GE2025: This SDP candidate hopes voters can see beyond his defamation case with KKH

Mr Ariffin Sha was only 17 years old when he first met Dr Chee Soon Juan, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), in 2014.

He was not yet of age to vote or to stand for the 2015 General Election, but he wanted to be involved – badly. 

Young people in Singapore wanted their voices to be heard and he saw himself as an amplifier of those voices, he told CNA TODAY. 

At the time, in SDP's old office along Jalan Gelenggang in the Upper Thomson district, Dr Chee had put an avuncular arm around the teenager and offered some words of advice. 

“Take it easy. Go and volunteer. Politics is not the only way to make a difference.” 

The year is now 2025 and I am face-to-face with the 28-year-old legal executive who is about to take part in his maiden election going against a team comprising the most formidable of political opponents – Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. 

The battleground is Marsiling-Yew Tee Group Representation Constituency (GRC), where Mr Wong of the People’s Action Party (PAP) has been an MP since 2015.

And there are no points for guessing which opposition party Mr Ariffin is representing. 

More than a decade has passed but Mr Ariffin’s eagerness to speak up for Singaporeans has not wavered in the slightest. We spoke for more than an hour at the SDP’s new two-storey office in Bukit Batok while he recounted the series of events that led him here today. 

“Back then, Dr Chee told me to go out there and just serve the community. He said I would still be very young in 10 years' time and if I still wanted to consider joining politics, I can,” he said. 

“And here you are,” I said. He replied with a chuckle: “Yeah.” 

WHY HE STARTED WAKE UP SINGAPORE

Even before he met Dr Chee in 2014, Mr Ariffin, at 16 years old, had already founded alternative news outlet Wake Up Singapore, which over the years has been known for its unabashed commentary and criticism of government policies. 

He should have been studying for his O-Level examinations, he admitted, but this was something he felt he needed to do.  

“Wake Up Singapore started because of my discomfort with the whole idea of streaming in schools. I remember my teachers saying things like, ‘If you don’t study hard, do you want to end up at ITE (Institute of Technical Education)?’”

It was not just the sting of the comment that struck him, but the underlying message that certain paths were inherently inferior.

That moment sparked a broader interrogation of societal norms, which would later continue during his time as a law undergraduate in New Zealand. 

There, he saw plumbers, electricians and other blue-collar workers treated with the same dignity as lawyers and bankers. 

It was a stark contrast to the social hierarchy he had observed growing up in Singapore.

“It was these things that made me realise that maybe we do need more alternative perspectives,” he said. 

The nation’s treatment of its migrant workers – and specifically, the transportation of these workers to and from work sites in the back of lorries – is another issue that matters deeply to Mr Ariffin. It is a perennial problem that has been raised in parliament since at least 2006.

Wake Up Singapore listed abolishing the practice as one of its “13 things we will advocate for” on its Instagram page in 2023. 

A news site openly performing advocacy?

“The unique thing about Wake Up Singapore is that we have never really pretended to be objective,” he said. 

“From day one, we’ve already said that the media playing field is not balanced. But in a sense, our presence provides the balance, right? It's not so much a question of whether we agree or disagree. In fact, if all of us come to an informed opinion at the end of the day, I think that's good.

“If tomorrow the PAP makes good moves … Wake Up Singapore would be the first to applaud that.”

THE MAN BEHIND THE MIC

If you had expected Mr Ariffin to be a microcosm of his publication – sharp, bold, unapologetically loud – then his public debut as an SDP candidate would have proven you right. 

When Dr Chee introduced him to reporters earlier this month, the young man was brimming with conviction as he spoke.

He possessed an obvious charisma at the SDP rally in Choa Chu Kang stadium on Thursday night as well, flaunting a competent display of diction, inflection and cadence in his speech that has been praised by online users. 

You could even argue that SDP’s original founder, opposition legend Chiam See Tong, would have been proud. 

Interestingly, Mr Chiam and Mr Ariffin are both alumni of the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and Mr Chiam has given the younger man his stamp of approval before, having written a letter of recommendation when Mr Ariffin applied for a scholarship there.

Before that, Mr Ariffin had helped Mrs Lina Chiam, Mr Chiam's wife, write speeches while she was a non-constituency MP in 2015.

Asked to share more about himself, he told me that he is a fan of the English Premier League's Manchester United football club. And music-wise, classic rock bands such as Pink Floyd fill his playlists, but he is also a massive fan of rapper Eminem.

He is also someone who often has friends two to three times his age because of the sheer scope of conversations they are able to have.

Everything about him screams self-confident, self-assured and socially adept. 

However, as I found out in quieter moments, offstage and away from the public eye, Mr Ariffin is soft-spoken and introspective. 

He pauses frequently between answering my many questions, whether it be about his personal interests or political goals, preferring to think his answers through rather than let out some unfiltered verbiage. 

“Honestly, I’m quite socially awkward,” he said at one point with a snicker. 

I brought up his speeches and told him that this was genuinely hard to believe. 

He said: “I think if you really believe in what you say, the confidence will come naturally. What I say doesn’t come from an academic place. It comes from lived realities, experiences that even I go through.

“Singaporeans are very discerning. It’s not about whether you come from a so-called humble background or the party tricks you can pull.

“Do people sense a genuine desire in you to serve and the capability to speak up for them? If you have those two, everything else is a bonus.”

WHAT PAST MISTAKES HAVE TAUGHT HIM

For all his political ideals, Mr Ariffin is no stranger to controversy. 

In 2022, Wake Up Singapore published an article that turned out to be based on false claims about a patient’s experience at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH). 

The post went viral – and so did the fallout.

Mr Ariffin was charged with defamation and he pleaded guilty. He paid the fine and issued a public apology. The woman who fabricated the story was also charged.

Reflecting on the incident, he admitted to being “a bit naive”. 

“I could have done better, 100 per cent.

“I naively believed that someone who was actually pregnant wouldn't lie about the death of the child that was still, you know, alive and kicking … but that said, there were things that I could have done as a publication to ensure it didn’t happen. 

“These things were not done and I took full responsibility for them.”

There was a temptation at the time to “just shut everything down”, Mr Ariffin told me, to do whatever he could to forget about it.

“But I think the more difficult thing to do would be to continue our work, but in a more responsible way – with more stringent protocols in place.”

That was what Mr Ariffin chose to do and that resulted in what he felt was a silver lining amid the dark clouds. 

Lessons learnt from the KKH saga gave him the conviction in 2023 to break the news about Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Media inflating its circulation numbers.

Just a day after the article went live, national broadsheet The Straits Times, a publication under SPH Media, confirmed the news. It felt like vindication. 

Nonetheless, the fact is that the young man has a taint on his record and reputation in the form of a conviction. Does he think this will affect his chances as a candidate? 

“I'm sure it may affect the perceptions of some voters, but I hope they are able to see that not everything is one-dimensional, that there are many layers of grey between the black and the white. 

“I hope they can see beyond that and give me a chance.”

IN POLITICS FOR GOOD

Mr Ariffin is fully aware of the uphill battle his team faces running against a PAP slate comprising the prime minister. 

He had previously told reporters that aside from an out-and-out triumph over the ruling party, making inroads to cut away at the incumbent’s margin of victory is crucial as well. 

I asked if that meant he was already conceding defeat. 

Not at all, he said: “My point is that even as prime minister, your mandate must be earned.”

Mr Ariffin aims to put forward a platform consistent with the party’s slogan for the General Election – focused on helping people thrive, not just survive. 

It’s not just about finances but also the stresses of life, he said. 

The pressures people face in the workplace, the mental capacity one needs to raise a family and the strain on young people going through the education system, for instance.

“These are issues I hope to speak about more. Our goal is to run a clean campaign and focus on policies. We will fight the good fight and walk out with our heads held high.” 

Whether or not Mr Ariffin and the SDP team wins is almost besides the point. 

For him, politics is not a five-yearly exercise but a continuous process. The late-night door-to-door visits to households, the policy papers, the manifestos – that’s the real work. 

The rallies and walkabouts done during the hustings are just the “front of the show”, he said.

He repeated the point that he does not have any desire to be in the spotlight as an election candidate. The only reason he has stepped forward, he said, is because he was summoned to do so.

“I think if the party calls on you, then you have to step forward.”

No one expects the SDP team to beat the prime minister. Not even him.

But if anything is clear from Mr Ariffin’s life so far, it is that he likes to play the long game. 

“After all, if you fall down seven times, you get up eight,” he said.