SINGAPORE: In an Instagram post on April 24, Workers’ Party (WP) chair Sylvia Lim noted that “every GE is a battle for hearts and minds”. However, in Punggol GRC, there appears to be a battle of the eyes as well, with some Singaporeans pitting an attractive candidate from one party against another.

By this, of course, we’re referring to what some Singaporeans have reduced to as a showdown of sorts between the People’s Action Party (PAP)’s Sun Xueling and Alexis Dang, who is widely considered to be one of the breakout stars of the Workers’ Party for this year’s election.

Both women are graduates of the National University of Singapore and have worked in the finance sector.

Prior to entering politics in 2015, Ms Sun, 45, had been with Deutsche Bank as a Director and later Macquarie Securities as a Senior Vice President. After the PAP won in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC in 2015, Ms Sun began representing the Punggol West ward in Parliament. She contested again in GE 2020 when the ward became Punggol West SMC, and won 60.98 per cent of the vote against the WP’s Tan Chen Chen. She has also served as a Minister of State and a Senior Parliamentary Secretary. Ms Sun is married and has two children.

Meanwhile, ever since she was introduced by the WP as a candidate on April 18, the 39-year-old Ms Dang, who is single, has received much attention online. The candidate has a background in finance but currently works in the tech sector, where she leads a team of Business Development professionals. She has been with the WP for the past five years; has been part of house visits, planning and hosting party events; and has supported the party with translation work for newsletters and parliamentary speeches for the WP MPs.

After she spoke in Mandarin during her candidate introduction, netizens were impressed by her command of the language, with some even saying it would be interesting to hear a debate in Mandarin in Parliament.

The Battle at Punggol

After Punggol West was absorbed into Punggol GRC after only one term as a Single Member Constituency, Ms Sun was announced as part of the PAP team, which is anchored by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong. Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary and Pasir Ris–Punggol MP Yeo Wan Ling complete the ruling party’s slate.