GE2025: Shanmugam to lead fresh PAP team to contest Nee Soon GRC
[SINGAPORE] Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam will helm a refreshed PAP team consisting of four political newcomers to contest Nee Soon GRC in the May 3 general election.
The four new faces in the five-member team are former Nominated MP Syed Harun Alhabsyi, 40; Jackson Lam, 40, head of a pest control and cleaning company; Lee Hui Ying, 36, who works for Temasek Foundation; and Goh Hanyan, 39, a former director at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI).
Introducing the lineup on Monday (Apr 21), Shanmugam – who has been MP for the Chong Pang ward within the group representation constituency for the last 37 years – said the new team brings a range of experience to bear, and also has potential office-holders.
“I would say this is a very balanced, but very young, youthful slate – except for me – because there is a mix of skills and talents: two potential office holders who can perform in helping govern the country as a whole, and who also have good service experience, two candidates with a lot of grassroots experience,” said Shanmugam.
Asked about the significant turnover in the slate – with two one-term MPs no longer part of the team – Shanmugam said that all four newcomers may be young, but they are quite experienced in their own way.
For instance, Lee and Lam have a combined experience of more than 30 years in handling municipal matters, he noted.
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“Thereis confidence that when we say we have looked at them…looked at the potential, looked at their credentials, looked at what the track record is, we think that people will understand and give them that chance,” the minister added.
Lam is a director of a cleaning service and pest control company, and stepped down as PAP branch chairman in Hougang in February. He grew up in Yishun, and served the community as branch secretary for Chong Pang for seven years, from 2017 to 2023.
The father of twin boys said he is a Yishun resident who has worked with neighbourhood clans, religious organisations, merchants and other communities since he started volunteering in Chong Pang in 2013.
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Shanmugam said Lam has deep networks in Yishun which would help him to tackle issues raised by residents.
Meanwhile, Dr Syed Harun is a consultant psychiatrist at the Starfish Clinic of Psychiatry & Mental Wellness, the president of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday Memorial Scholarship Fund and council member of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.
Dr Syed Harun said he earnestly hopes to serve the residents, his community and his country, as that is part of his identity and who he is.
“It has been the way I have lived my life as a student, as a doctor, as a psychiatrist, as a community volunteer in service of others,” he said. “Through being elected, my hope is to serve the needs of my residents in Nee Soon, to bring forward the hopes and aspirations of my community.”
Shanmugam said Dr Syed Harun’s work in handling Malay-Muslim community issues will make him a valuable addition to the team.
Goh was most recently a director in the Smart Nation Strategy Office and the national artificial intelligence group for policy and strategy at MDDI.
She said she spent many years working on economic issues and negotiating with companies to create jobs for Singaporeans amid concerns over the rising cost of living and job insecurity.
Goh said: “I hope to bring to bear my experience as our country navigating these shifts and to address these concerns that are very real and valid.”
Shanmugam said he had “high hopes” for Goh, who, along with Dr Syed Harun, have the potential to be office-holders.
Before her entry into politics, Lee grew up in Nee Soon and has been a volunteer in the area for over 15 years.
She is currently the communications director at Temasek Foundation and has also worked in similar roles in the private, public and philanthropic sectors, including the Digital Development and Information, Transport and Health ministries.
At the last election in 2020, the PAP fielded a team in Nee Soon GRC consisting of Shanmugam, Minister of State Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Louis Ng, Derrick Goh and Carrie Tan. They won with 61.9 per cent of the vote against the Progress Singapore Party.
Associate Professor Faishal is standing for re-election at Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. Shanmugam said the status of the other incumbent Nee Soon MPs will be addressed at a later date.
Shanmugam’s PAP team will go up against opposition party Red Dot United’s team, led by party secretary-general Ravi Philemon, who is the managing partner of a media business.
PAP’s Sembawang team unveiled in social media video
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung took to social media on Monday to unveil the PAP team in Sembawang GRC, including two new faces.
A video uploaded on his Facebook page, captioned “5 individuals, 1 team. A Sembawang for Everyone”, featured Ong with incumbent MPs Vikram Nair and Mariam Jaafar, along with two new face Gabriel Lam and Ng Shi Xuan.
Ong, however, did not say explicitly that this would be the team contesting the constituency. A three-way fight is shaping up at Sembawang GRC with the Singapore Democratic Party and the National Solidarity Party throwing their hats in the ring. THE STRAITS TIMES
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