GE2025: Battery firm director, COO of moving company introduced as new PAP faces in Sembawang GRC

SINGAPORE – Two men were introduced as new faces for Sembawang GRC by Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on March 29 ahead of an upcoming general election.

Mr Gabriel Lam, chief operating officer of moving company Shalom International Movers, and Mr Ng Shi Xuan, director of battery company Powermark Battery and Hardware, were introduced by Mr Ong as likely candidates in the group representation constituency.

Mr Ong, who is the anchor minister for Sembawang GRC, attended the March 29

launch of a community initiative to help seniors in Bukit Canberra

with Mr Lam and Mr Ng. He said the two men are dynamic, enterprising, and very good people to join the volunteer force in the constituency and contribute to the community.

Referring to them as a “dynamic duo”, Mr Ong said both men are bosses of small and medium-sized enterprises that operate in competitive industries.

“They must create business opportunities, they must fight competition, win customers, take care of their workers,” he added.

Speaking at the event, Mr Ng, 35, said he has many ideas and is excited to get to know residents.

He served as the vice-chairman of the MacPherson Youth Network, and had been a grassroots volunteer in MacPherson for 10 years.

“In these 10 years, some of the skills I picked up include listening to residents’ concerns and acting on the various causes that they are passionate about, especially for young families and youth,” he told an audience of almost 1,000 seniors.

Mr Ng was a public servant and was last at trade agency Enterprise Singapore, helping Singapore companies to go overseas and grow their business. He left to continue the family business with his brother after their father died.

“I must admit that I do not know Sembawang very well. Hopefully, in the coming days, I can catch up quickly on that,” said Mr Ng, who grew up in Yishun Ring Road.

Mr Lam’s family moved to Sembawang in 1988, when the GRC was formed, though he is not a current resident. He has fond memories of catching mud crabs at nearby parks, and attended primary school in Sembawang.

“Being new, I will have to tap the expertise of the team led by minister Ong to enrich the lives of our residents,” said Mr Lam, 42. He was previously spotted in Tampines GRC.

“In my professional life, people know me as a ‘mover of things’, as in I move things, but here in Sembawang, I want to move lives,” he said.

Mr Lam said that in the coming weeks, he will meet many Sembawang residents and get to know them. “I hope to hear your stories and, together, see where I can add value to the team,” he added.

Mr Ong said that as both men do not live in and hence do not know much about the area, “we must help them understand Sembawang”.

He had said on March 23 that

he expects to have more than one new face

as part of a five-member team contesting the upcoming election.

He noted that new faces are expected as part of the PAP’s bid to regularly refresh its line-up with each election.

The other MPs currently in Sembawang GRC are Ms Poh Li San, Mr Vikram Nair, Ms Mariam Jaafar and Dr Lim Wee Kiak.

The GRC is split into five divisions: Woodlands, Admiralty, Canberra, Sembawang Central and Sembawang West. Sembawang West will be carved out as a single-member constituency at the general election due by November, but widely expected to be held by mid-year.

Opposition parties National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore Democratic Party have staked their claims in Sembawang GRC and Sembawang West SMC.

In the 2020 General Election, the PAP won Sembawang GRC with 67.29 per cent of the vote, beating the NSP, which garnered 32.71 per cent.

On March 29, a three-year initiative by OCBC Bank that aims to benefit more than 180,000 seniors was rolled out at Bukit Canberra, an integrated sports and community hub. 

The bank has pledged $2 million to support the programmes that will be run within the OCBC SeniorCare initiative, which includes funding home-based counselling sessions for underprivileged seniors.