GE2025: Jalan Besar GRC incumbent team goes head-to-head with PAR slate (2025)

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SINGAPORE – The incumbent PAP team will go head-to-head with the People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR), an opposition coalition, in a battle for Jalan Besar GRC in the general election on May 3.

Candidates from both sides successfully filed their nomination papers at Kong Hwa School in Guillemard Road on April 23.

In the last general election in 2020, Peoples Voice (PV) – which is now a member of PAR – had jostled with the PAP for the group representation constituency, which represented the largest area of the downtown city centre of Singapore.

That year, the four-member PAP team, led bythe current Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, won the election with 65.36 per cent of the vote.

PV, then led byparty chief Lim Tean, obtained 34.64 per cent of the vote.

This general election, Mr Lim, who is secretary-general of PAR, will not be contesting Jalan Besar. He will be in a three-cornered fight with Singapore People’s Party treasurer Williiamson Lee and Mr Alex Yeo of the PAP for Potong Pasir SMC.

Instead, the PAR team contesting Jalan Besar comprises newcomers. They are freelance private tutor Chiu Shin Kong, nurse Sarina Abu Hassan, early childhood educator Vigneswari V. Ramachandran, and the party’s treasurer Mohamad Hamim Aliyas.

PARis an alliance of three parties – PV, the Reform Party and the Democratic Progressive Party. It was first formed in November 2024 with four parties, with the aim of strengthening opposition unity. The People’s Power Party withdrew in February 2025 over irreconcilable strategic differences.

The PAP team for Jalan Besar GRC will be led by Mrs Teo, and includes incumbent MPs Denise Phua and Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah, as well as new face Shawn Loh.

Mr Loh, who is currently the deputy group managing director of Singapore-based investment companyCommonwealth Capital Group, was introduced on April 16 as a new candidate joining the incumbent PAP team to contest Jalan Besar GRC in the general election.

He will take over the GRC’s Whampoa ward from Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How, who stepped down from the team.

Amid cheers from the crowd after the PAP team’s slate was confirmed, Mrs Teo, who has served as Jalan Besar GRC’s anchor minister since the last election in 2020, said: “We now have a strong track record, and we have presented our plans to make our town your best home. You know that you can trust us to be honest and hard-working.”

On a similar note, Ms Sarina from PAR said her party has been engaging residents.

“But now we want to work, serve and walk with you into Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC,” she said.

GE2025: Jalan Besar GRC incumbent team goes head-to-head with PAR slate (1)

Speaking to the media after his team’s confirmed candidacy, Mr Chiu said the only experience he had was walking the ground in Jalan Besar.

“It was an eye-opener for me personally because I had never done this before,” he said.

Asked how his team, which is new to the game, would challenge the incumbent, Mr Chiu said his team would represent residents and the issues they face by asking questions on their behalf. These issues include cost of living and inflation.

Ms Vigneswari added: “We dare to stand out and raise issues that other parties don’t want to raise... like immigration and job security for Singaporeans.”