GE2025: Securing good jobs for S'poreans a key priority for PSP new face Sumarleki Amjah

Straits Times

21-04-2025

Mr Sumarleki Amjah is part of the PSP team led by party chairman Tan Cheng Bock contesting the newly formed West Coast-Jurong West GRC. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
Follow our live coverage here.
SINGAPORE - Helping Singaporeans get good jobs and ensuring their job security are top of the agenda for PSP new face Sumarleki Amjah, 53, who is part of the opposition party's A-team contesting West Coast-Jurong West GRC.
He highlighted three possible ways of achieving these aims: Proper calibration of the numbers of foreign talents in the workforce, upskilling citizens with the skills to thrive in a technologically advanced economy, and offering retrenchment benefits to those who have been let go of.
'Good jobs are the essence of a good life, especially in Singapore,' said Mr Sumarleki, who works at a multinational food and beverage firm as its head of packaged food and business development overseeing South-east Asia and the Middle East.
He was speaking to The Straits Times at Taman Jurong Shopping Mall on April 20, just hours after he was introduced as a PSP candidate contesting the GRC.
With rising costs of living and wages that have 'barely increased', Mr Sumarleki said middle-income earners – a group he hopes to champion if elected – do not receive enough support.
'These are the people who need help the most,' Mr Sumarleki said, pointing to how the salaries of many middle-income earners are not keeping pace with the rise in cost of living . He said that the most underprivileged residents are already receiving 'reasonable subsistence support' from the Government.
'The middle class forms the core of any nation. If we don't have a strong middle class, the nation will not prosper,' he said. 'We want to work together with the government to improve the system and the policies, so that the sandwiched middle class can be uplifted.'
For example, to ensure job security for Singaporeans, citizens should be prioritised for roles, he said. Foreign talent in the workforce must also be managed carefully to prevent locals from being unnecessa rily displaced from their jobs.
He added that the Government should also provide an economic direction for the country to identify growth industries so Singaporeans can secure those good jobs.
'We lack an overarching economic direction for the future,' Mr Sumarleki said. 'We have passed the industrialisation stage and we are going through the digitalisation phase and have to be ready for the artificial intelligence era. We have to future-proof the job prospects of our citizens first and foremost.'
He said he also wants to ensure that retrenched workers can get enough support to tide them through the transition period.
'If we don't have legislation on retrenchment benefits, it's going to be difficult for our workers, our fellow Singaporeans, when they get displaced to tide through that period from not having a job to getting a new job,' he said.
Without transitional support, retrenched workers may run into financial difficulties and 'spiral downwards', he added.
Mr Sumarleki graduated from NTU with a business degree in 1995 and has a Master of Business Administration from University of Manchester in the UK.
After graduation, he worked in different multinational companies, and now hopes to bring that experience to come up with solutions and policies to find good jobs for Singaporeans and tackle job security issues, he said.
Mr Sumarleki is part of the PSP team led by party chairman Tan Cheng Bock contesting the newly formed West Coast-Jurong West GRC.
He will be running along PSP's A-team, comprising the party's top three leaders – party chair Tan Cheng Bok, 84, party chief Leong Mun Wai, 65, and vice-chair Hazel Poa, 54 – as well as fellow new face Sani Ismail, 49.
Mr Sumarleki's foray into party politics began more than 10 years ago, after a non-governmental organisation he wanted to set up failed to take off.
In 2013, Mr Sumarleki and his friends had planned to set up an organisation to call for equal opportunities for jobs among Singaporeans, after some of them were retrenched. But it did not come to fruition and he decided to join the Workers' Party as a volunteer in 2014, he said.
Individuals can contribute to society in their own ways, but joining politics is the best way to bring about change and help people, he said.
Mr Sumarleki, who is a single parent of a 21-year-old son, said politics took a backseat at that time, as he had to care for his son and was also travelling often for work.
Party chief Mr Leong approached him in April 2024, and Mr Sumarleki thought it was time for him to get involved in politics to give back to the society. He joined the party in May 2024.
Mr Sumarleki also hopes to speak for the Malay community and ensure their views are taken into account in policymaking.
He hopes to address three main issues in the Malay community: to have more fair and equal job opportunities, to build a network for business and educational excellence among the Malay community , and create funds for start-ups and micro financing for small businesses.
Outside of work and politics, he is a long-time Silat practitioner and even set up the Macan Association - which has eight silat clubs under its umbrella - in 1998. Mr Sumarleki, who started learning Silat at the age of 10, serves as the president of the association.
He added that the Silat community is also an avenue for him to be in touch with people i n t he community.
On why he decided to join politics, he said: 'The best way for us is to offer ourselves, put up ourselves as candidates for alternative parties, so that we can raise the unfiltered issues and concerns of our citizens in Parliament, and hopefully the government will listen.
'I believe that a life well-lived is a life of sacrifice.'
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.