GE2025: Grace Fu to lead PAP's Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC team; Hougang's Lee Hong Chuang joins line-up

SINGAPORE: Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu will lead the People’s Action Party (PAP) team contesting the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC in the upcoming election.

Joining her are two new additions to the constituency: charity director David Hoe and former Hougang representative Lee Hong Chuang. The other two members of the five-member GRC team are Minister of State for Health and for Digital Development and Information Rahayu Mahzam – currently a Jurong GRC MP  – and Minister of State for Transport and Law Murali Pillai, who currently represents Bukit Batok SMC.

The announcement was made on Monday (Apr 14) at the Jurong-Clementi Town Council's office.

This marks Ms Fu’s return to a GRC slate after more than a decade. She previously served as an MP in Jurong GRC from 2006 to 2011 before moving to helm Yuhua SMC. She remains the only full Cabinet minister currently serving in a single-member ward.

While all members of the PAP slate are "new candidates" in the reconfigured GRC, "we are not new to community service or political involvement", said Ms Fu.

Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC was formed from a merger of Bukit Batok SMC and parts of Jurong GRC, Yuhua SMC and Hong Kah North SMC following the latest electoral boundaries review. The GRC has 142,510 voters.

To maintain the MP-to-voter ratio, a new Jurong Central SMC was carved out from the original Jurong GRC and Yuhua SMC.

The PAP will be represented in Jurong Central by current Jurong GRC MP Xie Yao Quan.

Opposition party Red Dot United has signalled its intention to contest in Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.

Jurong GRC has historically been a PAP stronghold, and was the party’s best-performing GRC in the last two elections, securing 79.29 per cent of votes in 2015 and 74.61 per cent in 2020. It was previously anchored by former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who left politics to contest the presidency in 2023.

Ms Fu said that while there are “many big pairs of shoes to fill” in the constituency, her team believes it has what it takes to serve its residents.

She thanked outgoing MPs Amy Khor and Dr Tan Wu Meng for their work in the area over the years, and also acknowledged Mr Tharman’s popularity in the ward.

“President Tharman is highly popular and very well respected. It will be very difficult for any one of us to replicate it, and we don’t intend to. We are ourselves,” she said, adding that the line-up has a diverse mix of youth and experience.

LEE HONG CHUANG

Mr Lee, 55, was PAP’s longtime representative in Hougang, having contested the Workers' Party (WP) stronghold in both the 2015 and 2020 elections. He stepped down as branch chairperson of PAP’s Hougang division in October 2023. 

Hougang SMC has been held by WP since 1991, when its former chief Low Thia Khiang first won the seat. At the last election in 2020, WP's Dennis Tan retained Hougang with 61.21 per cent of the votes, beating Mr Lee. 

“The western region of Singapore is not new to me. I grew up in the west. After getting married, I continued to live there during my younger days,” said Mr Lee, a former national gymnast. 

Mr Lee told reporters he has been volunteering in the community for 36 years in places such as Teck Ghee, Boon Lay, Sengkang and Bishan-Toa Payoh.

He will oversee the Hong Kah North area of the new GRC, and has spent the past few weeks walking the ground there.

“If I were to categorise it, Hong Kah North has two major developments. One of them, of course, (is) the older estates. The other one is the newer estates,” he said.

Mr Lee said he would bring his experience in Hougang and Bishan-Toa Payoh, where there are also diverse differences in housing estates, to Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC if elected.

DAVID HOE

Mr Hoe, 37, is director of philanthropy at registered charity The Majurity Trust, where he has launched several youth programmes. He was a member of the National Youth Council for five years and is currently a district councillor with the Central Singapore Community Development Council.

He was introduced to residents earlier this month by Ms Fu at the launch of the town council’s five-year master plan for 2026 to 2030.

“I’m where I am today not because of my own efforts alone, but it is because many have graciously created opportunities for me,” said Mr Hoe at the press conference on Monday. 

“And this is why I strive to pay it forward by creating opportunities for many others.” 

Mr Hoe said that he has already “been living quite a public life for the last few years” in sharing his life story with others.

“My parents were divorced. I stayed with mum. Mum became blind because of a failed eye operation. To make ends meet, I had to bring Mum to various coffee shops to sell tissue papers. As a result of that, I didn’t have time to focus on my academics,” he told reporters.

As such, entering politics and exposing himself to public scrutiny and a loss of privacy, is not very new for him, he added.