They say, "No one except Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong knows when the next elections will be held." A closest indication came from Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed. In an interview with Bridge News, he was quoted to have mentioned the earliest possible date of June 2001, which was later debunked by PMO.
This remark by Rasheed, who is also PAP MP for Cheng San GRC, must seem great news for the political opposition. Yet one man refuses to adopt a "fly-by-night" attitude, typically used by the opposition's only opposition to describe and discredit them.
Christopher Neo Ting Wei, or "Chris" as he is warmly known to his friends, is the National Solidarity Party (NSP) Organising Secretary and election candidate slated for Boon Lay, a seat he failed to clinch from the hands of PAP's Goh Chee Wee in 1997. Undaunted, he continues to work the ground within the last 5 years, and has become a familiar face to some Boon Lay residents.
A politician who does not choose to dunk into the limelight, "Christopher Neo", unlike "Chiam See Tong" or "Low Thia Khiang", is not a name that rings a familiar tone to the average household (except residents in Boon Lay). Yet he feels his role as a politician is not publicity but serving the people at the grassroots level. His oft-emphasised strategy - "you have to prepare your ground (for an election)," he says.
It was his desire to represent the people that he joined NSP, in spite of family and society pressure. In 1997, when his candidacy was announced in the media, his employer (a large Japanese retail firm), displaying a typical act of self-censorship, had Chris summoned into his office. There, he was given 2 choices - switch to PAP or resign from the company. He chose the latter because he wanted to prove there was nothing to be frightened of. Recalling those bad days, he said, "Opposition members are not criminals and should be accorded acceptance equal to PAP members."
5 years later, he is a self-employed businessman, and continues to plug away. If elected, he says he will utilise 30% - 50% of the MP allowance to start a fund for the poor to subsidise their medical and amenity costs. He also plans to serve as a full-time MP and hold two sessions per week - one day to be a meet-the-people's session and the other to go on a house-to-house visit.
Chris is also Finance Director of Think Centre. He met James Gomez in 1999 and joined the board of directors upon weighing his commitments and feeling he was up to it. Members of the "Think Team" which he is part of see an easygoing and trustworthy personality in him, who executes his responsibility of managing the Centre's accounts well while maintaining his capacity to ensure no conflicts of interest between his party's and the Centre's activities.
Between 1997 - 2001, he has mingled with the people in Boon Lay either through door-to-door visits or walking around hawker centres and "kopi-tiams". In general, residents may find his warm affection and sincere mannerisms hard to resist, even if he is from the opposition, a political entity shunned by many Singaporeans. Some remembered him way back in the 1997 General Elections and welcome his returned challenge.
However, girdled in between 2 GRCs, Boon Lay, 1 of the 9 single-seat wards in Singapore, is in danger of being absorbed into either one of the two GRCs adjacent to it - Bukit Timah GRC and Hong Kah GRC. Single-seats have always been susceptible to "disappearing" along electoral boundaries. According to The Straits Times (Mon, 7 May 2001), NSP is targetting only another 2 single-seats - Chua Chu Kang and Kampong Glam - and Tampines GRC.
NSP President Yip Yew Weng says ST's report is not entirely accurate, and the party's strategies are not finalised. In addition to the four "confirmed" constituencies, they are looking into the prospect of fielding candidates in the GRCs of Bukit Timah, Jalan Besar and Hong Kah GRC (which they unsuccessfully contested in 1997). If boundaries were to be redrawn to an extent where there are no single-seats left, "reshuffling" will be the only option available, since they have no say over the PAP Government's decisions relating to election rules.
NSP Secretary-general Steve Chia, who is slated for Chua Chua Kang, feels that to effectively represent the people, it is important to have parliamentary presence. Without even a seat, he said, the party cannot go far because Parliament is the place where laws are made, not the "kopi-tiam" or anywhere else.
Many PAP politicians elected into Parliament are seriously "unknowns", but made their way in politics only on the benefit of standing under a party ticket with a 40-year track record - the sole platform of its electoral successes. Chris, tried and tested in both career and voluntary contributions to society, chose to stand with the opposition and thus "marred" his political fortunes. All the man needs is the opportunity, which requires the people's mindset change. And of course, if Boon Lay remains a single-seat ward.
