Former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong has stepped into the political ring for the fourth time in a general election, for what he says is his final charge.
The 60-year-old, who is part of the WP team contesting in East Coast GRC, lost in Joo Chiat SMC by 388 votes in the watershed 2011 election. He describes his 2025 bid as an “old soldier” returning to the battleground. He had publicly announced his retirement from electoral politics in 2021.
He drew a parallel to the late American general Douglas MacArthur who had to retire twice, after being recalled to active duty in 1941 when the US was dragged into war again. Quoting a saying by the US general that goes “Old soldiers never die. They simply fade away”, Mr Yee said: “I have never left. I stepped up when called upon.”
He was part of the WP team that contested in Marine Parade GRC in the last general election and lost, with 42.26 per cent of the vote. While the four-time candidate was not entrenched in the WP’s outreach efforts there following its 2020 defeat, he said he “remained a soldier with fire still burning”.
Two years ago, when WP chief Pritam Singh asked if he could help prepare the ground in Punggol West SMC, and possibly the whole of Punggol, for the 2025 General Election, Mr Yee said yes.
But he also made it known to the party that he need not run as a candidate.
Speaking to The Straits Times in an interview at The Marketplace@58 in Bedok, Mr Yee said Mr Singh had already suspected back then that Punggol’s population growth would necessitate the creation of a new group representation constituency.
Punggol GRC came to pass with the redrawing of electoral boundaries on March 11.
Mr Yee had led a small team to walk the ground there once a week, then twice a week – many a time with potential candidates the party sent his way to mentor and observe.
Two of them are now his running mates in East Coast GRC – lawyer Sufyan Mikhail Putra, 33, a former associate director at Abdul Rahman Law Corporation, and former US Navy security administrator Paris V. Parameswari, 51.
Another is now one of the party’s candidates in Tampines GRC, 48-year-old Ong Lue Ping, a senior principal child psychologist at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH). All three passed with flying colours – even putting aside their careers to fly the opposition flag, he noted.
Dr Ong, who was director of allied health at IMH, stepped down from senior leadership at the hospital in late 2024 to prepare for his candidacy.
Mr Sufyan quit his law firm due to its non-partisan policy. Ms Paris resigned from the US Navy to contest as well. Mr Yee has encouraged Mr Sufyan and Ms Paris to join him in becoming full-time MPs if they are elected.
Mr Yee said Mr Singh asked him to lead the party’s East Coast GRC team, given his familiarity with the Joo Chiat ward, which was absorbed into the constituency.
Mr Yee said he could not say no. “I have lived here all 60 years of my life – my kindergarten till junior college, extended family, friends and church are here. I am a true blue Eastie,” he said.
Mr Yee said WP’s slate in this election, with 14 new faces, is “the best” the party has ever assembled, and that the country stands at a “pivotal moment of Singapore politics”.
“Does Singapore progress on to a functioning multi-party system or do we regress when we struggle to persuade good men and women to step up and allow the PAP a blank cheque,” he added, noting that it would be more difficult for the WP to recruit if there is an opposition wipeout.
Asked if it was good strategy to not field lawyer Ang Boon Yaw, 42, and former researcher Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim, 59, in East Coast GRC, where they continued to make weekly visits after the party’s narrow loss in 2020, Mr Yee said they are “amazing” and “selfless” soldiers who work regardless of their candidacy.
“I don’t think anyone here works expecting to be parachuted into safe seats, like someone in their 60s going into Ang Mo Kio GRC,” he added, in what was clearly a dig at the PAP’s Ang Mo Kio GRC candidate Victor Lye, 63, who was part of the losing PAP team in Aljunied GRC in the last two elections.
Asked if the WP stands a chance of winning in East Coast GRC, Mr Yee would only say that he had stopped thinking about the odds after his first three electoral bids.
“Every vote counts, especially after losing by 388 votes in 2011. I tell the team to press on. Push yourselves to the max, but enjoy this ride,” he said.
As for why this would be his last electoral bid, Mr Yee said he does not want to be a first-term MP at the age of 65.
“If I do get elected, my priority is to ensure we take over operations and run the estate well, and I will actively plan for succession, either at the next or maximum one more term,” he said.
“This shall be my last attempt to help make a breakthrough.”
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.