has also not fought an election, James Gomez is not a newcomer to the political scene. Mr Gomez was part of the WP team, which was disqualified from contesting in Aljunied at the last GE for filing incorrect nomination papers.

Mr Gomez said he wished to be a check on the dynamic evolvement of casinos, having observed what happened in other countries such as Sweden and the United States.

"I have seen how the installation of casinos at the national level in other countries escalated downhill into community level gambling," said Mr Gomez, who obtained his post-graduate qualifications from the University of Essex. - CHEOW XIN YI