GE2025: WP introduces four fresh faces it will field in election, including former diplomat
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(From left) Workers’ Party new faces Kenneth Tiong, Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik, Eileen Chong and Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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SINGAPORE - The opposition Workers’ Party on April 17 introduced four fresh faces who will be fielded in the upcoming general election on May 3.
All four candidates are contesting an election for the first time.
The candidates are:
Mr Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat, 36, director of tech start-up Sensemake.ai, who will be fielded in Aljunied GRC.
Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik, 36, a senior property manager at Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), who will stand in Sengkang GRC.
Ms Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar, 43, a legal counsel in a multinational corporation.
Ms Eileen Chong Pei Shan, 33, a former diplomat who now works at Singapore-based charity Asia Philanthropy Circle.
It remains to be seen where Ms Alia and Ms Chong will be fielded.
WP secretary-general Pritam Singh and WP chairwoman Sylvia Lim introduced the four candidates during a press briefing held at the party’s headquarters in Geylang. Earlier in the day, the WP had unveiled a 122-page manifesto
Speaking to reporters, Mr Singh said: “For the party to grow, we need people who are better than us. And I think this is something that all of us in the party are invested in: to look at people who will carry the party forward in future.”
Mr Singh did not touch on how many candidates the party will field at the election, or which constituencies it will contest.
He said: “Have we decided on the constituencies? We have, and you will know what they are in good time.”
He added that the party will not be able to field enough candidates this time to meet its medium-term goal of winning one-third of the seats in Parliament. There are a total of 97 elected seats up for grabs
The WP could field as many as 17 first-time candidates in 2025
The Straits Times has identified senior counsel Harpreet Singh Nehal,
The WP is expected to introduce more candidates over the next few days.
1. Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik, 36
Mr Muhaimin is expected to fill the empty seat in the Sengkang GRC slate vacated by former WP MP Raeesah Khan in 2021.
Ms Lim said the party has “known him for a long time”. The mechanical engineering graduate from Nanyang Technological University has been involved with WP since 2019, particularly in Sengkang.
Ms Lim said Mr Muhaimin stepped up his activities in Compassvale, Ms Khan’s former ward, after the seat was vacated. He has been working with the incumbent MPs to organise house visits, Meet-the-People Sessions and community outreach activities.
“With the knowledge of the ground in Sengkang, it is the WP’s intention that he will be fielded in Sengkang GRC this coming election,” Ms Lim added.
Mr Muhaimin, who also helped out in the 2020 election as a polling and counting agent, said he was inspired by the incumbent MPs in Aljunied GRC, and “wanted to do more not just for one town, but for the whole of Singapore”.
With a child on the way, Mr Muhaimin said he understands the struggles faced by Sengkang residents, including worries about housing loans, daily expenses and retirement adequacy. “That is why I am stepping up to speak up for them,” he added.
2. Kenneth Tiong Boon Kiat, 36
The director of Sensemake.ai, a news intelligence platform, Mr Tiong started volunteering with WP in 2023, working with the party’s policy team and doing outreach in East Coast and Aljunied GRCs.
A graduate of Brown University, Mr Tiong has since 2025 been coordinating Meet-the-People Sessions in Aljunied GRC’s Serangoon ward, which has been left vacant since WP MP Leon Perera stepped down in July 2023.
He said he plans to champion three core issues if elected:
Making Singapore a leader in innovation and creating great jobs;
Strengthening economic security and fairness; and
Fighting for strong family foundations, affordable public housing and the highest education standards for every child, and upholding the fundamental right to love and start a family, including for lower-income Singaporeans and those with foreign spouses.
Mr Tiong, a father of two young children, said: “Like many in my generation, I see the global technological revolution, but worry that the future isn’t being built here in Singapore.
“I am stepping up because I share the dream of making Singapore a place where we build that future, through real, home-grown innovation... My conviction comes from seeing this need, not for political ambition.”
3. Siti Alia Abdul Rahim Mattar, 43
Ms Alia started her career as a lawyer in a small firm in 2006, first specialising in family and corporate law.
From 2008 to 2016, she was legal counsel at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where she helped to work on legislation like the Securities and Futures Act.
Since 2017, the mother of three has been working at a multinational firm, covering various legal matters.
She joined WP as a volunteer in 2024, participating in weekly house visits to distribute WP collaterals and engage residents on the ground.
She said she joined the party because she feels that Singaporeans need more representation in Parliament.
“Personally, one of the biggest concerns that I have is thinking about how my children will afford the cost of living in Singapore,” she added.
Ms Alia said she believes HDB flats should be an affordable home for Singaporeans, and not just a wealth accumulation vehicle.
Describing herself as being from the “sandwich generation”, she said there is also a need to look into helping the elderly manage the financial costs arising from chronic diseases, for instance, by reviewing the limits on MediSave usage.
4. Eileen Chong Pei Shan, 33
Ms Chong spent 6½ years with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) as a diplomat, including three years in the Singapore Embassy in Beijing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2024, she moved into the social impact sector, focusing on education, early childhood development and youth mental health in South-east Asia.
A recipient of the Government’s foreign service scholarship, Ms Chong said she hopes to bring more kindness, empathy and openness into Parliament and to political discourse.
She said: “Differing views should be used to refine policies and ideas, rather than dismissed.
“I believe that this will set a positive example, and create space in civil society for open conversations where we can disagree without being disagreeable.”
Ms Chong, who joined WP in December 2024 as a volunteer, looks to be the second former MFA official to be fielded under the opposition party’s banner. Incumbent Aljunied GRC MP Gerald Giam worked as a foreign service officer for a year.
