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SINGAPORE – Three-time WP candidate Yee Jenn Jong looks set to contest in the 2025 General Election, along with three other former candidates.
In a WP video released on April 22, the day before Nomination Day, the former Non-Constituency MP said: “I am stepping up – again.”
The 60-year-old, who in 2021 said that he had “largely retired from active politics”, delivered the line towards the end of the 50-second video, which also featured the 14 new WP candidates introduced over the past week.
Besides Mr Yee, former candidates Kenneth Foo, 48, a deputy director at the Singapore Cancer Society; IT professional Nathaniel Koh, 41; and lawyer Fadli Fawzi, 44, also appeared in the video.
Mr Yee, Mr Koh and Mr Fadli contested Marine Parade GRC in the 2020 election, while Mr Foo was part of the WP’s East Coast GRC team.
In 2011, Mr Yee, an education entrepreneur, came up against PAP veteran Charles Chong in the former Joo Chiat SMC in a close fight. Mr Chong prevailed with 51.02 per cent of the vote, and Mr Yee was appointed a Non-Constituency MP as the “best loser” in that election.
The Joo Chiat single seat became part of Marine Parade GRC during the 2015 polls, and the ward has been absorbed into East Coast GRC for the 2025 polls.
Mr Yee contested in Marine Parade GRC in both the 2015 and 2020 elections.
From 2020, he had been spotted walking the ground in East Coast GRC, and later Punggol, amid speculation then that the area would be carved out from Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC as a new group representation constituency.
In February, The Straits Times spotted him leading a team walking the blocks in Punggol Place. Two from the group have since been announced as WP candidates for 2025 – Dr Ong Lue Ping, 47, a senior principal clinical psychologist, and Mr Sufyan Mikhail Putra, 33, a former associate director at Abdul Rahman Law Corporation.
Speculation is rife that Mr Yee could either lead a team to conquer new ground in Punggol GRC – as he has been doing for the past few months – or return to his old stomping ground of Joo Chiat, which is now part of East Coast GRC.
All eyes will be on where he stands as the WP is expected to mount a fierce challenge in both of these constituencies.
It is still unclear at this point if more former candidates would join the WP’s slate.
WP chief Pritam Singh has been mum on the total number of constituencies the party will contest.
When candidate introductions began on April 17, he declined to reveal where the party will contest, saying “you will know what they are in good time”. He also declined to say how many candidates it will field for the general election.
When the party’s four-day candidate introduction came to a close on April 20 with 14 new faces unveiled, Mr Singh left open the possibility of the WP fielding more new faces come Nomination Day, pointing to the need to prepare spare candidates.
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