Parliament has been dissolved. The PAP has no right to use state media to showcase their candidates before the campaigning period. Yesterday, each new candidate presented by Heng Swee Keat and Masagos Zulkifli in a press conference was given airtime on Mediacorp's Channel 5 and Channel 8 news i.e. national TV when speaking about why they joined PAP. On the other hand, opposition members were briefly flashed on screen.
Yesterday, 24 June, Heng Swee Keat happily introduced the first four candidates Desmond Tan (former PA chief), Edward Chia, Nadia Ahmad Samdin and Ivan Lim in a virtual conference where he was shown on national TV promoting this batch of candidates whom he described as "very interesting and diverse".
In another virtual session the same day, Masagos Zulkifli revealed four other candidates Hany Soh Hui Bin, Don Wee Boon Hong, Mohd Fahmi Aliman and Yip Hon Weng while giving his endorsement of them:
"I think what they also have done in their lives is they not only confine their work or their life to their work. Their life and their work and their experience show you that they are also very committed to what they can do with the community, and for the community."
A large portion of yesterday's news on TV went to introducing the PAP candidates, including a breakdown of their demographics, individual candidate bio profile summary and featuring their individual speeches. Obviously, opposition party members were not given the same exposure.
Should the PAP be featured dominantly on national TV or national news? Are the elections and campaigning fair?
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