Dr. Vincent Wijeysingha (born 1970) is a politician and civil activist from Singapore. He is currently the Assistant Treasurer of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and was a candidate in the 2011 Singaporean general election. Dr Wijeysingha's father is highly-respected educator, Eugene Wijeysingha, who is the former principal of Temasek Junior College (1980-1985) and Raffles Institution (1986-1994). [1]
Dr Wijeysingha studied at Victoria School in Singapore, before heading to the United Kingdom where he studied at the University of Lincoln and received his doctorate from the University of Sheffield. Vincent lived in England for almost 16 years before moving back to Singapore. He is presently the Executive Director of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a non-government organization advocating the rights of low-waged migrant workers. Vincent also lectures and publishes scholarly papers on social work.[2]
He joined the SDP because he realized he had a responsibility as a Singaporean to work for change. "I cannot look the other way as more and more people experience the adverse effects of current PAP policies," Vincent said when he joined the SDP.[3]
In the first pre-election forum of this nature in Singapore since the 1988 General Election, Channel NewsAsia invited the main parties to record an hour-long programme. The programme, in English entitled, A political forum on Singapore's future, brought together the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and four opposition parties to discuss long and short-term challenges for the country. Dr Wijeysingha represented SDP in the discussion.[4]
Just days before Nomination Day on 27 April 2011, the PAP team from Holland-Bukit Timah GRC led by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, revealed that the SDP was "suppressing" a video which would "raise some awkward questions" about the party's agenda. Dr Wijeysingha's response was that he was unsure about which video Dr Balakrishnan was referring to and that the SDP was "an open party." [5]
A Singapore tabloid, The New Paper, ran a cover story on 26 April 2011, just a day before Nomination Day, with the heading, "Is Singapore ready for a gay MP?" [6][7]
The issue of the video was put to rest on 25 April 2011, two days before Nomination Day, with both the PAP and the SDP issuing statements about the issue. [8]
At the 2011 General Elections, the SDP team led by Dr Vincent Wijeysingha polled 39.92% of the valid votes cast, compared to the People's Action Party's 60.08%.[9]