GE2025: PAP’s Cassandra Lee aims to push for more attention to struggles of young families

SINGAPORE – PAP new face Cassandra Lee, 33, wants to be a voice for young parents and youth, if she is elected as an MP for

West Coast-Jurong West GRC.

 

The lawyer and mother of a three-year-old son said she relates to the challenges young working families face.

“They need to juggle between caring for aged parents, raising young children and pursuing their own career aspirations,” said Ms Lee, speaking to the media at the party’s branch in West Coast on April 14.

“These struggles and concerns are real, and they deserve more attention, so I hope to be able to speak up for them,” she added. 

Ms Lee, who is an assistant director at professional services company EY, was on April 15 introduced as part of the PAP’s slate in West Coast-Jurong West. 

She and surgeon Hamid Razak are the two political newcomers who are part of the team led by Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

Three-term MP Ang Wei Neng and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Finance and Education Shawn Huang round out the five-member slate.

As one of the younger members of the PAP’s slate this election, Ms Lee also said she hopes to speak up for other young people if elected. 

“I think it is very important for young people to participate in the conversation – to support the national leadership so that Singapore can look like the Singapore we would like to see when we are seniors, or when our children are growing up.

Another area she is passionate about is helping Singapore’s senior citizens, Ms Lee said.

When she was a 23-year-old undergraduate, her father was diagnosed with cancer. He later died. 

She said: “The experience taught me how important it is to ensure that our seniors get to age in place, age with dignity, and receive quality care, and I hope to be able to do more for all the seniors around us as an ageing society.”

Ms Lee’s first experiences with the PAP began when she was a child, as her mother is a long-time party volunteer. 

She said: “As a little girl, I would follow behind her as she volunteered for community events. Later on, as a teenager, I volunteered in my own capacity, and I started in Yuhua.”

Ms Lee first began volunteering with the PAP at 17, under Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu – the incumbent MP who has represented Yuhua SMC since 2011. 

“I have learnt that serving is really about caring for our residents and putting ourselves in their shoes to think one or two steps ahead for them,” said Ms Lee. 

With recent changes to electoral boundaries, the Yuhua single seat has been folded into the newly created

Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.

In April, Ms Lee was introduced as a member of the PAP’s Jurong East-Bukit Batok team by Ms Fu, who anchors the new group representation constituency. 

But she was not on the slate when the team was formally introduced at a press conference on April 14. 

On her move, she said: “There have been some changes. I have been asked to join the team here in West Coast-Jurong West and, in particular, Ayer Rajah. 

“So, I have started walking the ground, and I have participated in community events as well as doing house visits.”

The new West Coast-Jurong West GRC comprises the wards of Boon Lay, Nanyang, West Coast, Ayer Rajah-Gek Poh and Taman Jurong, and parts of Jurong Spring.

Ms Lee added that residents have been warm, and there is strong support from the team.

She also said she is thankful to her predecessor, three-term MP Foo Mee Har, who has done a lot of work on the ground and given her lots of guidance. 

To her, being an MP is also about helping national policies reach people on the ground.

She said: “MPs play an important role in making sure that the policies reach the residents in the right way, and it helps them do the last-mile delivery to the residents.”

Ms Lee, who was working in the public service before joining EY in 2023, said: “I think it is very meaningful to volunteer in this capacity, or to serve in this capacity, and that is why, when asked, I stepped forward to serve.”

On moving from Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC to West Coast-Jurong West GRC, which observers have said could be a keenly fought constituency, Ms Lee said there is definitely some pressure.

She said: “In fact, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong expects the entire Singapore, or this entire election, to be hotly contested.”

She added that while she is new there, the PAP team has put in a lot of effort over the last five years, through improvements to the estate’s infrastructure and through social programmes.

She said: “I believe that their work speaks for itself. The best that we can do is just to do our best and let the voters decide.”