GE2025: PSP team meets Keat Hong residents with an eye on contesting Chua Chu Kang
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The team from PSP taking a group photo before conducting door-to-door visits in Keat Hong on March 30.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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SINGAPORE – Three members of the opposition Progress Singapore Party went door to door meeting residents in Keat Hong on March 30, further staking a claim to contest Chua Chu Kang GRC in the coming polls.
Businessman Phang Yew Huat, 65, Mr S. Nallakaruppan, 60, a stockbroker and president of the Society of Remisiers, and intellectual property and tech lawyer Wendy Low, 48, were accompanied by about 20 party members as they distributed fliers detailing their policy positions.
Mr Nallakaruppan, in a Facebook update later in the day, said the team covered more than 20 blocks.
Speaking to The Straits Times, Mr Phang said: “My principal role here in Chua Chu Kang is to engage the residents consistently over the last five years. I do have a heart for Chua Chu Kang since 2020, and I look forward to the opportunity to be in this ground.
“But as you know, you have to leave it to the party to decide.”
Mr Phang Yew Huat, PSP’s potential candidate for Chua Chu Kang GRC, engaging a resident during a door-to-door visit in Keat Hong on March 30.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
In the 2020 General Election, Mr Phang was principal election agent to former PSP chief Francis Yuen, who stood in Chua Chu Kang GRC, and Ms Low was part of the PSP team contesting Tanjong Pagar GRC.
In recent months, PSP candidates who have been walking the ground – mostly in the western part of Singapore – include Mr Lawrence Pek, the former secretary-general of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation, former journalist Stella Stan Lee, and in-house legal counsel Sani Ismail, all of whom are fresh faces for the party.
Ms Wendy Low, PSP’s potential candidate for Chua Chu Kang GRC, said much of her focus has been to visit residents in four- and five-room flats, as well as younger families.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Ms Low, who also visited residents in Brickland with Mr Phang earlier in the week, said much of her focus has been to visit residents in four- and five-room flats, as well as younger families.
Like a few other PSP members, she said a key issue raised by residents is concerns about the rising cost of living.
Mr Pek has been making the rounds in the newly built Tengah neighbourhood, which will merge with Chua Chu Kang GRC in line with recent boundary changes.
He said he began volunteering with PSP in 2023, and has been focusing his efforts on Tengah, within the Hong Kah North single seat, held by Dr Amy Khor, who is Senior Minister of State for Transport, and Sustainability and the Environment.
Mr Pek said: “It’s very logical for my team and I to focus our efforts on engaging the residents in Tengah. During the past year, we’ve been to Tengah several times, especially Plantation Plaza.”
Since March 25, Mr Pek has made at least three visits to Tengah, at last count home to roughly a tenth of about 93,000 electors in Chua Chu Kang GRC, based on ST’s analysis of data from 2024.
PSP member Lawrence Pek (left) has been making the rounds in the newly built Tengah neighbourhood, which will merge with Chua Chu Kang GRC in line with recent boundary changes.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
The needs of Tengah residents are unique, said Mr Pek. The estate is home to many young families who have moved in recently, amid teething issues like the lack of public transport options and issues with the town’s centralised cooling system
Mr Pek said: “We tell residents about avenues that we know about, for the Government to hear their feedback, and direct them to feedback channels.”
Nearly 8,000 households in Tengah had collected their keys
At the 2020 polls, the PAP team led by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong won Chua Chu Kang GRC with a vote share of 58.64 per cent, roughly an 18 percentage point drop from the 2015 election. It was also the PSP’s best showing after West Coast GRC and Marymount SMC.
