SINGAPORE — With just days to spare before Nomination Day, the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have struck their deal to field a joint team in Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and introduced the line-up’s five members today (Aug 30).

They are SPP’s Bryan Long, 37, Law Kim Hwee, 55 and Abdillah Zamzuri, 30; and Mr Benjamin Pwee, 47, and Mr Hamim Aliyas, 52, both of whom have resigned from the DPP to contest under the SPP banner.

Their resignations are part of the Memorandum of Agreement signed by the two parties yesterday. Election rules state that a GRC team has to consist members of the same party or five independents.

The announcement by the parties today came after weeks of speculation and murmurs of a possible rift. At a press conference at a coffee shop after a walkabout in Toa Payoh Lorong 8, SPP chairman Lina Chiam said: “We believe these five candidates will be a strong team for Bishan-Toa Payoh.”

SPP secretary-general Chiam See Tong also made a rare appearance to “endorse” the team. Barely audible and pausing occasionally to catch his breath, he said: “As you have seen for yourself, we have a strong team here, a very good line-up. We have two leaders, instead of one. We have Bryan Long and Benjamin Pwee.”

He added: “I think they have given you a very comprehensive introduction of themselves. They are both professional people, with long experiences in their working lives. If elected, I’m sure they’ll carry on their jobs very well.”

Mr Pwee, the managing director of a business consulting firm, and Mr Hamim, a businessman, had contested under the SPP ticket in the same constituency during the last General Election in a team led by Mr Chiam. The team lost to the People’s Action Party (PAP) incumbents with 43.07 per cent of the votes.

SPP and DPP had initially staked individual claims to contest in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, but agreed to send a joint team after Opposition talks were held to avoid three-cornered fights.

Should the team be defeated, Mr Pwee and Mr Hamim would return to the DPP. On the flip side, Mr Pwee said: “If we win, Hamim and myself would stay under the SPP banner. But we also agree that there will be a joint team with representatives from both parties to jointly run the constituency. There’s enough goodwill for a merger or an alliance or a coalition to happen, but we’ll put it after the elections take place.”

He also said he hopes the partnership would show voters that it is possible for political parties to work together in a “positive way”, and at the national level, elect the best candidates across parties into Parliament “together as a collective leadership”.

“We believe that the team that will lead this country into the future needs to be a collective team of more than one single party that brings together the collective wisdom and talent across the parties in terms of credible candidates,” he said.

Asked how the partnership between the two parties would play out, Mr Pwee said a joint team manifesto comprising “a few key issues that we share in common” and elements of both parties’ manifesto would be released on Nomination Day.

These issues include the income divide, employment woes and the need to better support small and medium enterprises, said Mr Pwee. On the employment front, the team also felt strongly about foreign talent. “We maintain that any jobs that we give to our foreign friends cannot and should not be in competition with Singaporeans who can take those jobs. There are a lot of issues around minimum wage, fair cost of labour, employment equality that we’ll have to unpack over the next two weeks,” added Mr Pwee.

Selecting the five candidates has been a “process”, he added. “For us, it was to give both sides time to consult Central Executive Committees, party veterans to make sure that both sides buy into this team.”

Mr Long, a tech entrepreneur, added: “We want to assure the residents that it’s not a marriage of convenience. We bring the best of each others’ strengths together.”

The joint team will face PAP incumbents Dr Ng Eng Hen, Mrs Josephine Teo, Mr Chong Kee Hiong, Mr Chee Hong Tat and Mr Saktiandi Supaat at the polls.