A Punggol West resident walked agitatedly up to Workers' Party (WP) candidate Tan Chen Chen, who is running for election in the single-member constituency.

Ms Tan was taking a breather outside a coffee shop in Punggol Way after a round of media interviews when he approached her last Thursday. His attempts to get season parking for his heavy vehicle had hit roadblocks, and recent attempts to apply for financial aid had also failed. He said life was hard as a former convict and he wanted to know what she could do for him if elected.

She asked him a few questions, nodded and listened intently. Before long, the resident bid her goodbye with a grin on his face, saying: "I hope you can help me."

On paper, Ms Tan, 38, is not exactly the kind of candidate political parties clamour for. Compared with many of the other WP candidates, her credentials are nothing to shout about.

The contracts administrator attended neighbourhood schools, got her degree at a night school, and admitted her results were always "borderline, just 60 or 70 points".

UNSOPHISTICATED BUT SINCERE

A WP volunteer since 2015, she also lacks the sophistication of her compatriots. When asked by party leaders to address the media at the end of a walkabout, she turned to chairman Sylvia Lim and said sheepishly: "I don't know what to say."

But what she lacks in credentials and polish, she makes up with her earnestness and sincerity. It is this "special trait" that the WP party leaders spotted when they first asked if she would stand for election.

"She's got her strengths in terms of reaching out to people one-on-one," WP leader Pritam Singh said.

When she was told about the party's decision, Ms Tan, who got married last year, was heavily pregnant with her first child.

"I asked them, 'why me?', and if they thought I could do it," she said in an interview with The Straits Times conducted almost entirely in Mandarin.

"They told me they felt I had unique traits which would make me suitable. So I told them, 'If you think I can do it, I will do it for the party'."

And so she went from a volunteer to a potential candidate.

As a child, she dreamed of becoming an actress or air stewardess one day. "I had to scrap those ideas because I wasn't tall or pretty enough," she quipped.

Unlike some other candidates, who worry that details about their personal life will be dug up, she has no privacy concerns. "I feel I haven't done anything wrong and haven't offended anyone... My conscience is clear," she said.

But there are things that she would rather not disclose, such as her husband's occupation. All she would say is that he is a year younger than she is.

While she is busy campaigning, he looks after their three-month-old son after work each evening. Ms Tan's mother and mother-in-law help out during the day.

Newly married and with a newborn, she feels well-placed to empathise with the young families in the constituency. She and her husband bought a Housing Board Build-To-Order flat in Yishun in 2018, and she said she knew exactly how "high flat prices" affect young couples.

"In the past, flats were so affordable, but now they have become so expensive," she said. "What will happen when my child is older and it is his turn to buy a flat? I worry about this. So this is the issue I want to champion."

On her walks around Punggol West, residents have also spoken about issues such as road safety, school registration as well as cleanliness.

"I hope I can help them in future," she said.

AGAINST THE ODDS

Her competitor in the constituency, the People's Action Party's Ms Sun Xueling, 40, is also a working mother. They are just a few years apart in age and that naturally gives rise to comparisons.

Asked about her opponent who is a senior parliamentary secretary, Ms Tan said that unlike Ms Sun, she started out in politics by helping to stack chairs at the WP Meet-the-People Sessions. She understands the worries regular people face, she said.

"That's where we differ. She is a minister, but I am just a new face."

Since she was young, Ms Tan has always had what she described as a very ordinary life. When asked about her biggest challenge, she said in all seriousness: "Examinations. I have always felt scared before major examinations, no matter how well I've prepared."

Come Polling Day, she will be subject to one of the biggest tests of all. Is she anxious?

"Yes," she said, chuckling. "That's why I was very scared on stage after Nomination Day when I was making my thank you speech."

She struggled to get her words out in English that day. "It's not that I cannot speak English, but I am more fluent in Mandarin. So when I speak Mandarin, I can think faster, I don't have to translate in my head."

But she does not think that will be an impediment if she were elected, because she is someone who is willing to work hard and fight against the odds for what she wants, she said.

Her hope is that she can let ordinary Singaporeans know that "no matter how deficient they may think they are... their lives can be purposeful". "If I can do it, others can too," she said.