‘In good company’: New Nee Soon MPs not afraid to ask questions, view Shanmugam as ‘fatherly figure’

SINGAPORE – Several weeks after GE2025, the four first-term MPs in Nee Soon GRC received an e-mail from their anchor minister K. Shanmugam telling them to slow down.

Mr Shanmugam – who is Coordinating Minister for National Security and a nine-term MP – had noticed two of his rookies replying to e-mails deep into the night and warned them that this was not sustainable.

“Being an MP is a marathon,” he told Mr Jackson Lam, Ms Lee Hui Ying, Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi and Ms Goh Hanyan, who were all elected under the PAP banner at the May 2025 polls.

It was not the first time Mr Shanmugam had seen his new MPs replying to e-mails late at night.

He told The Straits Times in a group interview with the entire Nee Soon team on May 7 that an MP must get to know people and work on issues in the constituency, but if they are dealing with things and responding every day at 1am or 2am, they will burn out – “Rome wasn’t built in a day”.

When burnout happens, they are not of any use to themselves, their families or their constituents, he said.

“My own assessment is therefore (it is) better to have a good pace, but a steady pace, and always keep in mind the different things that you’re doing, and there is a difference between what’s urgent and what’s important.”

And sometimes the urgent has to be done, sometimes the most important thing, he said.

Nee Soon was the only GRC to field an entirely new slate alongside an anchor minister at the last election. The four were among 32 new faces that PAP fielded at that election – the largest batch since the 1990s.

The team said running the constituency together means a combination of physical engagement, including walking the ground together, as well as managing their own wards. They hold structured meetings every few months to discuss plans for the constituency and are in constant contact through other channels like e-mail and WhatsApp.

In some ways, it has been a boon to have four new faces in one GRC, said Ms Goh, who was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth, and Sustainability and the Environment after the polls.

She said: “We have questions that we can ask each other and are not afraid to do so because we’re in good company.”

She added that Mr Shanmugam has been very patient and has given them good direction.

Mr Shanmugam is a “fatherly figure” to the new MPs, said Ms Lee, who is director of communications at Temasek Foundation. Ms Lee is 37, while Ms Goh is 40. Dr Syed Harun is 40, Mr Lam is 41 and Mr Shanmugam is 67.

The new MPs have also been settling into Parliament, some after many years of working behind the scenes in politics.

Said Mr Lam when asked about finding his voice in the House: “I always bring up issues that concern my residents. That’s most important.”

He was previously Mr Shanmugam’s PAP branch secretary and had been volunteering with the party for about 15 years.

Ms Lee also volunteered in Nee Soon for over 15 years before standing for election. She added that as an MP she gets to meet various organisations in Nee Soon and raise their concerns.

Ms Lee has asked more than 40 questions in Parliament on issues ranging from animal welfare to plastic waste, while Mr Lam has asked more than 30 on topics such as crime and assistance for delivery riders.

Their colleagues assumed office soon after the polls – Ms Goh in May 2025, and Dr Syed Harun, who was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development and Education in October 2025.

Dr Syed Harun said his work as an MP has helped his job in the ministries, with feedback from residents informing his policy work.

“I think that in terms of the breadth and depth of our exchanges, from resident to policy, has been quite beautiful and enlightening,” he added.

The role of an MP today has expanded compared with the past, said Mr Shanmugam, who was first elected in 1988 to represent Chong Pang, which was then under Sembawang GRC.

Expectations are much higher now, and people can connect with MPs in seconds today with technology, he noted. “The framework within which you operate is much more demanding.”

The five of them have an easygoing relationship and often joke with one another, he said, adding that what is crucial for the team to function is respect between him as the senior MP and minister, and the new MPs.

“If I insist on something, of course it will happen, but if I keep insisting, then it’s not a team.

“So I need to know enough and have enough common sense to take the wisdom of the different ideas of what can and cannot be done,” said Mr Shanmugam.