GE2025: Retaining Bishan-Toa Payoh, Marymount boundaries helps reduce uncertainty, says Chee Hong Tat

SINGAPORE – With Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Marymount SMC retaining their shape in the latest boundary changes, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat has noted that this helps lower the uncertainty for those serving in the area.

Speaking to The Straits Times during a visit to Bishan North Shopping Mall on March 16, he said: “The boundaries not changing, for both Bishan-Toa Payoh and Marymount, certainly reduces the amount of uncertainty and changes on the ground.”

Mr Chee, an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, added: “For us, it may not be a change in the boundary, but (there will be) an inflow of new residents.

“That’s why my team and I will continue to focus on how we can rejuvenate our town continuously to improve the facilities, to improve the services, so that Bishan-Toa Payoh and Marymount can remain a good home for residents of all ages.”

Based on the

recent Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) report,

there are 98,505 electors now in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, whose other MPs are Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Mr Saktiandi Supaat and Mr Chong Kee Hiong, compared with 100,036 in 2020.

There are 23,219 electors now in Marymount SMC, compared with 23,439 electors in 2020.

Mr Chee noted that new housing developments are coming up in the area, including new Build-To-Order (BTO) projects in Bishan-Toa Payoh, as well as in the new Mount Pleasant estate.

About 1,500 flats under the first BTO project in Mount Pleasant will be launched in October, National Development Minister Desmond Lee said in Parliament on March 5. 

The 33ha housing estate on the site of the Old Police Academy will eventually have about 5,000 flats in six BTO projects.

When asked whether he is ramping up engagements following the release of the EBRC report, Mr Chee said his team will continue engagements and visits.

The team has been ramping up activities since the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted, expanding activities and engagements with both Housing Board and private estate residents, he added.

Ahead of the next general election, which must take place by November, Mr Chee, who has been in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC since 2015, reiterated his hopes to remain in the group representation constituency, but said the team will leave it to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to decide who will be fielded in the GRC, as well as in Marymount SMC.

“Regardless of the composition of the team, what will remain is our commitment to our residents,” he added.

Mr Chong, who has also been in the GRC since 2015, said while he would step up to serve at any constituency his party asks him to serve in, it is more effective and efficient, with an existing team of volunteers, to remain at the same constituency.

On the boundaries of the GRC remaining the same, he said: “You still have to focus on the needs of the residents, which are evolving rapidly. Residents are ageing, people are living longer – that is a good thing. So we need to have more activities to cater to them.”

Minister of State for Education and Manpower Gan Siow Huang, who represents Marymount SMC, said it is good that its boundary has remained intact, allowing her team to have some stability and continuity in its plans.

Marymount SMC was carved out of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC before the 2020 General Election.

Also hopeful of remaining in the same ward, Ms Gan said: “It took us a lot of time and effort to build a new team, to create an identity among our community, with the volunteers as well as with the residents, being part of this new constituency.”

When asked about the recent disruptions during Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) that made the news, Ms Gan said the issues raised by

the two women who went to Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam’s session

are important, but they should be raised at alternative forums as residents who are in need are the priority in such sessions.

In a video posted on Mr Shanmugam’s Facebook page on March 13, two women wearing shirts with the names of journalists killed in Gaza on the back are shown approaching him to talk about Singapore’s fake news law – the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.

At one point, they show onlookers the middle finger and shout at the minister when he walks away to attend to his duties.

All three MPs that ST spoke to in Bishan said they have not experienced such disruptions.

Noting that it is important to be calm in discussions of sensitive topics, Mr Chee said: “It’s not helpful to resort to measures like using inappropriate language, hand gestures, disrupting MPS, which are necessary for many residents who are seeking help from the MP.”