Singapore GE: No different to be part of GRC again, says Fengshan MP

Carved out of East Coast GRC for the 2015 polls, the single-member constituency (SMC) of Fengshan will return to the fold in the next general election.

"We used to be part of a GRC, so I think it is no different now to go back," its current MP Cheryl Chan told The Straits Times yesterday.

The long-time grassroots volunteer who stood in the hotly contested ward in 2015 and won against the Workers' Party's Dennis Tan with 57.52 per cent of the vote added: "I think the main thing is the party continues serving the people."

The single seat was created in 1984 and held by the People's Action Party's Arthur Beng for two terms, before it joined the now-defunct Bedok GRC in 1991.

Dr Beng beat Workers' Party candidate Chng Chin Siah twice: First in 1984 with 65.1 per cent of the vote, then in 1988 with 57.9 per cent of the vote.

In 1997, Fengshan became part of East Coast GRC, before making a comeback as a single seat in 2015 after more than 20 years.

Ms Chan was then the first new PAP candidate to be fielded in a new SMC in nearly 30 years, since the group representation constituency system was introduced in 1988.