becky, welcome! Where you staying?? So you still need to vote or not? LOL. I've seen kids learning swimming at the sheltered adult's pool at the stadium next to Pioneer mrt...Sat mornings
batbat, these days the boy J goes home quite early wor...heh. These few weeks had to work abit longer else usually im even earlier! Heh. My poor boy's left eyelid kenna a long scratch, bled a little. Teacher say he cried, so heartpain. Think when kids play together, hard to avoid injuries. This morning brought him to the centre, Fidah still ask me why his eye like this...means the scratching incident happened after 3.30pm or so i think.
cutiebb, i most likely vote for Cedric lar because thou i can tell that Steve Chia's quite hardworking too but i find that some of his party's policies abit weird lor. I'm no expert but some of their ideas are really plain strange and not truly feasible...looks nice on paper thou. His party's idea about selling HDB flats at cost price to first time home owners, i think can be considered ah. But only to first time home owners within a specific income range. But the idea about shortening the NS to 15 months is just...zzzz. Maybe they need to spend more time on finding out what really goes on during the NS. And i'm not sure why they suggest reduce spendings on land defence but beef up on air and navy. I cannot say i'm completely happy with Cedric Foo either but i don't want to void my vote lor.
My bestie just emailed me an article she saw online about Cedric Foo VS Steve Chia:
<font color="0000ff">Foreign worker woes versus joy of amenities
Voters laud incumbent's efforts but unhappiness remains over dormitories
By Jessica Lim
STANDING slightly apart from the supporters at a People's Action Party (PAP) rally at a stadium in Jurong West last weekend, Mr Sazus Manap points to the track and the manicured soccer pitch.
'Do you know what used to be here? A huge rock, nothing else,' says the ground operator at FedEx, a leading express transportation company.
When he moved into the area a decade ago, his block was hardly occupied. It felt like the boondocks.
'Now I have schools, a shopping centre and an MRT station right in front of my block. I still can't believe it,' says the 50-year-old father of two who takes home about $2,500 a month.
At this point in the rally, Pioneer incumbent Cedric Foo, deputy group president of shipping company Neptune Orient Lines, steps onto the stage amid cheers.
Smiling, Mr Sazus claps and says: 'That's my MP. I am 100 per cent voting for him.'
Voters like him are who Mr Foo, 50, is banking on to stake the single-seat ward of Pioneer as PAP turf, but Mr Steve Chia of the National Solidarity Party (NSP) also wants voters to pick him.
Mr Foo has the incumbent's advantage, and based on wide-ranging interviews in the ward, is likely to win what will be a close race. He has worked the ground since 2001, when Pioneer was in West Coast GRC; now, the wedge-shaped ward, hemmed on nearly all sides by West Coast GRC, has been carved out as a stand-alone one, so he is flying solo.
Conversations with voters there unearth two sticking points among voters: One is that some say they have not seen enough of Mr Foo; the other concerns uneasiness with the many foreign workers in the vicinity.
They stream out of dormitories on the fringes of the public housing estates, and have been known to loiter, litter and urinate in the void decks.
Mr Ismail Rosalan, 26, who is single and lives in a five-room flat with his family, says the presence of these foreigners makes him feel insecure; he worries for his sister's safety. The assistant engineer, who has met Mr Foo but not Mr Chia, says he is still undecided about his vote.
Then there are voters like Madam Song Yi Hua, 55, who say they are certain to give their vote to Mr Chia. She had stomped up to reporters at a rally, asking to speak to The Straits Times. She complained that, after having lived in Pioneer for four years, she met Mr Foo only late last year, and when he did show up at her two-room flat, he stayed all of 21/2 minutes.
Mr Chia, 41, hopes to capitalise on these two bugbears, along with national issues such as rising living costs.
But the odds are against him. Aside from not having the incumbent's advantage, he also does not have the heft of Mr Foo's machinery - his 500 supporters - behind him. Mr Chia has only 20 helpers, mostly relatives and friends.
Call this former Non-Constituency MP dogged, but as far as he is concerned, the fight is head-to-head, as Pioneer is a new ward. After all, he is no green horn in the business of campaigning, having contested in the elections of 1997, 2001 and 2006.
He says that on his fourth round of house visits, residents told him they did not know who Mr Foo was. He also believes the foreign worker issue will tip the votes in his favour.
Residents milling about outside Jurong Point mall seem to recognise him as he hands out fliers.
Mr Foo, asked about how he covers the ground, says he is greeted warmly when he goes on house visits, but believes he can meet far more people at a go by attending constituency events, so that is where he focuses his energy. A typical week thus has him flitting from youth performances to durian parties.
On the foreign worker situation, he says it has improved in the last five years: He has worked with operators of the 4,500-capacity dormitory in Soon Lee Road to mount skits to educate workers on the dos and don'ts of living here. He has set up a neighbourhood watch team, and been instrumental in the building of a $5 million recreation centre. Complete with beer garden and ethnic supermarket, it is now a hangout for many foreign workers.
Closed-circuit television cameras are now being installed in the HDB blocks.
'I think the problem still exists. It's not new, but most residents recognise that a lot has been done,' he says, asking what else Mr Chia can offer. 'I've heard nothing from him.'
The father of four looks back on the work he has done, and is satisfied. The area had started out with few amenities to speak of. He is proud of the recreation centre, which now squats in an area which had little more than an open-air bus interchange and Boon Lay MRT station.
Now, Pioneer has a four-storey community club with a library, medical centre and eateries; residents can take classes there in cooking or finger-painting.
At Jurong Point, residents have a 24-hour supermarket and more than 450 shops, and Safra Jurong is nearby. The PAP Community Foundation runs four kindergartens, and a mosque and primary school are coming up.
Among those The Straits Times spoke to were voters, who, when pressed, also think Mr Foo has the upper hand for having been there 10 years - even if the foreign worker issue is proving intractable.
There are also those like Mr Sazus, who will give their vote to him because they have seen improvements in their neighbourhood.
Personal trainer Kenneth Lai, 24, who says he will vote for the PAP despite a lingering unhappiness over the foreign worker issue, adds: 'As much as people trash it, I feel the basis of the country was built by the PAP. Sure, people make mistakes, but the party has to make mistakes to learn. I think a lot of Singaporeans will lean towards the PAP. At the end of the day, the opposition candidate just isn't ready.'
Fast facts
CANDIDATES
• People's Action Party: Incumbent Cedric Foo, 50, chief financial officer and group deputy president at Neptune Orient Lines.
Mr Foo took nine days off work so that he could concentrate on campaigning.
• National Solidarity Party: Mr Steve Chia, 41, former NCMP and equity and futures index trader who works from home.
He closed his trading desk since the Electoral Boundaries Report was released in February.
NUMBER OF VOTERS
25,745
CONSTITUENCY PROFILE
This is a largely working and middle-class ward comprising 109 HDB flats.
The only private housing in the Single Member Constituency consists of a 610-unit condominium complex The Centris, located in the heart of Jurong.
The ward covers the southern area of Pioneer and is connected to the MRT system through Boon Lay and Pioneer stations.
The racial profile of minorities is slightly above the national average, and there is a large proportion of young families who moved into the new town over the past decade.
ELECTORAL HISTORY
It was formerly a ward of West Coast GRC from 2001 to 2011, when it was carved out as a Single Member Constituency. As part of West Coast GRC, it saw walkovers in both 2006 and 2001.</font>