GE2025: Newly elected PAP MPs vow to continue work for residents in West Coast, Jurong
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Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC MPs-elect went on a victory parade on an open-top bus and alighted at various spots to thank residents.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
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SINGAPORE – The support that residents of West Coast-Jurong West GRC gave to the PAP was “very humbling”, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said on May 4, adding that his team will not take their trust lightly.
Speaking to the media while on a walkabout at Boon Lay Place, Mr Lee said: “When we heard the results, it was very humbling that the residents of West Coast and Jurong West gave us (such) strong support, certainly, compared to five years ago.”
The PAP won 60.01 per cent of the vote share
During the 2020 General Election, the PAP had secured just 51.68 per cent of the vote in a tight contest against the PSP in the then West Coast GRC.
The narrow margin sent two PSP members – party chief Leong Mun Wai and first vice-chair Hazel Poa – into Parliament as Non-Constituency MPs.
Given this, Mr Lee, who is the anchor minister for the PAP in West Coast-Jurong West GRC, said he had expected another close fight when Singapore went to the polls on May 3
But as the sample count trickled in late on Polling Day, it became clear that the PAP team led by Mr Lee had taken a convincing win in the newly formed GRC
The minister attributed the support from residents to how his team, which includes newly elected MPs Shawn Huang, Ang Wei Neng, Hamid Razak and Cassandra Lee, worked with residents in the constituency and in Parliament.
“So, certainly, we have a strong sense of responsibility to continue to support the residents who entrusted us with the support they gave us yesterday,” he said, adding that his team will not take this lightly.
He also thanked the PSP team, which included the party’s top leaders – party chair Tan Cheng Bock, Mr Leong and Ms Poa – for giving residents in the constituency a choice.
“It was a dignified, though robust campaign, and I think that is something we would like to see continue in Singapore… we can be robust, but we continue to be respectful of one another,” he said.
Mr David Sim, a Boon Lay resident of more than 30 years, told The Straits Times he had no doubt that Mr Lee’s team would prevail at the polls. But he acknowledged the importance of having a strong opposition voice in Parliament.
“We need (the opposition) to raise questions and check the Government, but the PAP has been doing a very good job taking care of us, and we cannot belittle that,” he said.
The boundaries of West Coast GRC were redrawn ahead of this election, with about 41,000 voters from Jurong GRC – mainly from Jurong Spring and Taman Jurong – added to the renamed West Coast-Jurong West GRC.
The reconfigured five-member GRC now comprises Boon Lay, Nanyang, West Coast, Ayer Rajah-Gek Poh, Taman Jurong, and parts of Jurong Spring. The number of registered voters rose from 146,089 to 158,836.
In Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC, PAP MPs Grace Fu, Murali Pillai, Rahayu Mahzam, David Hoe and Lee Hong Chuang went on a victory parade on an open-top bus and alighted at various spots around the five divisions in the constituency to thank residents.
Speaking to ST at Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre, the team’s last stop, Ms Fu, who is also the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, said her team’s winning margin came as a surprise.
Her team won 76.66 per cent of the vote against the opposition Red Dot United.
“We went out without actually having any expectations, because we are made up of three SMCs and two (of us) from a GRC. And so, there (were) many uncertainties and unknown factors going into the election, but I think we are very pleased with this outcome,” she said.
Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC comprises part of the former Jurong GRC as well as the Bukit Batok, Yuhua and Hong Kah North SMCs.
Jurong GRC had consistently been among the PAP’s best-performing constituencies in recent elections, securing 74.61 per cent of the vote in the 2020 General Election.
Moving forward, Ms Fu said her team will start by looking at the social programmes that are implemented in some divisions and see how to pool resources to implement them across the GRC.
“Some things we will do straight away, such as municipal issues – cleanliness, pests – we will definitely act on them in the short run. But in the longer term, we will look at how to improve the overall living conditions for our residents,” she said.
Clementi resident Audrey Chew, 86, was elated to see the PAP team when they alighted from the bus for a brief walkabout at Clementi Central. “I stayed up till 3am to watch the election results, and I am very happy they won. I like Grace Fu a lot. My mother, when she was alive, liked our Singapore ministers a lot too,” she said.
