‘A better distribution of our senior leadership’: PM Wong on deploying DPM Gan to Punggol (2025)

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SINGAPORE – Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong was deployed to Punggol GRC as the PAP needed a “senior office-holder of similar stature” to take over from Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

The PAP had made a surprise last-minute switch on Nomination Day to shift DPM Gan from Chua Chu Kang GRC to the new four-member GRC, which was carved out of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng was moved from Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC to lead the PAP team in Chua Chu Kang.

Explaining the rationale behind the moves at a press conference on April 23, PM Wong noted that SM Teo is retiring from politics after anchoring Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC for many years.

SM Teo, 70, is a core member of the PAP’s third-generation leadership team, and served as deputy prime minister from 2009 to 2019.

“It’s really not easy to have a senior office-holder of a similar stature to take over from him,” PM Wong said.

“And that’s why I considered it very carefully and eventually decided to deploy DPM Gan Kim Yong there.”

DPM Gan’s move led to Dr Tan’s switch to Chua Chu Kang. The Marine Parade-Braddell Heights team is anchored by Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng instead, PM Wong said.

“And if you look at the overall picture, I will be in the west in Marsiling-Yew Tee, Senior Minister Lee (Hsien Loong) will be in the centre in Ang Mo Kio and DPM Gan would be in Punggol, which is in the east,” he added.

“That’s a better distribution of our senior leadership for the campaign, and if we are elected, that’s also a better spread of leadership to make sure that we can cover the whole of Singapore and make sure that we do our best to serve all residents.”

The five-member PAP team in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC was returned to power on April 23 via a walkover, in another Nomination Day surprise.

The WP had been expected to contest the group representation constituency, having fielded a team in Marine Parade to challenge the PAP in the 2015 and 2020 elections. The opposition party’s decision to not do so resulted in the first walkover in a general election since 2011, when Tanjong Pagar GRC went uncontested.

Asked if he had expected that WP would not contest Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, PM Wong said he had been informed by party members that there was no presence of WP at the nomination centre at Kong Hwa School in the morning.

“We heard it, but... we would have never been able to confirm whether there would be a contest. So we were surprised that the WP had decided not to contest Marine Parade,” said PM Wong.

He added that if there were to have been a contest there, he had “confidence that Seah Kian Peng as Speaker will be able to anchor the Marine Parade team” and the team can “hold their own in Marine Parade”.

On how voters will take to the strategy of last-minute swops and if there are concerns about candidates’ familiarity with the ground, PM Wong replied: “We try our best not to have too many movements, but from time to time, we have to make some of these, and we have done so in this election.

“The ministers may be new, but they are not the only ones who are in the team. There are others in the GRC who will be familiar, and the ministers, I’m sure, will be able to hold their own wherever they are fielded,” he added.

“They will do their best to engage residents in the constituency that they are deployed in, and do their best to win the confidence and trust of Singaporeans and voters.”

Asked which constituency would have the toughest fight, PM Wong said “there will be tough tests everywhere”, adding that he has fielded a strong team to “take us forward into the future”.

“I hope Singaporeans consider what this election means, not just in terms of tactical voting, but what this election means fundamentally, for your families, for your children, for the future of our country, and then choose who you believe are the right individuals that you want to represent you in your constituency and in Parliament in our country,” he said.

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