Tembusu College students will soon be casting their votes for the members of the 11th College Students’ Committee (CSC). The candidates contesting are: Seah Jaye Young and Sim Gerald for the position of Finance Secretary (FinSec); Tanisha Attri and Tan Yi Bing for Welfare Secretary; Edmund Gan Shaw Ming and Ng Zi Lun for Marketing Director; and Kristopher Putra Taslim and Toh Zhen Yu, Nicholas for Enrichment Director. In order for Tembusu students to get to know their candidates more intimately and personally, Treehouse has interviewed the students with a series of short questions. Their answers are presented below in alphabetical order of their first names. Treehouse presents to the student body eight of the candidates running for CSC, minimally edited and in their own words as much as possible.
1. Describe yourself in three words.
Edmund: Reserved, calm, resilient.
Gerald: History-loving boomer.
Jaye: Cheery. Thoughtful. Intentional. Smart.
Kristopher: Approachable, empathetic, creative.
Nicholas: Efficient, candid, silly.
Tanisha: I would say I’m empathetic, ambitious, and energetic!
Yi Bing: Funny, clumsy but street-smart.
Zi Lun: I am a non-conformist.
2. What’s your favorite food in school?
Edmund: Nasi padang from Food Clique.
Gerald: Mala 中辣 [medium spicy].
Jaye: Al Amaa—I mean the quesadillas from Super Snacks! (And don’t forget their soy ice cream, a must-try combo!)
Kristopher: Tom Yum Fried Rice from Fine Food!
Nicholas: Amaans.
Tanisha: I don’t have a favorite food in school but I do eat Thai dishes from Fine Food a lot!
Yi Bing: Ji pa [chicken cutlet]…
Zi Lun: Chicken 65 at Indian stall.
3. What’s an unpopular opinion you have?
Gerald: A cheap kopi peng is enough for me. I don’t see what’s the hype for fancy coldbrew-arabica cappuccino type coffees. (I’m sorry Coffeehouse please don’t cancel me, haha.)
Jaye: Typing ‘e’ in your messages is so much better than typing ‘the’; it spares you the effort of inserting 2 more letters, hello!
Nicholas: OCIP [Overseas Community Involvement Programme] at the secondary [and] junior college (JC) level is mostly just for self gratification and [to have] something to put on university admissions essays. Donating the money spent would have a far larger effect.
Tanisha: I don’t know why this is an unpopular opinion but TikTok is actually really funny. Maybe funnier than Vine.
Yi Bing: Watermelons are not nice…
Zi Lun: People aren’t as open-minded as they think they are.
4. If you could be an electrical appliance what would you be?
Edmund: I would be a table lamp. Subtle but essential.
Gerald: I’d be a JBL Speaker hooked on to an e-scooter.
Jaye: A toaster cause I’m hot and give people steamy bu—jokes. I think a phone ‘cause you’ll definitely need me around (when I join CSC as Finsec, ahaha, oh gosh that was so bad).
Kristopher: I want to be Dyson V11 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner.
Nicholas: Smart phone (Android).
Tanisha: I’d be a hair straightener or curler so I can help people feel like baddies.
Yi Bing: Microwave because I’ll warm you up.
Zi Lun: Electric chair.
5. What’s your bubble tea, Starbucks, or mala order?
Edmund: Bubble tea, black tea macchiato [with] 0% sugar; Starbucks, iced white or cold brew; mala, only vegetables and noodles, no meat.
Gerald: [For bubble tea,] Chocolate Milk Tea with Oreo bits!! (Also my Bubble Tea is always 100% Sugar, I paid for 100% sugar, I’m going to get 100% sugar). [For Starbucks,] Java Chip Venti (Only when there’s 1-for-1). [For Mala:] Meat, Taiwan Sausage, 腐竹 [dried tofu skin], 豆皮 [tofu skin], enoki mushroom, potato, rice, noodle, medium spicy.
Jaye: “1x Koi Black Tea Macchiato, 50% sugar, less ice, lots of love,” as Jaye chuckles to himself.
Kristopher: Dong ding oolong tea with cream, boba, 0% sugar (i know it’s weird but i really love the bitterness of the tea), [and] less ice from CHICHA San Chen.
Nicholas: Bubble tea, oolong milk tea, 20% sugar, with pearl, less ice. Starbucks, kouign-amaan. Mala, less spicy (am weak).
Tanisha: My usual bubble tea order would be brown sugar or caramel milk tea with pearls. The level of sugar is an on-the-spot decision.
Yi Bing: $2 Liho bubble tea because [I’m] broke…
Zi Lun: Caramel with pearls; [for mala,] tofu skin and maggie.
6. If you had a time machine, what would you do with it?
Edmund: I would go back to when I was young and stand up for myself and for those who were discriminated [against] or bullied because they were different.
Gerald: I wouldn’t change anything in the past, as what’s done has been done. Though I would want to travel into the future to then go buy 4D or Toto, HUAT AH!!
Jaye: Hop over to the 27th century to see if I’m still a flashing evergreen.
Kristopher: Go back to my younger days and ensure younger me [never] quit piano lesson[s], and [learn] Mandarin properly.
Nicholas: Assuming branching time and no retrocausality, and that I’m the only one with this ability, and that nobody is trying to stop me, I’d first travel forwards in time to hopefully become biologically immortal (i.e. fix cancer or ageing and whatnot), get some wicked cyborg implants, then jump all over the timeline doing whatever I want
Tanisha: I would go back in time and relive my childhood!! Fun times [grin].
Yi Bing: Go to the future to find [out] if I succeeded… If I failed, [I’ll] find Toto number to strike
Zi Lun: Find out how the world ends.
7. If you could be someone else for the day, who would you be?
Jaye: Moses, so that I can witness myself parting the Red Sea in all its glory. (And wrecking the Egyptians after.)
Tanisha: Definitely Ariana Grande. I am obsessed with that woman [laughter]. Also, I would love to hit whistle tones all day and send myself money.
Yi Bing: Hui Shi (Coffeehouse jiejie) so I know my other brain cell [sad face]
Zi Lun: My design tutor, so that I can finally understand what he’s saying
8. Are you addicted to anything?
Edmund: Skincare. I have over 100 skincare products at the moment. Excluding sheet masks ‘cause my sheet masks stock count is also above 100.
Gerald: I’m a smoker so some might say nicotine? But honestly, to me, it’s something I can drop anytime so I won’t say it’s an addiction.
Jaye: Modern Family—trust me on this one.
Kristopher: Sleeping!
Nicholas: Medication…
Tanisha: I’m addicted to Shopee at the moment. I’ve always been an active Shopee user but Circuit Breaker really got me ordering the most random things.
Yi Bing: Spending money on random things I don’t need….
Zi Lun: Sugar.
9. What’s your dream holiday?
Edmund: A backpacking trip with someone I love, wherever it might be.
Gerald: Go paktor overseas for like a month. Probably USA, Europe, Korea, or Japan ideally, as long as I get to feel like a local for a month I’m not too picky on the exact location.
Jaye: Sitting by the fireplace in snowy Mt. Vermont, US, while listening to Michael Buble’s Christmas album on Christmas Eve.
Kristopher: Relax and rewind in a resort while enjoying the beautiful scenery. Take a breather from the hustle and bustle of a fast-paced lifestyle. And most importantly, spending the holiday with people I really cherish, [like] friends and family!
Nicholas: Experience New Zealand’s natural beauty.
Tanisha: I really want to go to Santorini, it looks beautiful! And my phone is definitely taunting me because I keep seeing advertisements related to Greece.
Yi Bing: Really just be eating and exploring.
Zi Lun: Year-long Europe tour.
10. What’s your life’s motto?
Edmund: Wear your battle scars with pride. They are your tokens of strength and resilience.
Gerald: As long as it makes for a funny or an interesting story, bad experiences are still pretty good.
Jaye: We serve at the pleasure.
Kristopher: Don’t assume and always hear both [sides] of the stories before judging.
Nicholas: I don’t believe in the afterlife, so I make decisions with the idea of maximising utility in my lifetime.
Tanisha: I actually have multiple life mottos that I try to live by, but the one I love most is that the universe [has] got my back! I think it’s important to let every situation be what it is instead of what you think it should be, and then make the best out of it. Staying genuinely grateful and kind goes a long way.
Yi Bing: Just clown [clown face].
Zi Lun: Underpromise, overdeliver.
Feature image by Elliott Stallion from Unsplash. Header image from file.
Treehouse would like to thank the candidates for lending us their time to answer our questions in the midst of their campaign period. External online voting for the 11th CSC will commence on 2 September, Wednesday, and close on 3 September, Thursday. The election results will be determined by external vote (70%), from students, and by internal vote (30%), from all candidates in the running. Election results will be released 7 September, Monday.