GE2025: PAP newcomer Shawn Loh says his son wants to know how he’s going to address the cost of living
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One of the issues Mr Shawn Loh hopes to address through his candidacy is the need for accessible childcare.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
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SINGAPORE - When PAP candidate for Jalan Besar GRC
And it is not just Mr Loh’s entry into politics that makes the boy, aged 12, more tuned in to current affairs, despite his young age.
The family of six does not have a television set at home, so the four children, two boys and two girls, are encouraged to read The Straits Times daily.
“I am a subscriber of the hard-copy paper, and I strongly believe that is why my children must also read the paper on a daily basis,” said Mr Loh, speaking to reporters at the Whampoa Drive Market and Food Centre on April 15. His three other children are aged four, seven and 10.
“That is why they are a bit more aware of current affairs,” he said.
Mr Loh, who is currently the deputy group managing director of Singapore-based investment company Commonwealth Capital Group, said he and the family have been discussing his entry into politics for a few months.
“It did not come as a surprise to the children. I think my two older children understand a bit more. The younger two are still coming to terms with not seeing me around as often.
“We are still finding a new balance in this new phase of life,” he said.
On April 16, Mr Loh was introduced by Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo at a press conference as a new joiner to the incumbent PAP team that will contest Jalan Besar GRC in the upcoming election.
He will take over the Whampoa ward from Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How, who will be stepping down from the team.
The other members of the team are Ms Denise Phua and Dr Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah.
Mr Loh, a former director with the Ministry of Finance (MOF), was first spotted in Jalan Besar on April 6, fuelling expectations of his candidacy there in the upcoming general election.
A week later at the area’s Kids’ Carnival, Mrs Teo, who helms the incumbent team, called him “an excellent fit for the residents of Jalan Besar”.
Mr Loh has his age going for him as the group representation constituency he is in – one of the oldest in Singapore – is transitioning.
There have been a number of Build-to-Order (BTO) flats springing up in the GRC, and many younger families have moved into the area in the past 10 years.
In the last five years, two BTO developments came up in the Whampoa area, and Mr Loh said there will be six new ones coming up in the next five years.
“There will be a new generation coming in, hopefully with me, to the estate,” he said.
One of the issues he hopes to address through his candidacy is the need for accessible childcare.
“It is important to have childcare within walking distance,” Mr Loh said, adding that over the past eight years, he has been walking his children from their block to a nearby childcare centre.
“I have at least another three more years to go until my youngest goes to Primary 1. So, I understand the importance of having accessible, quality and affordable childcare within walking distance. At some of our new developments, because they built a BTO first, we do not have that currently,” he said.
Mr Loh was group director of business strategy and innovation at Commonwealth Capital Group during the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, before making the jump to the public sector.
He was vice-president of Singapore businesses and of industry manpower development at the Economic Development Board from 2021 to 2023.
After joining the MOF in 2023, Mr Loh was director of security and resilience programmes. He was the Budget director for 2024 and 2025, which were the first Budgets to include programmes from the Forward Singapore engagement exercise.
Mr Loh rejoined Commonwealth Capital Group earlier in 2025.
His experience in both the public and private sectors also stood him in good stead in helping home-grown businesses in the area thrive in the current economic uncertainty.
Citing an example of a logistics company that was in distress during the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Loh said he remembered going in as a buyer of last resort to acquire the company that would have closed down within the next two months and would have resulted in 300 families losing their livelihoods.
Commonwealth Capital Group had at the time bought over the logistics firm.
“I just recently returned to the company a couple of weeks ago and found it very fulfilling because I saw the same people in the company – so five years on, I still see the same friends, the same business managers, the same logistics managers, operating managers. So, I really feel the sense of satisfaction and the ability for companies to make a positive difference in the right environment,” he said.
Mr Loh also emphasised trust as the basis that brings people together.
“We have a moral duty to do more for others if we are in a position to do more... It is really about building a trust with the community as its new public figure, its new candidate. My focus is on the community first,” said Mr Loh, who has been volunteering at Jalan Besar GRC’s Jobs Connect programme.
“I am meeting the young families, meeting the residents in the Whampoa estate and understanding their points of view, so I would be able to represent them in Parliament if I am picked,” he said.
Mr Loh, who married his junior college sweetheart at age 24 in 2011, became a father two years later.
“My wife worked at Singapore Prison Service for seven years, so you can guess who plays the ‘bad cop’ in the family. She sometimes even calls me her fifth child,” he said, laughing.
She now works “in the broader civil service”, he said.
Calling himself lucky, Mr Loh wrote on his LinkedIn profile that when he is not spending time with family, “raising four independent-minded kids, I hope to do other things that I love: Working with people and leading teams to tackle complex issues and make a large positive impact in Singaporeans’ lives”.
