GE2025: A ‘super-believer’ in out-of-the-box solutions: PSP’s Sani Ismail eager to rejuvenate West Coast-Jurong West
The first-time candidate and former PAP Youth Wing member is in the A-team alongside founder Tan Cheng Bock
[SINGAPORE] It has been less than a year since Sani Ismail joined the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), but he is already making his electoral debut – alongside the opposition party’s A-team, no less.
Contesting in West Coast-Jurong West Group GRC, Sani joins PSP heavyweights Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Non-Constituency Members of Parliament Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa, as well as fellow first-timer Sumarleki Amjah.
The 49-year-old, who joined PSP in September last year, told The Business Times in an interview that he was happy to be called up by the party to be a candidate.
“I felt that it gave me the platform that I was looking for to be able to serve. It was also recognition from the party for my efforts in terms of reaching out to the residents of the constituencies,” he said.
While he is nervous about his first electoral outing, Sani – who described himself as a “people’s person” – says he has enjoyed conducting walkabouts and door-to-door visits on the campaign trail so far.
“It excites me so much to meet the residents that at the end of the day when I get home, I still can’t sleep because the adrenaline is still pumping.”
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Drawing on his experience abroad
Sani, who moved to the UK in 1996 to pursue a law degree, said that his work experience overseas has made him a “super-believer” of out-of-the-box solutions.
He held several senior executive roles during his 17 years in the UK, including as chief executive officer of a security firm where he revamped operations amid a labour crunch.
He introduced technology to cut reliance on manpower and retrained staff to support the company’s backend functions.
SEE ALSO
Sani also worked at one of the UK’s regional development agencies (RDAs), which were public bodies that drove economic development across different localities. One of his main responsibilities was helping to revitalise South Yorkshire’s infrastructure and public services to attract new businesses, following a spike in unemployment after coal mines were shut in the county.
As part of the RDA task force, he helped develop strategies to create jobs and ensure residents possessed the skills needed by incoming businesses. His team introduced a training programme that provided job seekers with guaranteed placements upon completion, ensuring they could move directly into employment.
Sani said that if elected, he hopes to draw on his vast work experience to improve the lives of residents in West Coast-Jurong West. Among the key issues he wishes to address are jobs and work-life balance for residents.
His ideas include helping residents find jobs with short travel times of under 30 minutes so that they can have better work-life balance. One way this could be done is to encourage businesses to be located within the constituency, or match residents with jobs that are located nearby.
Beyond job fairs which simply provide information on job availability, Sani also wants businesses to provide job training programmes for residents so that they can gain skills that are directly relevant to the business itself.
“So it’s not just about job matching, but also in terms of looking at the eco-system for the employee holistically,” he said.
He also wants to rejuvenate the “tired” amenities in areas such as Taman Jurong. He proposed creating areas where seniors can network, such as a park for bird enthusiasts to gather.
On the campaign trail
Sani, who is the managing director of a firm specialising in condo and facilities management, shared that this is not his first foray into politics.
He had been an active member of the ruling People’s Action Party youth wing before he left for the UK. However, his time abroad showed that people with differing views could “sit around the same table” and have discussions with the common objective of enhancing policies for citizens, said Sani.
He eventually joined the PSP at the request of a friend, who was also a party member. Sani added that he was also inspired to do so by the party’s co-founder, Dr Tan, who had come out of retirement to contest in the last election in 2020.
Working the ground alongside Dr Tan, a former PAP MP of 26 years, has taught him how to connect with residents and reflect on how best to support them as a parliamentarian, said Sani.
With polling day looming on May 3, BT asked Sani how he was handling the pressure of being in his first election – especially as part of the PSP’s A-team in a constituency that saw the tightest contest five years ago.
“Pressure is always there in anything you do. But fortunately for me, I work best when I’m under pressure,” he said.
For more election coverage, visit our GE2025 microsite
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
