S1E44: GE2025: How did RDU go from contesting 1 constituency in 2020 to 4 this year?

Apr 29, 2025

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RDU has the second-highest number of opposition candidates.

Synopsis: The Usual Place now moves to a half-hour daily livestream at noon from April 24 till May 1 - a day before Cooling-off Day - with Singapore's general election on May 3.

Host and ST correspondent Natasha Ann Zachariah invites candidates, analysts and hunts for new perspectives on issues that matter to young people.

Red Dot United (RDU) is a very young political party, formed only in 2020 when it contested just one constituency – Jurong GRC – with a team of five candidates.

Fast forward five years, and RDU is now fielding the second-highest number of opposition candidates in this election, behind the WP’s 26 candidates. RDU’s 15 candidates are contesting four constituencies, going head-to-head with the PAP.

How did the party scale up from a one-GRC showing in 2020 to four constituencies today?

Joining Natasha in this episode are Ms Liyana Dhamirah, 38, and her teammate Marcus Neo, 33 - part of the party’s team contesting Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC - and Ms Kala Manickam, 57, candidate for Jurong Central SMC.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:35 How a relatively new party like RDU managed to field the second largest number of opposition candidates

10:33 How Ms Liyana is able to dismiss a lot of insults; why file a police report over online harassment recently?

23:27 Ms Kala on switching from Jalan Kayu SMC to Jurong Central SMC

28:17 Mr Neo on housing and job insecurity as top concerns for millennial voters his age

36:23 Game time! Kopi-O kosong, bubble tea, teh tarik - what’s your favourite drink?

Host: Natasha Zachariah (natashaz@sph.com.sg)

Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm

Follow Natasha on her IG account and DM her your thoughts on this episode: https://str.sg/8Wav

Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN

Filmed by: Studio+65

ST Podcast producers: Teo Tong Kai & Eden Soh

Shorts edited by: ST Video

Executive producers: Ernest Luis, Danson Cheong and Lynda Hong

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