SINGAPORE: It was past nine in the evening but the day was not over yet for Dr Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah, the People’s Action Party new candidate who is running in Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency .
“I was mentally prepared,” he told CNA on Friday , pointing out that he had done daily block visits while helping out in grassroots activities with former Members of Parliament Zainal Sapari and Charles Chong, both of whom are not standing in this year’s election.“I was in two different constituencies. So when they did different days, I joined them both. I had an idea of what to expect. But of course, campaigning is a different thing altogether.
These terms had quite often been spoken about by several new PAP candidates during their introductions, but like his fellow panellists during the party's live chat, Dr Wan Rizal knows a thing or two about education. “I was an adult learner, and I think everybody must understand this whole idea of lifelong learning,” he said. “It’s not just you finish polytechnic, you go to do a degree. I wouldn’t say that’s a wrong mentality; there are other ways to do that.”
In 2016, Dr Wan Rizal left his role as chairman of the new Al-Islah mosque in Punggol. He had spent the previous five years going door to door canvassing for donations, overseeing the mosque’s construction, and making its programmes more millennial-friendly. At that session, Dr Wan Rizal noticed a large number of Malay residents but few Malay volunteers who could better communicate with them and translate their requests for help into letters.
After about a year of working together, Mr Zainal told Dr Wan Rizal there wasn’t much left he could teach, and suggested that he follow the former Punggol East MP Charles Chong instead. By then, Dr Wan Rizal had officially become a party member. On the support for WP in Punggol East, Dr Wan Rizal said he thought the area felt different as it had an “interesting percentage”. But he said PAP’s members had done good work on the ground by constantly engaging the community.
“The stage was really huge,” he added. “I felt like a rockstar, but the whole idea was that’s when I realised this was a big thing. And I think I did okay.”Historically, the PAP convention has seen some of those who spoke at previous editions going on to be fielded as new candidates at an election.
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