New town, new boundaries: Tengah goes to the polls in GE2025

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SINGAPORE – Spend an hour in Tengah and you will start to understand the jokes on the @tengah.memes Instagram account. Daily life is indeed sound-tracked by the constant hum of construction, cars suddenly lose all regard for the time-honoured rules of the zebra crossing, and buses take “an eternity” to come. 

Singapore’s newest town is bordered on one side by the Bukit Batok neighbourhood, and a forest on the other. Here, in the shadow of the half-built MRT line, Tengah’s 8,000 residents live, eat and work – or rather, travel to work – with acclimatised equanimity. 

Questions about what life is like on this fringe of civilisation are met with polite smiles and the recurrent refrain, “It’s still a work in progress.” 

There are certain things they love about their sparkling new estate, which still smells faintly of fresh paint. “It’s very clean, and there are lots of plants and trees,” says one Mr Foo, who, like several people who spoke with The Straits Times, did not want to give his full name.

The 30-year-old IT engineer moved in a year ago – not entirely out of choice, he conceded – and lives in Plantation District, former farmland now dotted with community plots.

Fellow resident Sakthi, 30, also enjoys its unique calm. “Not that many people have moved in yet, so we can still enjoy the estate in this quieter state.”

He is interrupted by the loud wail of a nearby drill, but good-naturedly brushes it off. “I’ve learnt to tune it out. It’s an inevitable part of improving the neighbourhood, so we just have to accept it.” 

Other highlights include the playgrounds (with veritable works of art shaped like insects, fruits and other curiosities), gym and the district’s only shopping centre, Plantation Plaza.

“(The mall) wasn’t here when I moved in six months ago, so this is already much better,” says accountant Cathy Wu, 34, whose son is off conquering an adjacent playground’s slides and swings.

While Tengah undergoes its own steady metamorphosis, the rest of Singapore hurtles towards transformation alongside it. Changes to electoral boundaries ahead of the May 3 election have rejigged the municipal make-up of the country’s various constituencies.

Tengah itself was previously part of Hong Kah North SMC but has been absorbed into Chua Chu Kang GRC following the

shift in electoral boundaries in March

, spurred in part by the proliferation of public housing developments. With the influx of new residents, the nascent town is now too big to remain in a single member constituency.

Issues like cost of living and housing affordability may have been hogging headlines, but here in Tengah, residents are more preoccupied with the hyperlocal: transport connectivity, the state of their amenities, and estate management.

“The Koufu (food court) really cannot make it,” grouses Maggie, a dentist who declines to provide her last name or age. She started work at a clinic in Plantation Plaza in February and has already exhausted all her lunch options. “There’s lots of fast food, but we can’t keep eating that.” 

With a shrug, student Ms Chan says of the estate: “It’s a bit boring.”

What does the 19-year-old do on the weekends? “I usually just stay at home.” And does she have any recommendations for things to do in her backyard? “No.” 

Then there are the infrastructural problems. Complaints about the

problematic centralised air-conditioning

and poor mobile connectivity seem to have died down, but some residents still have gripes about the district’s layout. 

Mr Eugene Koo, 51, for one, has had it with the rainy season.

“This area is flooded half the time,” he laments, pointing at the walkway linking Plantation Plaza to the opposite blocks. “And there are always so many mosquitoes.” 

Ms Wu adds: “My friends always say that my house is very ulu, and when they come at night, it’s all dark. So they don’t visit me very often.”

Getting out poses its own set of challenges too. Tengah’s four bus services can get a little congested at times, and Grab drivers aren’t exactly champing at the bit to accept jobs in this part of town. Mr Sakthi, for instance, often has to endure four or five rejections before his app finally finds him a driver. 

As they count down to Polling Day, the educator and his neighbours are hoping a fresh administration brings with it new improvements – better roads and more childcare options, to name a few. 

Tengah residents are the type “to mind their own business”, according to resident Patrick Sen, 43. “We don’t have high expectations – we just want somebody that can build up the infrastructure here.”

Although most residents ST spoke to on the Saturday before Polling Day have yet to meet the PAP or PSP candidates

contesting in Chua Chu Kang GRC

, the campaign has left its mark – fliers have been distributed around the estate and posters strung up on every other lamp post. 

“There’s a real sense of anticipation for what’s to come, especially with malls and more schools on the way,” says Ms Shan, a 30-something mother of one. She added that she is “very neutral” about the election, so long as the winning party resolves any issues that crop up. 

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was upbeat on March 22, telling residents

at the official opening of Tengah Community Club

that the district is on the up and up. 

“In another few years’ time, I’m sure this will be even better. It will be like Punggol, if not better than Punggol,” he pronounced. In the meantime, he called on residents to strengthen their community bonds so they can “develop a stronger sense of identity and thrive”.

While Mr Foo and Mr Koo have not spoken much to their neighbours, Ms Shan finds the community here “warm and supportive”. 

“Even though it’s in development, there’s already a strong sense of community, and it doesn’t feel as dense or hectic as more mature estates. I especially love my ‘Tengah mummies kampung’ – we have play dates at our playgrounds, hang out during weekends, and share and help each other whenever someone needs it.” 

She does her bit for her kampung by running group buys, consolidating orders for food items like Nuyolk eggs and Rich & Good Swiss rolls from residents via Telegram, and liaising with suppliers. 

“I started the Tengah Groupbuy because I felt there weren’t a lot of food options around, especially when we first moved in. It’s been a fun way to satisfy cravings and build up the community along the way.”

Likewise, residents like Mr Sen and his wife Chong Yee Teng, 39, have stepped up to plug what they perceive to be a gap in the community. The couple run Simply Acai, a home-based business supplying the dessert-deficient neighbourhood with superfood bowls. 

“We realised there was no acai shop here when we moved in in the middle of last year. This is our passion, and since this is supposed to be a green estate, we thought why not make it a healthy one too,” says Mr Sen, a safety officer.

Business has yet to take off – when they started in September 2024, the couple were selling just one or two bowls a day – but this has grown to five to 10 bowls a day as neighbours have been lending their support.

As it turns out, they were not the only ones with this idea.

“We realised there were all sorts of home-based businesses doing different trades in our neighbourhood,” observes Ms Chong, a leasing manager. “Zi char, lok lok, even a bakery. It’s how we compensate for the lack of food options.” 

For now, it remains an after-hours side hustle run out of their Plantation District kitchen. But one day, they hope to open a store and join the crop of budding businesses finding their footing – with a little help from their new MP – on Singapore’s north-western frontier.