GE2025: PAP’s Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC slate to be helmed by Grace Fu
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PAP's candidate for Jurong Central SMC, Mr Xie Yao Quan (far left), and the team for Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC (from second left), Ms Grace Fu, Mr Murali Pillai, Ms Rahayu Mahzam, Mr Lee Hong Chuang and Mr David Hoe, at Jurong-Clementi Town Council on April 14.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
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SINGAPORE – Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu will helm the PAP team to contest the newly formed Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC in the general election.
The five-member team will include political newcomer David Hoe
Mr Hoe is the director of philanthropy at The Majurity Trust, while Mr Lee is the former branch chairman of the PAP’s Hougang division.
The other two incumbents besides Ms Fu, 61, are Minister of State for Law and Transport Murali Pillai, 57, and Minister of State for Health and Digital Development and Information Rahayu Mahzam, 44.
The PAP will field first-term MP Xie Yao Quan, 40, in the new Jurong Central SMC. Mr Xie has been representing the Jurong Central ward in Jurong GRC since he was elected in 2020.
Introducing the PAP slate at a press conference on April 14, Ms Fu said her diverse and dedicated team of men and women from their 30s to 60s, with backgrounds spanning education, law, youth development, women’s matters, family matters and community, can offer residents “energy, experience and empathy”.
Ms Fu had been tipped to lead the PAP team in the new group representation constituency, which includes most of Yuhua SMC.
She has represented Yuhua since 2006, when the ward was part of Jurong GRC. It was subsequently carved out as a single seat in 2011 and remained a single-member constituency in the 2015 and 2020 general elections.
The core of Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC
Besides absorbing most of Yuhua, the new GRC will also take in all of Bukit Batok SMC – where Mr Murali is the incumbent MP – and parts of Hong Kah North SMC, whose current MP is Dr Amy Khor. It has a total of 142,510 voters.
During the event held at Jurong-Clementi Town Council, Ms Fu thanked Dr Khor, who is also Senior Minister of State for Transport and Sustainability and the Environment, and Dr Tan for their service in the Hong Kah North and Clementi wards, respectively.
Dr Khor, whose Hong Kah North SMC was partially absorbed into Chua Chu Kang GRC, will not be contesting GE2025. The ward has been assigned to Mr Lee.
As for Dr Tan, he asked his Clementi residents on April 14 to support Mr Hoe as they had supported him in the last 10 years.
As to where he will be going, Dr Tan said in his Facebook post: “In life, I go where I am needed most. And I hope to be able to share more with all of you very soon.”
Since April 12, PAP has been unveiling its candidates for various constituencies ahead of the general election. More such introductions are expected in the coming days.
Mr Hoe is a former teacher who spent some years in the private sector before taking on his current role at The Majurity Trust, a registered charity that provides advice and grants to other charities, and creates solutions to tackle social issues.
Mr Lee, who works in an information technology multinational corporation, has been a party activist at Teck Ghee branch since 2004 and later served as Hougang branch chairman from 2014 to 2023.
Ms Fu was asked why PAP new face Cassandra Lee, a long-time grassroots volunteer who was previously introduced at Jurong-Clementi Town Council’s five-year masterplan launch, was not part of the line-up.
In response, she said Ms Lee has been a community leader in the Yuhua division for many years but will have to wait for her “deployment decision at a later time”.
On leading a team in an area where the PAP has historically performed well, Ms Fu said: “We never go into an election thinking it is an easy win. Never. Every election is a serious contest for us.”
Ms Fu said her team has “many big shoes to fill” as President Tharman Shanmugaratnam is highly popular and well respected in Jurong GRC.
Mr Tharman was the anchor minister in the constituency for more than 20 years, with the PAP team there winning 79.29 per cent of the vote in the 2015 General Election and 74.61 per cent in 2020.
“It will be very difficult for any one of us to replace him and we don’t intend to. We are ourselves. We have a team with diversity, youth with energy and many backgrounds... Going in (to the election), we’re asking for the affirmation and mandate of voters sincerely and respectfully,” she said.
Members of Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC’s slate and Jurong Central SMC’s Mr Xie took turns to speak about their plans for the constituency.
A political newcomer, Mr Hoe said he joined politics as he wanted to create opportunities for others as others have done for him and to “pay it forward”.
His parents divorced when he was young and he grew up with his mother, who became blind after an operation.
Mr Hoe said he sold tissue paper with her at various coffee shops to make a living.
He had little time or resources for academic pursuits and was in the then Normal (Technical) stream in secondary school.
“Truth is, it was a long journey to become a teacher, and the journey would not have been possible without the many people who believed in me and created opportunities for me to realise this aspiration,” he said.
Mr Lee, a former national gymnast, said he grew up in the west of Singapore, so it is an area that is familiar to him.
He plans to implement more family-centric programmes to nurture greater bonds between families and the community and take care of the overall well-being of young people and seniors.
Mr Murali, who started in Bukit Batok as a volunteer in 2000 and became its MP in 2016, said he is aware of the worries on the ground, which include economic concerns, employment issues and the vibrancy of local businesses.
“To deal with all these effectively, we need sound leadership grounded in values and principles. More than ever, a strong government is needed,” he said.
Ms Rahayu, who has represented the Bukit Batok East ward since 2015, said that while the Jurong East-Bukit Batok slate is a new team, they will continue the dedication and commitment to their residents.
Mr Xie said: “In these last five years, I’ve walked the ground, listened deeply to residents and put my heart into all that I’ve done to serve the residents.” He has served as the chairman of Jurong-Clementi Town Council for the last five years.
Addressing Jurong West residents who are now part of Jurong Central SMC, Mr Xie said it was, in a way, a “homecoming” for him as he was a community volunteer in the area from 2015 to 2020.
