GE2025: RDU not out to ‘ruin establishment’ but let the voices of the people be heard: Fazli Talip

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SINGAPORE - Opposition party Red Dot United (RDU) said its raison d’etre is to make sure that the voices of those who do not support the PAP and its policies are heard in Parliament.

“We are not here to ruin the establishment, we are not here to disrupt the momentum in the Parliament. What we want is (for) the voices of the people to be heard,” said Mr Fazli Talip, one of the party’s candidates

for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC,

on April 28.

He was asked, at a walkabout near Beauty World MRT station, for his response to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s speech at

PAP’s lunchtime Fullerton rally on the same day,

where PM Wong said having more opposition would weaken Singapore.

PM Wong had cautioned that the PAP’s ability to govern effectively would be “severely weakened” if the opposition wins in several constituencies, as it would mean the loss of several ministers, leading to a weakened Cabinet.

The Prime Minister then appealed to voters to pick the best team, saying that a weakened government will undermine Singapore’s position in an increasingly volatile world.

Mr Fazli, a financial consultant, asked: “What does the PM suggest? What’s a good number for it? Is 12 (opposition MPs) enough?”

He added that the number of opposition MPs in the last Parliament was not enough, as it was “not really proportionate” to the vote share.

The ruling party occupied almost 90 per cent of the seats in Parliament in the last term despite receiving 61 per cent of the vote share in the last elections, added Mr Fazli.

“We want to have a fair representation of opposition voices who really listen to the people,” he said.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who leads the PAP’s Holland-Bukit Timah team, had on April 25 said that

the central question this election

is not whether there would be opposition voices in Parliament, but who would lead the country as prime minister and be available as part of his team.

In response, Mr Fazli said that with RDU fielding 15 candidates in this election, the PAP would still form the Government and choose its prime minister.

Apart from Mr Fazli, the RDU team contesting Holland-Bukit Timah GRC consists of music teacher Emily Woo, assistant engineer Sharad Kumar, and operations manager Nizar Subair.

On the sixth day of hustings, the RDU team spoke to people and canvassed support at eateries in the Beauty World area, together with the party’s candidates for Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.

RDU’s Jurong East-Bukit Batok candidate Marcus Neo was asked for his response to separate reports from the

Monetary Authority of Singapore

and

Ministry of Manpower

on April 28, warning of slower wage growth in 2025, and of the impact of US President Donald Trump’s trade war on employment, respectively.

Mr Neo said these are the PAP’s “political positioning”, the way for the ruling party to “incentivise the electorate to vote for safety” this election.

“The issues that Singapore faces have long been present even before Trump’s second presidency,” said Mr Neo, the director of a marketing agency.

RDU’s Holland-Bukit Timah team is up against a PAP slate led by Dr Balakrishnan, and comprising Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann, Mr Christopher de Souza and Mr Edward Chia.

The opposition team has been walking the ground after Nomination Day, from the heartland in Bukit Panjang and Ghim Moh to landed housing areas in Watten Estate.

When asked about their chances, Mr Fazli said: “No matter what, we have put our boots on the ground, and we walk day, afternoon, night, rain or shine.”

He acknowledged there was a strong PAP line-up, but noted the strengths of the RDU slate as well, including his own election experience in 2011 as part of WP’s slate for East Coast GRC, and the diversity of his team’s life experiences.

Describing the reception from the public as encouraging so far, Mr Fazli said: “Ordinary Singaporeans really do want competition. They want to hear both sides of the camp, not just only from one side.”