GE2025: The PAP new face whose friends thought he'd join an opposition party

When Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash told his friends that he had decided to enter politics, the first question they asked him was: “Are you joining an opposition party?” 

To those who barely know him, the 50-year-old former chief executive officer of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), former civil servant at the Ministry of Health and brigadier-general with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has all the hallmarks of a conventional People's Action Party (PAP) candidate. 

To those close to him, though, they would say he is cut from a different cloth, Mr Dinesh said, given his blunt nature and lack of patience to sugarcoat his criticisms about government policies.

Add to that his love for heavy metal or, as he described it, “hardcore anti-establishment" type of music and some people might associate him more readily with people outside the establishment.  

Yet, he is now a PAP member and ready to stand as a candidate for the General Election.

"I am in several chat groups where we tend to be rather critical of government policies and positions," he said.

"We have sufficiently robust debates, often highlighting different points of view specifically on the most recent issues in the newspapers.” 

These include discussions on the Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh being charged after lying to parliament and former minister S Iswaran’s corruption scandal, though Mr Dinesh added that on these topics, he agreed with the government’s positions and would not have joined PAP if he did not align with much of the party’s views.

When I first met him at a walkabout in the East Coast Group Representation Constituency earlier this month, Mr Dinesh was all smiles. Dressed in a white polo T-shirt in line with his party's colours, he was cheerfully greeting residents throughout a sweltering three-hour walkabout in Joo Chiat along with Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong. 

About a week after that Saturday walkabout, I met Mr Dinesh for a sit-down interview in his home, the same day he was formally introduced as a new potential candidate for PAP in a video posted by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on social media.

After an hour-long discussion about what he plans to bring to the table if elected, Mr Dinesh leapt to show me some 15 albums from his beloved compact disc collection, which includes bands such as Metallica, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains. 

The albums, only a fraction of the 300 albums he used to own back in the day, were taken from his collection occupying various shelves in different rooms. 

He eagerly spent some time introducing bands and album titles to this uninitiated reporter, even giving a brief explanation of when and why he was obsessed with each one of them.

An album by American rock band Afghan Whigs, for example, was something he listened to before being deployed for eight months to Afghanistan for a peace support mission from 2009 to 2010 while he was with the SAF.   

On what draws him to such music, Mr Dinesh said: "There have been many times where I felt disadvantaged, partly because I come from a rather humble background. Having to work my way up, I did feel burdened from time to time, to be able to compete with others and stand out in a rather stressful world.

“Some of the songs are deeply meaningful, either because (the musicians) have had a personal loss, they’re struggling with an addiction or having difficulties, and these resonated with me at different points in my life.”

Such music had so much influence on him during his formative years that he confessed he was "actively considering” enlisting in National Service one day late to watch Metallica’s first concert in Singapore in 1993. “I think my life would have been very different if that had happened,” he said.

VIEWS ON A POLITICAL CAREER 

Even though he could continue to serve society in his past job roles, Mr Dinesh said that entering politics would allow him to serve people on a “more intimate” level across a broader range of issues.

“I felt that in political life, (I could take my) service to a new level. I can have a full picture of it, from the start of the (residents’) concerns all the way to policy making, to operationalisation and to make sure that the policies are indeed hitting the right targets.”

If elected, he hopes to do more in areas where he has had prior experience such as eldercare and support for vulnerable individuals.

As a father of three children between the ages of 12 and 20, he said that he would also like to be a voice for the issues that concern families with school-going children.

One of his near-term priorities, if elected, would be advocating for ways to lighten the load for students taking the Primary School Leaving Examination, he added. 

He admitted that a political career was not always on the cards for him, even though he has always been interested to find out how the ruling party operates and what positions are put forth by opposition parties.

“That has been part and parcel of conversations among friends, among family. But whether I would step forward, I wasn’t sure, because it is a heavy commitment.”   

When he floated the idea to his family that he may join PAP, his wife was immediately supportive. Dr Rathiga Velaithan was a researcher in the public sector before she became a homemaker and her father had been a grassroots leader in Marsiling for nearly 40 years.

His children, however, had mixed reactions. 

“My 12-year-old daughter asked me if (joining politics) would affect my mental health. I'm not too sure why she mentioned that, but she felt that I was getting cranky and (didn’t know) whether I'd be crankier as a result of this entire process. So I had to assure her that, no, I'm going to be the same.

"I'm going to be as cranky as I am now,” he said with a laugh. 

HE CHOSE PAP BECAUSE ...

After speaking to Mr Dinesh for some time, I eventually circled back to the question that his friends had asked him: Why join PAP and not an opposition party? 

Mr Dinesh said that his time as director of operations at the Ministry of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic gave him a close-up view of how the ruling party's fourth-generation leadership worked.

He had worked closely with the Cabinet, as well as with the multi-ministry task force led by Mr Wong, providing the ministerial team with regular briefings on Singapore's national vaccination campaign. 

He found Mr Wong to be “extremely sincere” and ultimately, he felt aligned with the party’s style of governance.

Last year, while he was heading AIC, which coordinates senior care services, he was approached by Mr Wong to join the party for the upcoming General Election, which will take place on May 3.  

Mr Dinesh said it was “evidently clear” that he should join PAP, because he found the policy proposals by opposition parties lacked rigour. 

Using a medical analogy, he said: “If I have a terminal illness and the doctor prescribes a medication, I take it. Sometimes, the medication has side effects. Every political party speaks only about the side effects, but what is the alternative drug I’m expected to take?”

If elected, even though he would be with a party that has governed the nation for decades, Mr Dinesh said that he would not mince his words "in any form".

“You must be critical even if you are within the ruling party.

"If a candidate feels very strongly (about an issue) and chooses to advocate for it in parliament, he or she should be able to do so without fear or favour – that is our system,” he added.

“So I don’t see anyone (in the party) being muzzled or not being able to speak their minds in certain areas.

"I hope to be as vocal as I can be. Sometimes, you say it as it is rather plainly and there are other times where you can bring things up in a more diplomatic and sensible way.

"It's not so much about making fiery speeches and banging on the table.“

He did not reveal the constituency to which he would likely be deployed, but Mr Dinesh does not take it for granted that he would be voted into parliament. He is even a bit concerned given that he has tendered his resignation at AIC without another job on the horizon.  

“There's a belief that you’re given everything on a platter. The reality is that we were asked to submit our resignation as public service officers at a certain time. But what happens thereafter? 

“Nothing is clear, because where you could be deployed is uncertain, whether you win or not is uncertain.

"I was not promised any particular office, ministry or job if I (weren't elected). It’s kind of a flux that I’m in now,” Mr Dinesh confessed, adding that if he does not get into the political realm, he would have to "go back to the drawing board".

WHAT HE LEARNT FROM POLICEMAN FATHER

Service has been at the heart of his professional life, because of the deep impression his policeman father left on him, Mr Dinesh said.

His father served as the personal security officer to former President Devan Nair and as an alternate officer to Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Sometimes, that meant pulling 24-hour shifts.

As a child, Mr Dinesh heard of how his father had to be constantly alert and ready with facts and knowledge when called upon by the prime minister.

Yet, no matter how busy his father was, he would always allocate time for him and his brother, Mr Dinesh recalled.

Growing up in a one-room flat at the police quarters in Pearl’s Hill, Mr Dinesh lived with his parents, brother and grandmother. They later moved to a three-room Housing and Development Board flat along Telok Blangah Rise. 

“I remember all of us sleeping in the same room, my grandmother, brother and me, where if I fell off the bed, I’d probably land on my grandmother who was sleeping with us.” 

Despite growing up in “crammed” quarters, Mr Dinesh never felt anything was lacking, thanks to his father’s dedication to keeping their family close-knit.

Now 77, his father remains the primary caregiver of Mr Dinesh’s 85-year-old uncle, who is a widower without children.

“Whenever there’s an opportunity, my father will pull this single senior out of the house and take him to family functions. It’s these little things that we have learnt and those values still stick with me today,” Mr Dinesh said. 

His personal experiences, too, have made him more self-aware.

For example, his mission in Afghanistan was at times life-threatening – with a total of 18 rockets being fired at his position at different times – but what Mr Dinesh recalled most was how his absence affected his family.  

"When I left for Afghanistan, my second boy was five months old and when I got back, he was a year and three months old, no longer a baby, able to walk and talk.

"I think the burden is a lot on families to support the soldiers deployed to the front."

This is why he plans to support caregivers and get a deeper understanding of their unique circumstances.

His military experience also taught him that it was possible to maintain a personal connection even when handling many subordinates. 

He oversaw a division “similar in magnitude to the size of a constituency” and said that almost everyone who was under him knew him personally. 

“Even till today, they’ll come up to me and say, ‘Hey, sir, remember me? I used to be in 2PDF (2nd People’s Defence Force).

“That kind of personal relationship, where people can come to you and talk to you because they know you will help them, that’s what I think is the hallmark of a successful MP.”