Former MDDI director Goh Hanyan spotted in Nee Soon GRC

SINGAPORE – Ms Goh Hanyan, a former director at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI), was spotted on April 7 at a Meet-the-People Session at the PAP’s Nee Soon Central branch.

Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, who was also present, told reporters that Ms Goh, 39, is “very experienced on the ground”.

“She will be a very good MP wherever she goes, if elected,” he said.

Mr Shanmugam noted that Ms Goh had been a civil servant for 16 years, and highlighted her experience working with US multinational corporations (MNCs). Ms Goh spent about a decade at the Economic Development Board (EDB), including a three-year stint in Washington.

“She ran EDB’s Washington office for a number of years,” he said. “She has that experience of dealing with the MNCs, and the value proposition of Singapore from an economic perspective.”

After returning to Singapore, Ms Goh continued to deal with economic issues such as job creation and making Singapore more attractive for investments, he added.

Ms Goh was most recently a director in the Smart Nation Strategy Office and the national artificial intelligence group for policy and strategy at MDDI. Before that, she was working on economy and sustainability under the strategy group in the Prime Minister’s Office for just under four years.

Ms Goh told reporters on April 7 that she had been volunteering in different grassroots organisations over the last few years, and had recently gone to Nee Soon.

“I’m very much looking forward to more opportunities to serve the residents here and to work with the residents in the community,” she said.

As a former public servant, she brings to the table a global mindset and the knowledge of how policies are designed and implemented, she said.

Also at the Nee Soon Central branch office were

Mr Jackson Lam, another PAP new face

and the party’s former Hougang branch chairman, as well as former Nee Soon South MP Lee Bee Wah, who served three terms before retiring from politics in 2020. Mr Shanmugam said Ms Lee was there as a mentor.

The branch is helmed by Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, who has in recent weeks been spotted at Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. The Straits Times did not see him on April 7.

Asked if Associate Professor Faishal will move out of Nee Soon GRC, Mr Shanmugam said things are not yet finalised. “But my sense is that it is unlikely that Prof Faishal will be here,” he said.

Former nominated MP Syed Harun Alhabsyi

has been spotted with other PAP new faces

at community events, including at a walkabout on April 3 at Yishun Park Hawker Centre.

Mr Shanmugam said: “People have seen Dr Syed Harun, the psychiatrist, here with us. I think that’s the way it looks now, but we’ll have to wait and see.”