TL;DR – And they are Associate Professor Elmie Nekmat, Ms Theodora Lai and Mr Ling Weihong.
The People’s Action Party (PAP) has unveiled three new faces to chair its party branches in Sengkang GRC – a sign that they will be the ruling party’s candidates there in the next General Election. A party statement issued by Chairman of the PAP HQ Executive Committee Chan Chun Sing shared that Associate Professor Elmie Nekmat, Ms Theodora Lai and Mr Ling Weihong will replace Mr Ng Chee Meng, Mr Amrin Amin and Mr Raymond Lye who were part of the Sengkang GRC GE 2020 team.
Associate Professor Elmie Nekmat, Ms Theodora Lai and Mr Ling Weihong to chair its party branches in Sengkang GRC.
Associate Professor Elmie Nekmat
- Associate professor of Communications and New Media and Assistant Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS.
- Party activist since 2016, including with the Young PAP and Malay Affairs Bureau.
- Board member of Singapore Sports Council, Council Member of Ngee Ann Polytechnic and District Councilor for Central Community Development Council.
- Member of the Malay Language Learning and Promotion Committee for the Ministry of Education, Malay Language Examination Syllabus Review Committee for Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board and Adviser for the Steering Committee of Community Leaders Forum Leadership and Benefactor Scheme for Yayasan Mendaki.
Ms Theodora Lai
- Chief strategy officer of Burpple
- Party activist since 2009, including as Chairperson of the PAP Policy Forum from 2019 to 2020.
- Founding member of the Young Women’s Leadership Connection, and of Prep Junior – a free-to-download app which helps to teach Chinese to preschoolers through interactive stories around Singapore.
Mr Ling Weihong
- Lawyer in private practice
- Party activist since 2015, including as Branch Secretary of Sengkang Central Branch since April 2021 and Assistant Branch Secretary of Woodlands Branch from 2016 to 2018.
- Helped launch the Woodlands Mentoring programme which paired children from low-income families with youth mentors in the community
- Assessor for Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act from April to October 2020
- Volunteer with the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme between 2007 and 2016.
I “critiqued” the GE2020 political debate, and someone called me names and told me to F-off
Prof Elmie, Ms Lai and Mr Ling will be the branch chairs of Sengkang Central, Sengkang North and Sengkang East respectively. Dr Lam Pin Min, Branch Chair of Sengkang West, will lead the PAP Sengkang GRC team. In the statement, the Party thanked the outgoing Branch Chairs for their service and contributions to Sengkang GRC. Mr Ng, Mr Amrin and Mr Lye will continue to assist the new team. Mr Ng Chee Meng will also take on a new role as the Advisor to the PAP Sengkang GRC team.
In a Facebook post, Mr Ng expressed his gratitude to the many friends and residents who have worked alongside him and warmed his heart. He shares that he is inspired to continue to commit to public service and pledges to remain steadfast in his commitment to serving Singaporeans and will continue to contribute to the Party where needed.