GE2025: Desmond Lee to lead PAP slate in West Coast-Jurong West GRC, site of 2020's closest battle

SINGAPORE: Minister for National Development Desmond Lee will lead the People’s Action Party (PAP) team in West Coast-Jurong West GRC in the upcoming General Election.

The five-member slate includes two first-time candidates: orthopaedic surgeon Hamid Razak, 39, and lawyer Cassandra Lee, 33, the party announced on Tuesday (Apr 15).

They will join Senior Parliamentary Secretary Shawn Huang, whose Taman Jurong division was moved over from Jurong GRC under the new electoral map, and West Coast GRC incumbent MP Ang Wei Neng. 

MPs Foo Mee Har, who entered politics in 2011 and represented the Ayer Rajah-Gek Poh ward, and Rachel Ong, who made her electoral debut in 2020 and oversaw the Telok Blangah division, will not be part of the team. It is unclear whether both will step down or be deployed to other constituencies.

Former transport minister S Iswaran, an MP in the GRC since 1997, resigned in January last year after he was charged with corruption. He eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges of obtaining gifts and was sentenced to 12 months in jail last October and is currently serving home detention.

Introducing the refreshed PAP slate at the party's West Coast branch office on Tuesday, Mr Lee said the team has been working with residents and volunteers to improve the community through social and outreach programmes – particularly for seniors, jobseekers and youth.

“I'd like to thank all our residents and partners for your faith and trust in us these past many years and for supporting these important initiatives,” he said.

He added that the West Coast-Jurong West GRC team is seeking residents' continued support in the coming election, “so that we can implement our plans and continue to roll out the existing programmes that we have initiated over the past few years”.

The GRC, formerly known as West Coast, was the most hotly contested constituency in the 2020 General Election. Then, the PAP won with 51.69 per cent of the vote against the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), which secured two Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seats for Mr Leong Mun Wai and Ms Hazel Poa.

The PSP has confirmed it will contest the GRC again this year.

The ward has undergone significant boundary changes following the latest electoral map review. It now includes parts of Jurong West and Taman Jurong, leading to its new name – West Coast-Jurong West GRC. The electorate has grown to 158,581 voters.

To maintain voter-to-MP ratios, the eastern-most areas of the former GRC, including Harbourfront and Sentosa, were shifted to Radin Mas SMC, while Dover and parts of Telok Blangah were moved to Tanjong Pagar GRC.

HAMID RAZAK

Dr Hamid, currently the deputy branch chair of PAP’s Jurong Spring branch and a grassroots adviser, said he was drawn to politics because of his alignment with PAP’s values and his own upbringing under the party’s policies.

“I've been a beneficiary of the PAP government's policies," he said in a separate interview with local media. "I grew up in the Queenstown area, I studied in a school there, did well in my exams and I benefitted from our meritocracy,” he said.

Dr Hamid said he was first approached to join the party in 2017 and he agreed. 

Three years ago, signs that he was being groomed for political office became more apparent, as he was entrusted with greater responsibilities – taking on executive-level planning across the division and contributing policy insights in both closed-door and public forums.

He cited interest in boosting health literacy, adjusting the SkillsFuture programme to better support “lower-buffer households” and speaking up on migrant worker issues.

On contesting in what was 2020’s tightest race, Dr Hamid said it is "a baptism of fire, and I think I’ll be up to the challenge".

While he acknowledged the PSP’s strong presence, especially with former MP and party founder Tan Cheng Bock’s legacy in the area, Dr Hamid said his team is focused on their own strengths and offerings.

Regarding public scrutiny, he noted that "every job has its downside", comparing political life to the medical profession. "If you have an eye on the end product, then whatever else that comes, you'll be able to surmount it because you're just focused on getting to this target," he said.

Dr Hamid added that he plans to balance parliamentary duties with his medical career if elected.

"Yes, schedules might be punishing, but with good planning, with good coordination, you can build efficiency into the system, and people have shown that it is possible," he said. "This is not the first time, obviously, that a doctor is an elected politician."

CASSANDRA LEE

Ms Lee is a lawyer at management consultancy EY, where she is currently an assistant director and Singapore technology legal counsel. She also leads the technology and artificial intelligence practice for its Singapore general counsel’s office and the ASEAN excellence centre.

Before joining EY, she was in the Singapore Legal Service where she worked as state counsel and deputy public prosecutor in the civil division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers. She started her career in Enterprise Singapore, where she was part of Singapore's negotiation team for multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements and represented Singapore at ASEAN and APEC.

She was publicly introduced as a PAP new face earlier this month by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, during the launch of the Jurong-Clementi Town Council five-year master plan for 2026 to 2030.

A long-time community volunteer, Ms Lee has been active in Yuhua for more than a decade. 

“As a young girl, I would follow my mother around as she volunteered in the community,” she said. “As a teenager, later on, I started volunteering in Yuhua. In the flash of an eye, it has been 16 years.”

The mother of one said that like many parents, she faces challenges in balancing work and caregiving responsibilities. 

“I'm committed to advocating for better support for young working families, including a stronger workplace culture for flexible work, especially for fathers, and a community that truly supports working parents.”

In Yuhua, she has also championed initiatives to improve barrier-free accessibility for the elderly.

“Caring for my cancer-stricken father, who passed when I was 23, impressed upon me the importance of supporting our elderly residents to age in place with dignity, respect and quality care,” she said.