SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party on Saturday (Apr 19) unveiled three new potential candidates that it intends to field in the upcoming General Election on May 3.

Introduced by party secretary-general Pritam Singh and chair Sylvia Lim at a press conference, they are Mr Harpreet Singh Nehal, Mr Sufyan Mikhail Putra Mohd Kamil and Mr Jasper Kuan Hon Whye.

The opposition party has thus far announced 11 new candidates including former diplomat Eileen Chong Pei Shan and Institute of Mental Health senior psychologist Ong Lue Ping.

The WP also released a 122-page manifesto at a press conference on Thursday where they announced the first batch of new faces.

HARPREET SINGH NEHAL

Mr Singh, 59, is a managing partner of law firm Audent Chambers, a position he has held since 2019. He is also a Senior Counsel, and holds a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Singapore.

A father of four children aged 22 to 29, he also sits on Harvard Law School’s Leadership Council of Asia.

According to the party, he has been involved in the WP since around 2021, first assisting at Meet-the-People Sessions in Serangoon. Since August 2023, he has been active in house visits and sales of the party's Hammer newsletter.

“The big question on everyone’s mind is this - why am I doing this? Why is this senior counsel leaving what is a comfortable life, aligning himself with the opposition Workers’ Party?” said Mr Harpreet Singh.

“It's for this reason, our country is at a turning point, and we need every concerned Singaporean to step forward and speak up about the issues that matter.

“The future doesn’t write itself, we shape it, you and I.” Asked by the media, if there was stigma associated with becoming a member of an opposition party, Mr Harpreet Singh replied that "if anything, it's a badge of honour".  "Singaporeans are hungry to have people speak up for them, and they know what's on our hearts. They've welcomed us warmly. And I think you will see that at our rallies. That's all I need to say." Mr Harpreet Singh also said that if elected he plans to give "practically all" his time to his residents. "That is the only way I feel I can achieve what I want to do in this next stage of my life. I have the privilege of doing that. I know many of them, new candidates, don't have it, and I intend to use that privilege, you know, to the fullest extent possible. "So you elect me and my team ... you will have me practically in your face all the time. And the advantage is you have the caliber of people in my team without having to pay us ministerial salaries."

SUFYAN MIKHAIL PUTRA MOHD KAMIL

Mr Sufyan, 33, is a former associate director of a community-based law firm, specialising in areas including conveyancing and corporate law. He resigned from his position due to the firm’s non-partisan policy in order to contest the elections and is currently in the midst of registering his own law firm. 

Mr Sufyan, who is married, has been a case writer at Meet-the-People sessions in the Kaki Bukit ward of Aljunied GRC since May 2024.

He is also a member of the party’s policy team and has contributed to analysing bills and assisted with parliamentary work for the Budget 2025 and Committee of Supply debates, as well as attending house visits in the Punggol area.  "I strongly believe in the value of having a balanced political system where no one party has an absolute monopoly on talent and ideas," said Mr Sufyan. 

If elected, Mr Sufyan said he hopes to speak up about the issue of affordability and cost of living pressures, which he described as “a crisis of a generation”. He hopes to champion alternative revenue channels for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to alleviate living cost pressures in the current economic climate.

Mr Sufyan also hopes to push for alternative solutions to Build-to-Order (BTO) leases to enhance affordability, especially for first-time home buyers.

JASPER KUAN HON WHYE

Mr Kuan, 47, is the Asia Pacific product lead for dispute solutions at Visa Worldwide. He began his career as a teacher at Catholic High School, before joining OCBC six years later where he led the launch of FRANK by OCBC, a banking product designed for young adults.

Mr Kuan began volunteering in Hougang after the 2020 General Election, assisting with Meet-the-People sessions. 

He served as Secretariat Assistant and Legislative Assistant to Hougang MP Dennis Tan from 2021 to 2024. 

He is also a father of three children.

Mr Kuan said that his hope was to create a “better future and a better Singapore” for the next generation. “My family is my foundation, my inspiration and my motivation,” he added.

He said that education is an issue close to his heart. While Mr Kuan has seen how education can uplift children, he also pointed out the pressures and burdens which arise.

“I want to push for an education system that's more forward looking, less stressful and more inclusive,” he said.

‘FAR LESS’ TOWN COUNCIL FUNDING CONSTRAINTS In response to a question on town council funding, Mr Pritam Singh said that there are “far less” constraints now following years of advocacy on Community Improvement Projects Committee (CIPC) funding issues faced by opposition MPs. The CIPC provides funding support for community-led improvement projects in Housing and Development Board estates for the benefit of local residents. The party chief pointed out that the Ministry of National Development changed the policy in 2021 and following this change, WP has been able to secure CIPC funding for projects such as barrier-free access facilities and new playgrounds. The rules surrounding the CIPC funds were tweaked in 2021 to allow town councils to apply for these government funds independently. This meant that the elected MPs in opposition wards no longer had to seek access to these funds through the respective constituencies’ Citizens’ Consultative Committees which come under the People’s Association. “Far more better state of affairs than in the past, where it was very difficult to even secure funding to execute programmes. And worse, even if you want to do it, you’ve got to ask the losing PAP candidate for his approval to carry out that programme,” he said.  “Fortunately, that wall has collapsed now.” The WP sec-gen credited the change not to WP but to how Singaporeans have “made their views known about such policies, where taxpayer funding is used for people who vote a certain way and not for the opposition”. During the press conference on Saturday, Mr Pritam Singh again did not want to disclose where the party would be contesting, saying all would be revealed on Nomination Day.  The WP fielded a total of 21 candidates at the last General Election in 2020.

That number could increase this year, though party chief Singh said on Thursday that WP will contest in fewer than one-third of the 97 parliamentary seats up for grabs in GE2025.

Party insiders and analysts told CNA previously that WP could contest in the newly created Punggol GRC as well as constituencies in longtime stomping ground Tampines, as part of a continued eastern and northeastern push.

Singaporeans will head to the ballot box on May 3 after President Tharman Shanmugaratnam dissolved parliament on Tuesday. Nomination Day is on Apr 23.