SHE had lovely flowing hair, make-up and her good side showing. That was the picture her party sent out to the media.
But National Solidarity Party's (NSP) Nicole Seah, 24, turned up at yesterday's press conference looking, well, different.
The make-up was light and her hair was pulled back tightly.
Someone asked, are you just another pretty face?
In short, she wants to be taken seriously.
Miss Seah shot back without hesitation: "If you think I'm just another pretty face, read my Facebook updates, read my articles, read the interviews I've done and judge for yourself."
It's inevitable that she's compared with the People's Action Party's (PAP) Tin Pei Ling, 27.
Both are good-looking young women, their respective party's youngest candidates and standing as part of aGRC team in Marine Parade.
At the NSP press conference yesterday announcing its five candidates for Marine Parade, Ms Seah, who was on the right of secretary- general Goh Meng Seng, was the obvious star.
The media fired questions comparing the two women from every angle. Even such cheeky ones as: "What is your greatest regret?" and "What bag do you carry?"
But the advertising executive, an NUS graduate, refused to be drawn into comparisons.
She said: "Sorry, I'm not interested in that kind of question... There are more pressing national issues to address at hand."
But the Tin Pei Ling questions just kept coming.
Question: Like "the other young candidate", do you have the experience and ability to relate, especially to older residents?
Another reporter was more blunt. Why become a candidate now? We did not hear about you before Ms Tin was announced.
Ms Seah's response: She has been involved in opposition politics for two years.
She was part of the exodus from the Reform Party in February.
It was at a joint opposition event two years ago that she first met NSP's Mr Goh.
After the exodus - but before Ms Tin was introduced as a candidate - he messaged Ms Seah on Facebook, inviting her to join NSP.
Ms Seah said her "first political awakening" came in 2003, when she was a 17-year-old junior college student.
Deliver food
She had been involved in community work since secondary school and also made house visits to deliver food to the needy.
She recalled: "When I visited a house, I was surprised to see that there was an old lady, she had a roof over her head but she didn't even have enough money to buy a meal.
"And that angered me, because yes, we have provided food for her for that one day, but what is going to happen to her the rest of the days?
"And that was when I realised that you need policies to go down to the root of the matter, and you cannot rely on the organisations to do the job for you."
At NUS, she joined an independent online publication called The Campus Observer in her third year and became its managing editor.
She wrote articles addressing issues like the foreign influx of students.
"That's whenI started to have a keen interest in policies as a whole," she said.
Are young people a "liability" in politics?
She said: "I want to represent the voices of young Singaporeans who feel that they want a stake in this country, who feel that they want to have their voice heard, but who have been apathetic all this while because they feel powerless to make any real change, and I want to change that..."
Ms Seah said her family lives in a five-room HDB flat, adding: "I feel that I'm an average Singaporean. I'm not elite, I don't have a scholarship background, I never (went to) university overseas.
"I understand how it feels to stand in a crowded train, to be stuck in congested traffic... Refer to my tweet. So I do empathise."
The "tweet" reference was to an old post on her Twitter account, in which she wrote a Hokkien vulgarity while being stuck in traffic, which has caused some netizens to flame her online.
She said she "took responsibility for that", but added jokingly:
"Honestly, if traffic has been at a standstill for an hour and you are running late for a meeting, wouldn't you be swearing too?"
But what of the online flaming?
She said: "I think if you want to engage in social media, you must take the good with the bad.
"I have come into this elections with my eyes wide open, and I'm aware of the potential consequences and potential shortfalls that may arise as a result of me being a public figure."
Family
She said her family - her mum's in advertising, her dad's in finance, she has two younger brothers - and friends have been very supportive.
She said that from walking the ground in Marine Parade GRC,residents are "very receptive" and "open to a fight".
She added that Marine Parade also has a "sentimental value" for her, as she studied in Victoria Junior College, Tanjong Katong Secondary School and CHIJ Katong.
So what is her greatest regret?
"I think that's a very tricky question to ask a 24-year-old. I'm only 24. I cannot say that I have had a regret that's so life-threatening that it's stopped me in my tracks and made me unable to move forward," she said.
Ms Seah was a star among her NSP comrades, too. They applauded and cheered her at the end of many of her answers but did not do so for the other four candidates introduced for Marine Parade GRC.
They are team leader Ivan Yeo Tiong Boon, 63, managing director of an investment company; Mr Cheo Chai Chen, 60, a former one-term opposition MP from 1991 to 1997; Mr Spencer Ng Chung Hon, 31, founder and project director of an event company; and Mr Abdul Salim Harun, 29, a warehouse assistant who was part of the Workers' Party's Ang Mo Kio "suicide squad" in the last GE.
Was it a deliberate move to field such a young candidate as Ms Seah in Marine Parade?
Mr Goh said: "Not at all... I do not think age matters. What matters is actually your passion to serve, and I think for her age, she's mature, she understands the policy implications, not only for her generation but for the elderly. I think it pays to start early."
The National Solidarity Party also released its manifesto yesterday, titled "Your Voice, Your Choice", which will be available on its website www.nsp.sg by tomorrow.
Pity cyber-generation puts down its own kind
Comment: Kwan Hui Xian
I'M 21, an undergraduate, a registered voter and am not happy.
After years of having been told that my generation is a politically-apathetic bunch, young people decided to step up and contest this election.
There have been 30 woman candidates offered by the ruling and opposition parties. Several of them are young women like myself.
And what do some people in that place we youngsters call home - cyberspace - do?
They blast young women candidates, even stripping away their political thought and contribution to society and then judge them on looks.
So once again, netizens are in an uproar.
Punching away at their keyboards, they digitally yelled: Election's turning into a beauty pageant! She's inexperienced! She swears!
This time, the focus is on 24-year-old National Solidarity Party (NSP) candidate, Nicole Seah.
As of last night, "Nicole Seah" was ranked as the No. 2 search item on Google.
What do netizens zoom in on?
Not maternity leave or whether single mothers receive enough support.
In particular, netizens have focused on People's Action Party's Tin Pei Ling, 27 and NSP's Miss Seah.
Some posted that by fielding two young women candidates, GE 2011 has become cheap, even a beauty pageant.
One even went so far as to suggest that Miss Seah should wear a bikini and do a walkabout along East Coast beach, to appeal to "dirty old men".
A lot of attention has been focused on Miss Seah's looks, with some netizens making lewd comments.
And like what they did with Ms Tin, netizens trawled the darkest recesses of cyberspace, pulling out comments Miss Seah had made but thought she had relegated to the digital trash bin.
They pulled a posting on her Twitter account. She had written then that she was stuck in traffic that was not moving, and then let fly with acronyms that spelled out profanities.
Netizens criticised her for being "uncultured" and an "Ah Lian" but others said she's "connecting with the real people".
Comparison
They drew up tables comparing Ms Tin and Miss Seah on grounds of education, languages spoken, and "sob story".
And yes, they debate about who is prettier.
I am of the Internet generation. When so much is made of my generation and the Internet, and the potential for both to contribute, the discussion online becomes a big letdown.
Young candidates lack maturity to contest the election?
No, it's really the netizens who are in real need of growing up.
Looks part and parcel of game
THE Workers' Party (WP) introduced another four candidates at a press conference at its headquarters yesterday.
The party is expected to field a total of 23 candidates for the election.
We speak to Ms Angela Oon Kheng Faye, 32, a researcher. She is also the deputy chairman of WP's Northern Area Committee. She is married to a 36-year-old businessman.
When netizens discuss the women candidates, they focus on looks and behaviour but little on their political thoughts. How does that affect you?
From what I've seen online, I actually don't quite agree that it's got nothing to do with your political thoughts.
I don't think they (the netizens) lose sight of the fact that these people are standing in an election; that they are standing to be elected as Members of Parliament.
They're not looking at female candidates as though it were a men's magazine. Any female candidate that's in politics will have their looks commented on.
The men as well, if they don't carry themselves well. Would you say that it is tougher to be a woman candidate?' I wouldn't know, I've never been a male candidate.
And it's the first time I'm standing. So honestly, I don't have a basis for comparison.
Do you think looks help?
I wouldn't rule out the possibility. I mean, it's human nature. In every aspect of life, not just politics, appearances do count.
And in this case, obviously it would be a factor to a certain part of the electorate. I mean it's part and parcel of the game.
What strengths do you bring into politics as a woman candidate?
Actually, I've never really thought of myself as championing women's causes in particular. I'm not exactly sure why that is the case.
But I don't think we should fall into the stereotype of thinking that female candidates tend to be more interested in women's issues.
It's true that if you're a female candidate, you understand a little bit more about what it's like to be a woman, and you understand the challenges that women face.
But if you're asking whether or not I'm going to bring up any particular issues or policies, I don't see it now.
But I don't know in the future.
SIA's Singapore girl, sexy or sexist?
I approach it actually from a fairly academic point of view...how is the Singapore Girl perceived outside of Singapore?
What do locals think of this particular icon that was created by a foreign advertising firm?
I can't give a straight answer because I think the academic in me rebels against giving an opinion without some kind of research behind it.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
