SINGAPORE, Sept 7 — Tackling head-on Singaporeans First (SingFirst) chief Tan Jee Say’s charge that current leaders of the People’s Action Party (PAP) have “betrayed the ideals” of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, labour chief Chan Chun Sing said that Singaporeans will be the best judge of that allegation.

“For my team, we have served the residents for many years here. They will be the best judge as to whether we’ve put in our efforts sincerely and seriously over the last four years here,” said Chan, who is anchoring the PAP’s Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) team in place of the late Lee for the Sept 11 polls.

Our priority is not so much to respond to what people claim. Our record speaks for itself and we need not worry.

The PAP incumbents will be facing a five-man SingFirst team fronted by Tan in Tanjong Pagar’s first electoral contest since 1991.

Speaking after a walkabout in Tiong Bahru market yesterday (Sept 6), Chan said: “Our priority is not so much to respond to what people claim.

"Our record speaks for itself and we need not worry, so long as we continue our focus on making sure that the residents are well taken care of.

"(As for) the things that we’ve done at the national level in our respective ministries or NTUC (National Trades Union Congress), I think that’s also on public record.”

Quizzed on whether he was bothered by Tan’s personal attack during SingFirst’s rally at Queenstown Stadium on Saturday that he, among other ministers, is a “yes man”, Chan replied that this was “part and parcel of what (he) expected”.

“I don’t think there’s anything for us to fear,” Chan added.

Several SingFirst candidates also criticised the PAP’s immigration policies, and cited concerns over local professional, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) facing competition from foreigners.

Addressing this, Chan, who is the NTUC secretary-general, said that there have been many recent initiatives to help PMETs stay relevant.

“Even in NTUC, I have personally said on many occasions that we’re helping our PMETs not just to be competitive locally, but also regionally and internationally,” he said.

“So, the PMETs’ challenges, we’re keenly aware. It’s not just about today, it’s also about tomorrow ... We’re confident that if we work together — government, labour movement and employers — as one, we’ll be able to resolve many of these challenges.”

Chan said it is good for these issues to be raised and debated during the election, as this would make Singaporeans more aware of the challenges facing the country.

“Over the next three to four days, for the rest of the campaign, Singaporeans will have the opportunity to sit back, look at the issues dispassionately and ask which is the party, which are the candidates that have real concrete plans to resolve some of the immediate challenges facing our country,” he said.

“This is really what this election is about. On one hand, it’s talking about the challenges. But that’s only part of the story. More seriously, it’s talking about who has the plans, who is able to unite the country, who has the quality of leadership — not just in terms of capability but also commitment and conviction,” he added.

Besides Chan, the other PAP candidates in Tanjong Pagar are Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah, Dr Chia Shi-Lu, former police officer Melvin Yong and former public servant Joan Pereira.

The SingFirst team, which includes media consultant Fahmi Rais, had earlier pointed out that the PAP’s slate does not include a Malay candidate and that the constituency has not had a Malay Member of Parliament (MP) since becoming a GRC in 1991.

In response, Indranee said that her team has taken great pains to reach out to the Malay community, and have many programmes for them.

Tanjong Pagar is also a GRC, which under election rules requires at least one member of the team to be an Indian or be from another minority 
community.

“So, obviously, the concentration of the number of different races follows that kind of designation. Whatever it is, we make sure that all the races in our GRC are provided and taken care of irrespective of the race of the MPs.”

Chan added: “That’s an important point. We take care of all our residents regardless of race, language and religion. Each community has their own specific needs and we’ll add to the baseline that we already have.” — TODAY