GE2025: Ong Ye Kung unveils Sembawang GRC slate including new faces Ng Shi Xuan and Gabriel Lam

SINGAPORE: Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who is the anchor minister for Sembawang GRC, on Monday (Apr 21) uploaded a video on his social media page unveiling the People’s Action Party (PAP) slate of prospective candidates to contest there in the upcoming General Election.

The video featured Mr Ong with two PAP new faces: Mr Ng Shi Xuan and Mr Gabriel Lam.

It also included Ms Mariam Jaafar and Mr Vikram Nair, who were part of the PAP team led by Mr Ong that won Sembawang GRC in 2020.

The one-minute video was uploaded with the caption "5 individuals, 1 team. A Sembawang for Everyone", and ended off with a group shot of the five individuals wearing white.

Although it stopped short of explicitly saying that they were the candidates for the constituency, a spokesperson confirmed with CNA that they were the slate of prospective candidates that the team is fielding for the upcoming general election.

This is the first time at this General Election where a PAP candidate unveiling has been done through a social media video instead of a press conference.

At the last General Election, the PAP team at Sembawang beat the National Solidarity Party (NSP) with 67.29 per cent of the votes. That PAP slate of 2020 featured Mr Ong, Mr Nair, Ms Mariam, Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Ms Poh Li San.

NSP had said it would contest the GRC again this time round. The Singapore Democratic Party is the other party to have also announced it would stand in Sembawang, setting up the stage for a three-cornered fight in the constituency.

According to last month's report by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, voter growth saw the creation of Sembawang West SMC from Sembawang GRC, which will have 133,919 voters in the upcoming election.

Ms Poh oversaw the Sembawang West ward following the previous election.

NG SHI XUAN

Mr Ng and Mr Lam are both entrepreneurs, whom Mr Ong have introduced before at community events in Sembawang since at least late last month.

Mr Ng, 35, is the director of battery company Powermark Battery & Hardware and used to be a public servant.

He had previously volunteered in MacPherson SMC for 10 years, where he championed youth-related issues.

He said in the video posted on Monday: "You don't know me, but I fight hard for the community."

At a Sembawang community event on Apr 6, Mr Ng said that he had been "shadowing" Dr Lim for more than a week.

He said at the time: "I must say that Dr Lim has built up a very genuine rapport with the residents. That I probably can't replace and have to catch up, but his enthusiasm and energy in resolving the residents' issues, I think I can emulate."

GABRIEL LAM

Mr Lam, 42, is the chief operating officer of moving company Shalom International Movers.

He was a volunteer in Chong Pang for five years, and previously shared with the media his experience at the Community Rehabilitation Centre in Sembawang for the past few years.

"I push hard to uplift the lives of others," he said in the video.

It was similar to what he said he hopes to achieve for residents, during a recent speech he made late last month when he was introduced as new faces in the constituency along with Mr Ng.

"Being new, I would have to tap on the expertise of the team led by Minister Ong to enrich the lives of our residents," said Mr Lam, who also joined Sembawang as a grassroots adviser recently.

"I have a lot to learn here. In my professional life, people know me as a mover of things, as in, I move things. But here in Sembawang, I want to move lives." 

Mr Ong previously described the two new faces as “very special”.

“They both run their companies. They must create business opportunities. They must fight competition, win customers and take care of workers,” he said.

Mr Ong had said it was a “form of respect” to let residents know the identity of election candidates as early as possible, although finalising the line-up would take time.