The People’s Action Party (PAP) officially unveiled its candidates for the Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the upcoming General Elections.
The candidates for the four-member GRC are Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Mr Heng Chee How, Dr Lily Neo and Ms Denise Phua.
They are all current Members of Parliament (MPs) of wards that will now make up the “new” Jalan Besar GRC, which is a constituency with a rich, long-running heritage that was dissolved for the 2011 General Election.
Aside from Dr Yaacob and Ms Phua, the other MPs of the dissolved Moulmein-Kallang GRC are Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, who has announced his retirement from politics, and lawyer Edwin Tong, who will likely contest Marine Parade instead.
In 2011, they made up the PAP team which contested Moulmein-Kallang GRC at the GE and won 58.55 per cent of the vote against a Workers’ Party (WP) team comprising Ms Frieda Chan, Mr L Somasundaram, Mr Rahizan Ya’acob and Mr Toh Hong Boon.
The WP will once again contest Jalan Besar GRC this year, as part of the 28 seats it earlier declared interest in. However, the Opposition party’s exact lineup of candidates will only be made known on Nomination Day, WP chief Low Thia Khiang said on Wednesday.
The four PAP candidates for Jalan Besar GRC will be:
59 year-old Dr Yaacob Ibrahim - Minister for Communications and Information and also the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs. He previously served as Minister for Community Development and Sports from 2003 to 2004 and as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources from 2004 to 2011. He was an MP with Jalan Besar GRC from 1997 to 2011, and Moulmein-Kallang GRC since 2011. His Kolam Ayer ward moves from the now-dissolved Moulmein-Kallang GRC to Jalan Besar GRC.
54 year-old Mr Heng Chee How - Mr Heng is the Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Deputy Leader of the House. He is also Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). He has been MP of Whampoa since 2001 - first when it was part of Jalan Besar GRC and then a Single Member Constituency (SMC) in 2011. His now-defunct Whampoa SMC will go under Jalan Besar GRC.
62 year-old Dr Lily Neo - Dr Neo is the deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Social and Family Development. She was an MP with Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC from 1997 to 2001, Jalan Besar GRC from 2001 to 2011, and Tanjong Pagar from 2011. Her Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng ward now comes under Jalan Besar GRC again.
55 year-old Ms Denise Phua - Ms Phua is the chairman of the GPC for Social and Family Development. She was an MP with Jalan Besar GRC from 2006 to 2011, and Moulmein-Kallang GRC from 2011. Her Kampong Glam ward moves from the now-dissolved Moulmein-Kallang GRC to Jalan Besar GRC.
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