Straits Times: WP wants to offer voters a chance to vote in AMK

THE Workers' Party (WP) team that wants to contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC just wants to provide voters there with a chance to vote.

'The Workers' Party can provide a voice for the people. It will provide a kind of pressure and the PAP will take the people more seriously,' said Mr Yaw Shin Leong, 30, an IT consultant who was part of the disqualified WP team for Aljunied GRC in the 2001 General Election.

The Ang Mo Kio GRC is headed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and viewed as a strong ward for the People's Action Party.

The WP team went on its first walkabout as a group yesterday, covering Cheng San market and surrounding coffee shops in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10.

With Mr Yaw were other WP members who are likely candidates for the Ang Mo Kio slate. They are: businesswoman Glenda Han, 30; sales coordinator Abdul Salim, 24; translation company editorial executive Lee Wai Leng, 26; sales executive Melvyn Tan, 31; and property executive Gopal Krishnan, 54.

T. RAJAN

TODAY: WP checks out Ang Mo Kio

WHILE Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was rallying support for the People's Action Party in nearby Yio Chu Kang, Workers' Party (WP) cadres were working the ground in Mr Lee's Ang Mo Kio ward - which they indicated they might contest.

Led by Mr Yaw Shin Leong, an ex-co member of the WP's Youth Wing, they covered some 15 residential blocks and the Cheng San wet market.

Said Mr Yaw, 30, an e-business analyst: "If it is in the national interest to come here, and if the WP leadership should so decide, my team mates and I are prepared to be fielded."

He said his party knew the area well. "A portion of Ang Mo Kio actually belonged to Cheng San GRC" - which the WP had contested in 1997.

And like the ruling party, the WP could field more female candidates. Ms Lee Wai Leng, 26, a member of WP's Central Executive Committee, said: "I hope to be called upon to contest. It would be the first time I'm contesting the elections. If the party is willing to send me, I'm prepared."

Ms Lee, a graduate running a translation company, has been active in WP grassroots activities in Hougang, Aljunied and Nee Soon East. - LOH CHEE KONG