GE2025: PAP to go up against PAR in Tanjong Pagar GRC
Singapore
The boundaries of Tanjong Pagar GRC, which has long been a PAP stronghold, have changed in this election.
SINGAPORE: A People's Action Party (PAP) team led by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing will contest Tanjong Pagar GRC, facing off against People's Alliance for Reform (PAR) on polling day.
Candidates from the two parties were confirmed after they successfully filed their nomination papers at Bendemeer Primary School on Wednesday (Apr 23).
The PAP's five-member team also includes Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan, Ms Joan Pereira, Ms Rachel Ong and new face Foo Cexiang.
Mr Chan, Mr Tan and Ms Pereira are incumbent MPs for the constituency. Ms Ong oversaw the Telok Blangah ward in what was West Coast GRC before the electoral boundaries were redrawn.
Party newcomer Mr Foo, a former director for private and future mobility division at the Ministry of Transport, is an unexpected addition to the possible line-up for Tanjong Pagar GRC. He was expected to be fielded in the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC slate, following multiple sightings of him walking the ground this month.
The PAP team will go up against PAR's Prabu Ramachandran, a commercial banker, along with activist Han Hui Hui, educational director Nadarajan Selvamani, safety officer Rickson Giauw Joon Chai, and senior logistics assistant Soh Lian Chye.
Mr Prabu previously contested in GE2020 at Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC with Peoples Voice, one of the parties in PAR. Mr Nadarajan runs a private school and previously told reporters he has been helping PV for 'quite a number of years'.
Ms Han is no stranger to politics. The mother-of-three contested Radin Mas SMC as an independent candidate in GE2015 but lost her election deposit after getting 10 per cent of the votes. People's Action Party's (PAP) Joan Pereira and Chan Chun Sing at Bendemeer Primary School on Apr 23, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Mak Jia Kee)
After the confirmation of candidates, Mr Chan represented his team in addressing supporters, to deafening cheers from a sea of white.
He began his speech in Malay, followed by Mandarin and English.
'Thank you so much for all the support and working together with us over all these years — 60 years and more, 60 years and counting,' he said in English.
'It is our aim … it is our team's goal to make sure that we keep working with fellow residents in Tanjong Pagar and in Singapore to make sure that we will have an even brighter future regardless of the challenges ahead.'
PAR's Mr Prabu led the opening speech for his five-person team going up against PAP's slate.
'You heard the PAP candidate: 60 years of Tanjong Pagar, it's time for change. No more blank checks to the PAP, not just in these 10 days of campaign period, but across five years in Parliament,' he said.
He was joined by his teammate Ms Han.
'Vote for us in Tanjong Pagar because this is the time whereby we need to take back what belongs to us, and this is the time whereby we need to have a say inside Singapore parliament,' she told the crowd.
Mr Prabu elaborated to journalists on the sidelines of the event that the country 'faces a period of graduate unemployment' and a low total fertility rate of 0.97.
'Every Singaporean child is a national treasure, so we have to make sure that their education, that their health care and their nutrition is provided for well in school,' he added.
Ms Han said the team will campaign mainly on 'fundamental issues' like housing, healthcare and human rights, saying the PAP has not solved these problems over the past six decades.
'Since you cannot solve the problem after six decades, it's time to pass it to someone else so we can voice out and debate it in parliament to find a solution for Singaporeans,' she added. Han Hui Hui arrives at the nomination centre at Bendemeer Primary School on Apr 23, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Mak Jia Kee)
Tanjong Pagar GRC, which has long been a PAP stronghold, will have 139,688 voters in the 2025 General Election.
Its electoral boundaries have changed after absorbing areas in Dover and Telok Blangah from what was West Coast GRC, and carving out some Queenstown estates that form the new Queenstown SMC.
At the 2020 election, PAP faced off against the Progress Singapore Party in Tanjong Pagar GRC. PAP secured 63.1 per cent of the vote, down from 77.71 per cent in the 2015 election.
Two incumbent MPs for the constituency were redeployed for this election.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth and Social and Family Development Eric Chua is contesting Queenstown SMC after some estates in Queenstown were carved out to form the new single member constituency under the redrawn electoral boundaries. He oversaw the Queenstown ward in Tanjong Pagar GRC.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah, who has served in Tanjong Pagar GRC since 2001, is now helming PAP's four-member team in Pasir Ris-Changi GRC, after Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said on Monday that he would step down from the constituency.
Voters will head to the ballot box on May 3. GE2025 Tanjong Pagar GRC People's Action Party
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