GE2025: Estate improvements don’t come on ‘silver platter’; MPs must justify needs, says Liang Eng Hwa

Follow our live coverage here.

SINGAPORE - Improvements in constituencies do not come on a “silver platter”, but through MPs who advocate for changes, said PAP candidate Liang Eng Hwa.

Even after they get the green light, MPs need to continuously engage with various stakeholders to get projects off the ground, and it takes experience to do this well, he added at a PAP rally at Beacon Primary School on April 30.

“It’s actually naive to think that it doesn’t matter who your MP is”, and that agencies would work on “autopilot” to carry out such projects, Mr Liang said.

This was one of several points he made during the rally to respond to what Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidates, including its chairman Paul Tambyah, have said during the election campaign.

Mr Liang and Professor Tambyah are

again contesting Bukit Panjang SMC

, which the opposition narrowly lost in GE2020.

The PAP candidate pointed out that many of the town’s improvements – such as the construction of two flyovers that link the town to the Kranji Expressway and two new hawker centres – were not originally planned.

Residents had told him their concerns about the traffic situation in the area worsening with the construction of new Housing Board flats there, Mr Liang said.

He took those concerns to the Land Transport Authority and then Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew before the $344 million project was approved.

“SDP says those are taxpayers’ money. Yes… it’s government funding, but I secured the funding for the benefit of Bukit Panjang residents,” he said.

Throughout his campaign trail, Prof Tambyah has referred to Singapore’s civil service and government agencies as professional and apolitical, and said that the PAP takes credit for the work of public servants.

He urged voters not to fall for the “rooster syndrome” – arguing that projects and services in housing estates will continue even if the SDP is voted into Parliament on May 3. Rooster syndrome refers to the belief that one event is attributed to a preceding one, like the notion that roosters’ crowing causes the sun to rise.

“It’s not autopilot, it doesn’t come to you on a silver platter, as what SDP may seem to suggest,” Mr Liang said in response. “We have to build a case up, lobby, push and justify.”

Having been an MP for almost 20 years, he said he has learnt how government agencies work and how best to present cases to them for approval.

“It requires continuous and sincere engagements with partners and stakeholders, you need to build relationships and trust – then coming together to bring about the best outcome for residents,” he said.

At SDP rallies, Prof Tambyah

pledged to run the town council without EM Services

– a company that manages several of Singapore’s town councils.

Mr Liang said the PAP will run both Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Bukit Panjang under one town council if it wins both again. This arrangement would allow residents to enjoy economies of scale in areas such as maintenance and landscaping works.

In a post-rally interview, he was asked about Prof Tambyah’s comments the day before about Bukit Panjang residents facing municipal-level issues, such as the lack of lift access in older HDB blocks.

In response, Mr Liang said there were 10 blocks where residents faced lift access issues, and these have been resolved in eight blocks.

He added that “the site is really very challenging; you’ve got to almost punch a hole somewhere”, but that HDB is looking into solutions.

“I am fairly confident that we can get the lift done, not because (Prof Tambyah) mentioned it, but because it’s already in the works.”

He pointed to the improvements to his ward in recent years, including the completion of a polyclinic and several daycare centres, and promised to do more if re-elected.

Other than Mr Liang, Mr Edward Chia was the only PAP candidate who spoke at the rally. Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishan was also in attendance.

Mr Chia, who is a candidate for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, described Mr Liang as a responsible MP, pointing out that the latter had continued with his MP work while undergoing treatment for nose cancer in 2023.