GE2025: ‘Daily, consistent work’ for residents most important, says Chan Chun Sing
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Education Minister Chan Chun Sing and his fellow Tanjong Pagar GRC candidate Rachel Ong greeting residents during a walkabout in Telok Blangah Drive on April 24.
ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
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SINGAPORE – For the PAP’s Tanjong Pagar slate, consistency is the name of the game.
“Our campaign is not about (the) nine days,” Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said, referring to the nine-day campaigning period ahead of the May 3 General Election.
Speaking to reporters during a walkabout in Telok Blangah Drive on April 24, Mr Chan, who is the anchor minister for Tanjong Pagar GRC, said: “It is the daily, consistent work (for residents) that is most important.
“What we will do will not be very different from what we do every other day,” he said, noting his team’s efforts to maintain a consistent presence in the constituency and to connect with residents.
Mr Chan’s five-member Tanjong Pagar team includes fellow incumbents Alvin Tan, who is Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth, and Joan Pereira. New on the team is Ms Rachel Ong, whose Telok Blangah ward is now part of Tanjong Pagar. Her ward was previously in West Coast GRC.
Rounding out the group is political newcomer Foo Cexiang, a former director at the Ministry of Transport.
When asked whether he was concerned about the contest against the People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR), Mr Chan said his team’s focus remains on the residents of Tanjong Pagar. “Our plan is not based on who is coming or who is going,” he said.
“Our plan is to be resident-centric, and that will always be our guiding light.”
The PAR team in Tanjong Pagar comprises commercial banker Prabu Ramachandran; Mr Nadarajan Selvamani, a director of a private school; Mr Rickson Giauw, a site safety adviser and officer; Ms Han Hui Hui, a human rights fellow at a foreign university; and senior logistics assistant Soh Lian Chye.
The contest for Tanjong Pagar was the subject of intense speculation when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah announced on April 21 that she would move to anchor the Pasir Ris-Changi GRC slate.
On April 23, it was revealed that Mr Foo would replace Ms Indranee, who had been an MP for Tanjong Pagar for 24 years.
Mr Chan said the PAP team would help Mr Foo find his feet and “guide (him) into his new role”, just as Ms Indranee had done before for each new member of the team.
Ms Ong is not a political newcomer, but she is new to the Tanjong Pagar team and constituency. She said that while her time as an MP at West Coast GRC was “great for (her) first term”, her Telok Blangah ward is a lot closer in proximity to Tanjong Pagar.
“So, I think that the lines that have been drawn make sense… it is a wise move,” Ms Ong said of the redrawing of electoral boundaries in March that brought her ward into Tanjong Pagar.
The PAP’s Tanjong Pagar team was also joined by their fellow candidates for the Queenstown and Radin Mas single seats, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth and Social and Family Development Eric Chua, and National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Melvin Yong, respectively, during the walkabout.
Mr Chua’s Queenstown ward that used to be part of Tanjong Pagar GRC is now a single-member constituency. He will be up against PAR’s Mr Mahaboob Batcha, an oil and gas company director.
Mr Yong, the incumbent PAP MP for Radin Mas SMC, is in a three-cornered fight with PAR’s Mr Kumar Appavoo, who is a businessman, and independent candidate Darryl Lo.
