‘Once in a generation’ type of MP whom I had hoped to retain, says Shanmugam of Lee Bee Wah

• Mr K Shanmugam said that Ms Lee Bee Wah had been a "tremendous asset" to him
• He would have wanted her to stay on but there are reasons for her not seeking re-election
• Ms Lee's exit makes way for PAP new candidate Carrie Tan to replace her
• Mr Shanmugam told Ms Tan that she has "huge shoes to fill"

SINGAPORE — Mr K Shanmugam, the People’s Action Party (PAP) treasurer leading its Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC), has paid tribute to Ms Lee Bee Wah, describing her as a “once in a generation” type of Member of Parliament (MP) whom he had hoped to retain in his team.

“You know, she is sui generis,” Mr Shanmugam said on Wednesday (July 1), using the Latin phrase that means “of its own kind”.

Mr Shanmugam said that Ms Lee is not taking part in the coming General Election and stepping down as part of the renewal process of the People's Action Party (PAP). She has also said that she wants to spend more time with her 80-year-old mother. 

Speaking at a virtual press conference to announce the PAP team’s manifesto for Nee Soon GRC, Mr Shanmugam said that Ms Lee was a hardworking MP who “walks every nook and cranny” and “picks up every issue”, and she has developed close bonds with residents in her Nee Soon South ward. 

“She's been a tremendous asset to me. I personally would have wanted her to stay,” he said.

Ms Lee, 59, a three-term MP for Nee Soon GRC, wrote in a Facebook post on Monday to confirm that she will not be seeking re-election on July 10. This puts an end to her 14-year career in politics, after winning her first seat with PAP in 2006.

She will be replaced by PAP new face Carrie Tan, 38, who acknowledged on Wednesday that she has big shoes to fill.

Mr Shanmugam described the decision not to field Ms Lee as a “difficult” one. 

“She's loved by her residents, she is loved by everyone else in Singapore who enjoys her speeches. She’s sort of very direct and makes no bones about what her points are when she speaks in Parliament,” he said.

“She’s a very, very good MP... and obviously, it’s sad to see someone like that retiring, but renewal is part of the PAP’s DNA, too.”

He said that while the residents of Nee Soon South are very sad to see Ms Lee go and have asked why she cannot carry on, they understand that Ms Lee wants to spend time with her mother “and do other things”.

“I've told Carrie she's got huge shoes to fill,” he added.

Ms Tan, 38, founder of women’s charity Daughters of Tomorrow, said she is grateful that she has a chance to make a difference to voters’ lives.

“You know, so many people have told me I have big shoes to fill, and I jokingly say, it's okay because I have big feet,” Ms Tan said. She was introduced as a new candidate by the party last week.

“But the key thing here is, I think, I have a big heart for this work,” Ms Tan said, adding that what drives her the most is the “opportunity to be a part of people's lives”.

“I'm confident that with enough time, the residents will be able to see my sincerity and that I will learn a lot from Ms Lee. A lot of things will remain. The dedication to residents remains.”

Ms Lee is known for her colourful speeches in Parliament and for raising various constituency and bread-and-butter issues in the House, sometimes even firing numerous questions at her party colleagues in Cabinet to elicit a satisfactory answer or an explanation.

In the recent term of government, out of 131 parliamentary sittings, Ms Lee spoke in 92 of them, making her the fifth most active parliamentarian to speak in the House behind fellow PAP and Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng, Workers’ Party’s (WP) Non-Constituency MPs Leon Perera and Dennis Tan, as well as WP chief Pritam Singh.

When Ms Tan was asked about the difference between herself and Ms Lee in how she will help residents and what she hopes to bring to Parliament, she said that both of them “share a very similar purpose”, which is to improve the lives of residents and improve the well-being of people.

“But I have to say that our personalities can be quite different. Ms Lee is blunt, very direct, very feisty,” she said.

“I can be feisty, I used to be quite feisty. But nowadays I tend to go towards a more collaborative approach… coming up with a solution together.”

Ms Tan also said that while she has not stepped into Parliament yet, she has already publicly spoken about the different kinds of policies in helping those from lower-income groups.

Beyond focusing on municipal issues, Ms Tan also said that she hopes to bring attention to national-level issues regarding wage and social policies that she champions, because these “directly impact” the lives of residents and families.

Besides Mr Shanmugam and Ms Tan, the other PAP candidates contesting the five-member Nee Soon GRC are incumbent MPs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, 52 and Mr Ng, 41 as well as another new candidate Derrick Goh, 51, a managing director at DBS bank.

In its manifesto, the GRC outlined plans for Nee Soon, including new facilities such as a polyclinic near Khatib MRT Station, a sports integrated park and a community club.

The PAP team led by Mr Shanmugam won the GRC in the 2015 election with 66.83 per cent of the vote, beating a team from WP.

This time round, it will face a Progress Singapore Party (PSP) team comprising customer service manager Damien Tay, 51, media professional Bradley Bowyer, 53, adult educator Kala Manickam, 52, chartered accountant and party treasurer Sri Nallakaruppan, 56, and information technology professional Muhammad Taufik Supan, 40.

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