GE2025: PAP's Liang Eng Hwa retains Bukit Panjang with 61.41% in rematch against SDP's Paul Tambyah

Straits Times

03-05-2025

SINGAPORE - Incumbent PAP MP for Bukit Panjang SMC Mr Liang Eng Hwa successfully defended his seat with 61.41 per cent of the votes, fending off familiar rival Professor Paul Tambyah of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
Mr Liang won in a closely-watched rematch against Prof Tambyah, with a notable vote share increase compared to the 2020 election, where Mr Liang narrowly won with 53.73 per cent of all valid votes.
It was the closest contest among all SMCs in that election. For a constituency where observers were expecting a tight race, voters gave the ruling party a comfortable margin this time round.
The single member constituency has been touted as a hot seat, with SDP chair and infectious diseases expert Prof Tambyah making his second bid against Mr Liang, a four-term MP and popular backbencher.
This is the fifth election the PAP and SDP have faced off in the SMC, which represents the largest single-member constituency with 33,596 voters.
Mr Liang, a managing director at DBS Bank, represented the Zhenghua ward in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC for three terms since 2006 , and was moved to Bukit Panjang SMC in 2020 after the retirement of its PAP MP Dr Teo Ho Pin.
When Prof Tambyah joined the fray that year, Bukit Panjang SMC recorded the largest voter swing against the PAP in a single member constituency - 14.65 points down from Dr Teo's 68.38 per cent in the 2015 election.
Before hustings officially started, Mr Liang told The Straits Times on April 11 that he saw Prof Tambyah as 'a formidable opponent'.
On the national front, Prof Tambyah - also a professor of medicine at the National University of Singapore - had proposed a single-payer system where mandatory health insurance is imposed on all Singaporeans, with the Government managing the central fund.
While Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had critiqued the proposal by pointing out that insurance premiums and taxes would rise significantly if subsidies were removed, Prof Tambyah argued that national healthcare expenditure had gone from $9 billion to more than $26 billion under Mr Ong's leadership.
Prof Tambyah explained that the single-payer plan would ensure the Government is the biggest buyer of services, which would drive costs down, as whatever the insurer loses in terms of profit margins would be made up by the sheer volume of orders.
Mr Liang responded by reiterating Mr Ong's stance that removing healthcare subsidies would result in higher insurance premiums.
Closer to home, the pair had sparred on several issues including the role of an MP, the lack of lift access in some Housing Board flats in Bukit Panjang, and the running of the town council.
Throughout a week of rallies, Prof Tambyah had told residents to vote without fear as improvement projects in estates and services would continue to run even if an opposition candidate won, pointing to examples in WP -held Sengkang, Aljunied and Hougang.
Prof Tambyah had reasoned that such projects and services were provided by professionals in the civil service or agencies, which are apolitical in nature.
In response, Mr Liang argued that it was 'naive to think that it doesn't matter who your MP is', and that agencies would work on 'autopilot' to carry out such projects.
Mr Liang had pointed out that many of the town's improvements, such as the two flyovers that link the town to the Kranji Expressway, were not originally planned, but came only after he acted on residents' concerns and secured approval from the authorities for the project.
He had the backing of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC candidate Mr Edward Chia, who described Mr Liang as a responsible MP, and said it would be difficult to execute planned upgrades with two separate town councils.
Mr Liang had proposed to continue running Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Bukit Panjang under one town council if the PAP won both constituencies.
He said the arrangement would allow residents to enjoy economies of scale in areas such as maintenance and landscaping works.
Conversely, Prof Tambyah had argued that he would run the town council without EM Services - a company that manages several town councils in Singapore - and pledged to be more responsive to residents' needs.
This was a hard-won battle for Mr Liang, who was diagnosed with early-stage nose cancer in July 2023. He resumed his MP duties in mid-September 2023, following the completion of his radiotherapy treatment.
Despite the health scare, he had said he wanted to continue serving as cancer did not change his sense of purpose and mission.
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