GE2025: WP wins Sengkang GRC with 56.31%, a wider margin than in 2020
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SINGAPORE - The Workers' Party has strengthened its hold over Sengkang GRC, winning 56.31 per cent of the vote share against the People's Action Party - a wider margin than that during the 2020 election.
Its comfortable victory entrenches the opposition party's grasp over north-east Singapore, with Sengkang GRC looking likely to become a WP stronghold alongside neighbouring Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC.
Incumbent MPs He Ting Ru, 41, Jamus Lim, 49, and Louis Chua, 37, and new candidate Abdul Muhaimin, 36, took 66,383 of the valid ballots cast on May 3.
They beat a refreshed PAP slate led by eye doctor Lam Pin Min, 55, which got 43.69 per cent, or 51,505 votes. The other members are political newcomers Elmie Nekmat, 43; Bernadette Giam, 38, and Theodora Lai, 39.
The 2025 election was deemed by political observers to have been the ruling party's best chance of reclaiming the four-member constituency, given that it had been in WP hands for just a term following 2020's electoral upset when the team in blue won with 52.12 per cent.
Instead, the WP improved its vote share in Sengkang GRC by four points.
This is set against what appears to be a nation-wide vote swing towards the PAP, though WP-held constituencies held constant or even improved on their margins.
At Bedok Stadium where teams of PAP candidates and supporters gathered, the mood among the Sengkang contingent was one of resignation - a sharp contrast to the rest of the crowd armed with banners, LED signs and air horns. The candidates declined to speak to the media ahead of the announcement of the official results, while one party volunteer told The Straits Times: 'We tried our best. The voters have spoken.'
The triumphant WP delegation meanwhile at Serangoon Stadium exchanged ebullient hugs and took photos. Among the supporters was first-time voter and NUS undergraduate Wesley Tan, 25, who said: 'I'm proud of the Sengkang residents for this result.'
He added that he has a good impression of the team, especially Prof Lim, as they are active on the ground.
The outcome suggests that Sengkang residents were little affected by the scandal that rocked the WP, when former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan resigned from her party and her post in November 2021 after admitting to lying in Parliament.
It also will be fodder for any review of the PAP's strategy for how it can win back GRCs; Sengkang was the second GRC that the ruling party lost to the WP, after Aljunied in 2011.
The PAP team in Sengkang was considered to have had an outside chance of wresting the constituency back, given how Dr Lam - a former senior minister of state and a familiar face to residents after 14 years as an MP and five as a grassroots adviser - had stayed on to fight the battle. He was bolstered by a team of young professionals that mirror the constituents' profile and who have mainly been on the ground since 2021. Sengkang has a higher-than-average share of younger voters aged 21 to 45.
A key PAP argument during the nine-day campaign - that the constituency, where nearly 85 per cent of residents live in HDB flats, was suffering from slipping standards of cleanliness and upkeep - also failed to gain traction. At its only rally on May 1, the candidates cited residents' frustrations with unreliable lifts, multi-storey carparks in poor condition, and pest infestations in the neighbourhood.
The incumbent WP MPs defended their track record at multiple rallies, noting, for instance, that Sengkang Town Council had achieved the top banding for estate cleanliness and maintenance in the Ministry of National Development's town council management report since the WP took over.
During the hustings, they also touted their contributions in Parliament, with Ms He, Prof Lim and Mr Chua among the top 10 most active backbenchers during the 14th term.
'We have spoken up on matters that ring close to the hearts of the people of Sengkang,' Prof Lim said at an April 24 rally held in his ward of Anchorvale.
On the campaign trail, the WP MPs pledged to be sensitive to the needs of the many young families in Sengkang, saying they will push for educational reform such as smaller class sizes and more childcare leave if re-elected.
The PAP had similarly focused on courting them, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong promising that the Government would do everything it can to support young parents when he visited the constituency on March 17, after the electoral boundaries were drawn.
He later returned to Sengkang to deliver a speech at the May 1 rally, urging voters to give the PAP team a second chance and to judge them on their character.
PAP's Dr Lam reiterated during the hustings that the PAP's candidates this time were younger and gender-balanced, with two working mothers in Mrs Giam and Ms Lai on the team.
The new line-up was the result of a post-mortem conducted after the defeat in 2020, when the party fielded an all-male slate led by labour chief and former Cabinet minister Ng Chee Meng.
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For Tunku, it was a warning: Malay voters on the island were not reliably UMNO supporters. In 1964, PAP broke another informal pledge by contesting 11 mainland seats in Malaysia's general election. Only Devan Nair won — in Bangsar — but the move was seen as a direct challenge to UMNO's political dominance. 1964: Riots and mistrust Relations soured further with the 21 July 1964 racial riots in Singapore. Scores were killed, hundreds injured, and mutual trust eroded. Dr Thum notes that Lee, who had once used racial arguments to push for merger, now began championing a 'Malaysian Malaysia' — equal rights regardless of race. For UMNO leaders, this reversal appeared opportunistic and threatening. In December 1964, during a golf game, Tunku proposed to Goh Keng Swee a looser federation: Singapore would leave Malaysia's Parliament but still pay for defence and surrender control over Malay affairs on the island. Goh rejected the terms as politically unacceptable. 1965: A choice takes shape By mid-1965, the political relationship was beyond repair. In June, Lee delivered his 'Malaysia for Malaysians' speech at the Malaysian Solidarity Convention, earning his wife Kwa Geok Choo's praise but further alienating UMNO. In July, while recovering from illness in London, Tunku decided Singapore must leave. On 15 July, Malaysian ministers Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman and Ja'afar Albar met Goh in Kuala Lumpur. The meeting began as a criticism of Lee but turned into a proposal for separation. Goh agreed in principle, warning that delay would only strengthen Lee's position. Only Lee, Goh, Law Minister E.W. Barker, and Finance Minister Lim Kim San were aware. On 26 July, Goh arrived with a handwritten note from Lee authorising him to negotiate. Barker began drafting the separation agreement. Risk and secrecy The talks carried enormous personal risk. If they failed, Goh and Barker could be charged with sedition under Malaysia's constitution. One telephone conversation between Goh and Lee was conducted in halting Mandarin to keep the operator from understanding. On 3 August, Tun Abdul Razak presented Tunku's conditions: Singapore must contribute to Malaysia's defence budget and avoid foreign defence pacts. Goh sidestepped these points, saying Singapore lacked resources to build a military. By 6 August, the draft was nearly final. That night, Goh and Barker travelled to Kuala Lumpur to complete the deal. They negotiated late into the night. When Barker returned, Lee reportedly thanked him for delivering 'a bloodless coup'. Cabinet resistance On 7 August, Lee revealed the plan to the PAP Cabinet. Opposition came from Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam and Deputy Prime Minister Toh Chin Chye, who saw separation as a betrayal of Sabah and Sarawak allies. 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The loss of promised development funds for Borneo was cited as a blow, but cooperation had already been minimal. Singapore's commitment to a M$150 million loan was conditional on labour access for Borneo — a point never agreed. Economic ties, however, could not be severed easily. While tariffs and quotas on Malaysian goods caused initial animosity, both governments recognised their interdependence. A 'common market' remained possible, and many businessmen were optimistic trade relations could be repaired if politics stayed out of the way. Nation-building in Singapore For Lee, independence meant both a political victory and a new challenge. Dr Thum notes that Lee had to abandon the Malayan identity he had championed since 1959 and instead emphasise a distinct Singaporean identity. Policies shifted towards English and Chinese as dominant languages, while Malay remained the national language in name. Economically, Singapore moved towards an open, export-driven model, free from Kuala Lumpur's protectionist policies. Sixty years later Today, Singapore marks its 60th National Day with a clearer understanding of 1965's events. The separation was not a sudden ejection but the outcome of covert manoeuvres, calculated risks, and political trade-offs. It was, in Lee's words, a 'bloodless coup' — and one that set both nations on divergent but enduringly connected paths.
