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Exactly a year has passed since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told everyone that the People’s Action Party (PAP) would investigate the allegations against Ivan Lim after the general election (GE) 2020, without any its no movement seen from the party since.
Lim was slated to be PAP’s candidate for Jurong GRC, and his candidacy was announced on June 26, 2020.
He is Managing Director of Keppel Offshore & Marine. At the time, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat even praised Lim, saying he had a very unusual journey in his education.
During the introduction, Lim told the media, I chose to serve with PAP because the values and attributes of PAP are close to my heart. In particular, to be compassionate, and also to be autonomous in the field.
However, as the nomination date approached June 30 of last year, the PAP suddenly announced on June 27 that Lim had withdrawn from competing at GE2020.
This is likely due to the recasting of Lim’s past stories, following the announcement of his candidacy. (Comments online indicate that new PAP candidate Ivan Lim is believed to be a character in How Lian).
Two days later, on June 29, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the party would investigate the allegations against Lim after the GE.
I don’t think that should be the end of the matter because we can’t let such serious things be said about someone and have someone live with the cloud hanging permanently above them (with ) a question mark. I think it would be unfair for Ivan, he said.
It sets a very damaging precedent that you can condemn someone and deregister them on the basis of an internet campaign. We don’t have time to fix this now, but we can’t just write off and destroy people like that.
So, after the elections, the party will investigate the veracity of the allegations against Ivan and we will speak out on the matter, the prime minister added.
Still, Prime Minister Lee has said he has confidence in the PAP recruitment process as well as his party’s candidates.
In GE2020, the percentage share of valid votes of PAPs dropped significantly to 61.2% from the 69.9% achieved in GE2015.
For the first time, the ruling PAP lost two Group Representation Constituencies (GRC), namely Aljunied and Sengkang, to the opposition.
If Lim had not withdrawn from GE2020, he would probably already be a member of Jurong GRC, as he was disputing with popular PAP Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Jurong GRC.
Former associates expressed their disapproval of Lim’s character
Facebook user Bryant Wong said Lim was allegedly the commander of his battalion and spoke in a condescending voice telling others not to enter the air-conditioned tent he was using.
His action and speech were simply that of an elitist, Mr. Wong wrote.
There were other cases during battalion briefings where he would always have [pepper] briefings with his personal accomplishments (how he is GM at the shipyard, how many people report to him at work, etc.).
He [Mr Lim] was never highly regarded by soldiers and battalion commanders due to his constant humble bragging and driving around the camp in his expensive cars, he added. So now he is going into politics to represent ordinary people in Parliament. With his character and his personality will he do it?
In a Facebook post on June 27, Mr. Wong addressed PAP’s First Deputy Secretary General Heng Swee Keat directly, saying: Mr. Heng – Please feel free to contact us anytime. I am ready to put on hold my statement of meeting with Mr. Ivan Lim that I have set up.
After the post circulated on social media, Mr. Heng stepped forward to say that Lim should come out to clarify comments made about his conduct during his days of National Service (NS).
A shipyard worker who worked under Lim in 2014, also explained how Lim, who had been transferred a month earlier in January 2014 to Pioneer Yard 1, put the lives of many workers at risk with one of his directives.
Lim reportedly enforced a new rule prohibiting workers from entering the shipyard before 7:30 a.m. to rest or have breakfast. As such, many of them resorted to sleeping along “busy streets with vehicles moving at high speed”.
Other netizens commented that Lims’ bad temper can be found all over Facebook with negative remarks supposedly coming from his poly classmates, colleagues at Keppel, as well as people serving with him during the days of NS and reservist. Some felt it was a disgrace for the PAP.
Will the PAP keep its promise to investigate the veracity of the allegations against Lim internally? So far, nothing has been heard publicly about these inquiries carried out by the ruling party.
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