GE2025: With family at his core, WP new face Jasper Kuan says he's stepping up for the next generation

Straits Times

22-04-2025

Mr Jasper Kuan says family is at the centre of everything that he does, and has shaped his views of what Singapore can be. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
GE2025: With family at his core, WP new face Jasper Kuan says he's stepping up for the next generation
SINGAPORE - Underneath an unassuming and genial manner, Mr Jasper Kuan has a fire in his belly.
Sitting down with The Straits Times for an interview on April 22, days after he was unveiled as a new WP candidate for the 2025 General Election, the 46-year-old would often break into a hearty laugh and stop mid-conversation to wave to passing residents, to whom he is a familiar face.
But get him started on issues close to his heart – be it education, social security or public transport – and the former teacher turned payments expert speaks with focus and zeal.
'I think there are people who are better qualified than me. People who are more eloquent than me. People who are better at policy. But my value is that I understand the pain that regular folk are feeling,' he said at the void deck of a Housing Board block in Hougang, where he has lived for a decade and been a WP volunteer for close to five years.
Mr Kuan – who has two sons aged 11 and eight, and a five-year-old daughter – said family is at the centre of everything that he does, and has shaped his views of what Singapore can be.
The son of a cabby and a stay-at-home mother, Mr Kuan said: 'We had enough. We were happy.'
Things took a turn when he was in his late teens after his late father developed kidney failure and needed dialysis thrice a week. His late mother had throat cancer, which she battled for 20 years.
'She's a fighter. But every time she fought and won, her quality of life dropped. You could see it. Towards the last five years of her life, she was on a drip, and she couldn't eat or talk,' Mr Kuan recounted.
He and his older sister were hit hard – financially and in spirit. But they pulled through with help from relatives, and it was this episode that made him feel strongly about the need for a stronger social safety net.
'I always tell people, I think I'm a very resilient person. You hit me, I'll stand up, and I'll come back to fight. But do I want the next generation to go through that? Can we do something about it? We can. The Government can. And this is where we need to step up,' he added.
Mr Kuan said he hopes to see community touchpoints and networks such as family service centres and residents' committees being put to better use.
He said he started volunteering at Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) in Hougang as a case writer after the 2020 General Election, as he wanted to help residents. 'To me, it was apolitical. MPS is very neutral. It is all for the residents.'
In 2021, he became secretariat assistant to incumbent Hougang MP Dennis Tan. He was subsequently Mr Tan's legislative assistant before becoming a party member.
Mr Kuan also took a step down in his career as his grassroots work got heavier, moving from a director role at Mastercard to a senior manager post at Visa, where he is now the Asia-Pacific product lead for disputes solutions.
Mr Tan eventually asked him to be a WP candidate at the upcoming election – a request that he initially turned down, Mr Kuan said, declining to say when this took place.
'I have a very comfortable life. I love my job... And I love my kids. I didn't want that to be shaken up,' Mr Kuan recalled.
It was a conversation with former WP chief Low Thia Khiang that changed his mind.
Mr Kuan said Mr Low had asked him if Singapore's current system would provide a future that he wanted for his children, and if Mr Kuan could contribute to changing this trajectory.
'He said, if you do this, it is not just for your family... You are actually doing things for an entire generation.'
He said he connected with Mr Low as they are both former teachers. 'My belief in leadership is very similar to his... What you teach your children to do, you have to do yourself. Servant leadership is very important to me.'
Before joining the finance sector in 2011, Mr Kuan had spent six years at Catholic High School, where he taught both mainstream and Gifted Education Programme classes.
But he felt disheartened by the Ministry of Education's 'Teach Less, Learn More' initiative, which Mr Kuan believes has led to an over-reliance among students on after-school tuition courses.
'I felt that I needed a change. The policies that came in were not really reflective of how I perceived education to be,' he added.
'I feel very strongly that we need a certain level of equity... At least so that the kids that don't have the resources can move forward.'
He echoed the proposal in the WP's 2025 election manifesto for an optional 10-year through-train programme that will allow students to progress from Primary 1 to Secondary 4 without taking the PSLE.
'The challenge is, can we find a way, not to totally remove it, but incrementally look at how we can re-prioritise.'
During his time at Mastercard and Visa, Mr Kuan played a key role in enabling credit and debit card payments for public transport systems across Asia, including Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
He said his time in the corporate world has led him to believe that competition drives better outcomes. 'If you have dominance for too long, innovation stops and everything gets stagnant,' he added.
In the same vein, Mr Kuan said it is why he decided to support the WP, even as the world is becoming more turbulent. 'We always say in turbulent times, we want stability. That is true somewhat. But in turbulent times, you also don't want stagnation.'
Over the past year, Mr Kuan has been seen walking the ground in the Tampines area.
He was coy when asked if he would like to stand there if given the choice, hewing to the party line that all will be known on Nomination Day on April 23.
Going outside the WP stronghold of Hougang, Mr Kuan said he was initially afraid of being rejected by residents. But he feels the ground has shifted.
'I think Singaporeans as a whole are becoming more aware of the need for a credible opposition,' he said. 'It's a good sign of a maturing democracy.'
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.