Latest news with #JasminLau
Independent Singapore
7 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
‘Not my MP?' — SingPost investigates after Aljunied residents were mistakenly sent flyers from AMK MP
SINGAPORE: A resident living at Hougang Street 21 mistakenly received a flyer from a Member of Parliament (MP) from Ang Mo Kio GRC, and apparently, he was not the only one, according to a May 27 (Tuesday) report in 8world. The report included a photo of a flyer from newly-minted MP Jasmin Lau welcoming the recipient to the Seletar-Serangoon Division and announcing the schedule for her Meet-the-People Sessions. 'I will be the MP that will be looking after you and your families from now onwards, and my team and I will do our best to support you. I hope to see more of you join our programmes, and I look forward to meeting and interacting with you,' the flyer reads. Screengrab/ 8world 8world added that the incident had been confirmed by the Ang Mo Kio Town Council, which stated that it had immediately informed SingPost about the error. The postal service is now looking into the matter to determine what caused the flyers to be sent to the wrong recipients. Additionally, the 8world reader who had received the flyer also reached out to Ms Lau, messaging her on Instagram. The MP replied via direct message to say that she would reach out to the Town Council regarding the matter. 8world added that action is being taken to resolve the issue and ensure that it does not recur. 'We understand this may have caused inconvenience to the affected residents and appreciate their patience while SingPost dealt with this matter,' 8world quotes the Town Council as saying. Who is Jasmin Lau? Prior to contesting in this year's General Election, Ms Lau was a longtime civil servant. She has taken on several roles since joining the civil service in 2006. Before she tendered her resignation on April 1, she had been a deputy secretary at the Ministry of Health. On May 3, the slate from the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which was composed of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Darryl David, Nadia Samdin, Ms Lau, and former Aljunied GRC candidate Victor Lye, won handily, receiving nearly 80 per cent of the vote. Aside from representing Seletar-Serangoon in Parliament, Ms Lau is also Minister of State for Digital Development and Information. A CNA report from last month said that the 42-year-old new MP had first been invited to join the PAP last year, but she had refused multiple times before she finally agreed. It was a conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who had once been her boss, that helped her decide to enter politics. /TISG Read also: From rejection to redemption: PAP newcomer who once said 'no' now vows to shoulder the nation's burden
CNA
20-05-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Deep Dive Podcast - PAP's Jasmin Lau on saying 'yes' to politics but staying true to herself
PAP new face Jasmin Lau, who is contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC, went from government scholar to rising up the ranks in the civil service. She tells Otelli Edwards on this special series of the Deep Dive podcast how she copes with self-doubt and why she said yes to joining politics.
CNA
27-04-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Deep Dive GE2025 Podcast: PAP's Jasmin Lau on saying 'yes' to politics but staying true to herself
PAP new face Jasmin Lau, who is contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC, went from government scholar to rising up the ranks in the civil service. She tells Otelli Edwards on this special series of the Deep Dive podcast how she copes with self-doubt and why she said yes to joining politics. Here is an excerpt from the conversation: Otelli Edwards, host: So just going back to that big decision to be in the public eye, to potentially be an office holder. Firstly, you said that you are an introvert and that it takes quite a bit out of you, for instance, to meet and greet (people) and to really open yourself up. But you have to in this position. As a matter of fact, you rejected the (PAP) a few times. Jasmin Lau, PAP candidate for Ang Mo Kio GRC: Yeah ... now people know I rejected (them) so many times. Otelli: So what was it that made you say: 'Okay yes, I'm just going to go ahead with it, although I have to make a lot of sacrifices.' Jasmin: This word about sacrifice is used very often by candidates from every party. Everybody says it's some sacrifice. Actually it's not that we as political candidates are making a much bigger sacrifice than other people. There are many others out there who make sacrifices in their life to do (their) jobs. Some do multiple jobs and they sacrifice the time away from the kids too. So I feel bad and guilty using that word because no matter what, we are still fortunate and comfortable. We live in relatively sheltered lives, even though now it's public, but there are many others who have real unseen sacrifices. So while you may frame it as a sacrifice, to me I see as this as a responsibility. If we have been blessed with either (the) skills, experience, intelligence, and you are asked to go and do something, it's responsibility and not so much of a sacrifice.
_3.jpg%3Fitok%3DxA6GL2kf&w=3840&q=100)
CNA
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Deep Dive - GE2025: PAP's Jasmin Lau on saying 'yes' to politics but staying true to herself
Play PAP new face Jasmin Lau, who is contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC, went from government scholar to rising up the ranks in the civil service. She tells Otelli Edwards on this special series of the Deep Dive podcast how she copes with self-doubt and why she said yes to entering politics. Deep Dive - GE2025: PAP's Jasmin Lau on saying 'yes' to politics but staying true to herself PAP new face Jasmin Lau, who is contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC, went from government scholar to rising up the ranks in the civil service. She tells Otelli Edwards on this special series of the Deep Dive podcast how she copes with self-doubt and why she said yes to entering politics. 21 mins Deep Dive - GE2025: WP's Ong Lue Ping on stepping down from senior leadership at work to join the opposition When he decided to be actively involved as a Workers' Party candidate, Dr Ong Lue Ping, a senior principal child psychologist, decided to move out of a director position at the Institute of Mental Health. The WP candidate for Tampines GRC tells Steven Chia why staying could present a conflict of interest and what prompted him to join the opposition party. 20 mins Deep Dive - GE2025: PAP's Dinesh Vasu Dash on how a pivotal turning point in his career led him to politics He took a significant pay cut and declined a private sector job to join the Health Ministry to fight the pandemic. Now Dinesh Vasu Dash is running on the PAP ticket as the new face contesting in East Coast GRC in what he describes as a journey with "too many points of twists and turns". He tells Otelli Edwards on this special series of the Deep Dive podcast what he has learnt from working with seniors and lessons on raising resilient children. 20 mins
Independent Singapore
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Independent Singapore
'Felt cheated' — AMK voter says they waited all evening for "paiseh" PAP candidate, only for no one to show up
SINGAPORE: An Ang Mo Kio resident has expressed frustration online after waiting in vain for a promised house visit by the People's Action Party (PAP) candidate for their ward last night (26 Apr). Taking to Reddit, the resident said that the candidate had announced plans to visit several blocks between 7 pm and 10 pm. Hoping to engage directly and form an open-minded opinion before the polls, the resident said they cancelled plans to attend the Workers' Party (WP) rally at Temasek Junior College to stay home and meet the candidate. 'I sat by the dinner table once I went home at 6:30 all the way to 10pm,' they wrote. 'I watched the WP rally while waiting.' Despite their patience and hope, the resident said no candidate appeared by 10 pm. 'At 9:30pm, I just gave myself the assumption she wouldn't be showing up but kept some hopes that she would,' he added. The blocks in question — 519 and 539, along with 533 — consist mostly of HDB maisonette flats, each with around 60 units, the resident noted. They said they would have understood if the candidate had been unable to cover all the blocks due to time constraints, but were nonetheless left feeling 'disappointed.' 'This just reinforces the perception that PAP candidates in this area rarely conduct proper house visits,' they wrote, citing past frustrations where MPs only appeared at events like Edusave award ceremonies, Meet-the-People Sessions, and grassroots activities. The experience left the resident, who stressed they are not a PAP supporter but wanted to give the party a fair chance, feeling 'cheated.' PAP new face, Jasmin Lau, was apparently the no-show The candidate the resident was expecting was PAP's new face, Jasmin Lau, who is part of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong's team for Ang Mo Kio. The 42-year-old former civil servant famously said during an introduction video released just a few days ago that she feels paiseh (Hokkien for embarrassing or awkward) when asked what she hopes to champion if elected. She said, 'When you serve, it's not what you champion or care most about. What I care most about may not be what you care most about. What I want to champion may not be what you need.' While she says she comes from a place of gratitude, she added, 'To come out and say, 'Here I am, I'm so-and-so. I'm humble, I can do this, I have conviction', it's super weird for me and not myself.' She added that she rejected the PAP when it asked her to put herself up for candidacy a year ago until the party leadership asked her, 'If not you, then who?' Not a new or unique complaint Interestingly, the criticism against Ms Lau missing the house visit is not unique to her. Residents across Singapore have registered complaints online in recent days that they have not seen their PAP candidate or former MP at promised house visits, being left with only flyers pinned to their doors that claim the candidate visited, but no one was home. One commenter told the Ang Mo Kio resident, 'PAP also used what I assume to be a volunteer to come by all the houses to hang a 'We came by but no one was home' hanging flyer thing, but I was in my living room the whole day. Checked my digital peephole app and I honestly could not even find the fella who placed it on my gate, and it's set to record after detecting movement after 5 seconds.' Another commenter appealed, 'just abit of compassion is all we ask… what would it take to visit every unit… atleast once every 5 years… they are going to be getting a fat paycheck… atleast working abit hard for one week without using brain also cannot… just go unit to unit also cannot… or atleast just write a handwritten note to say they visited… that also cannot one for sure.. someone else will mass write produce and put everywhere…' The Ang Mo Kio resident commented that her former MP, Ng Ling Lin,g used to post on social media that she was helping out at house visits at Mr Lee's Teck Ghee subdivision but was conspicuously missing in action at her own division, leading to deep disappointment. 'Just drop the flyer and fly off' Another Redditor recently posted security camera footage showing a PAP representative leaving a flyer without ringing their doorbell or knocking on their door. Revealing that they were home at the time, the resident shared a photo showing the flyer left at their door stated, 'Dear Resident, We came by but you were not home. We would like to ask you for your support. Thank you.' While it remains unclear where this took place, criticism against the PAP mounted online with netizens asserting that such tactics undermine the purpose of house visits and cheapen meaningful engagement to an obligation fulfilled with the lowest amount of effort required. One netizen commented, 'First time? That is one of PAP's dirty tricks, using one of the traits that they are good at: gaslighting.' Many commenters said that this tactic is more common than others realise and shared similar experiences they have had. One netizen shared, 'I was at home, they dropped a Party booklet at my gate and left without a sound,' while another recounted, 'Someone just slot against our gate. It was a drop and go, some volunteers.'
