SINGAPORE – The PAP’s East Coast GRC team welcomes Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong to the team and will work with him until detailed changes to the GRC’s slate are announced, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on March 15.
“Our commitment to serve our residents has not changed. We remain as committed as ever, because we’ve been elected by our residents, and we want to make sure that we fulfill our promise,” he said.
Mr Tong’s Joo Chiat ward was subsumed into East Coast GRC in the [Electoral Boundaries Review Committee’s report released on March 11.](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/ge2025-electoral-boundaries-announced-15-smcs-and-18-grcs)
DPM Heng spoke to the media at the end of a morning walkabout at Simei Plaza - which is in Ms Jessica Tan’s Changi-Simei ward - where all five MPs from the East Coast GRC team were present. Mr Tong was not, as the Second Minister for Law was on a work trip to Hong Kong.
“(Mr Tong) would have liked to join us for the walkabout. Unfortunately, he’s on a work trip that was planned some time ago,” said Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and National Development Tan Kiat How, who is MP for Kampong Chai Chee.
It is uncommon for the PAP to field so many political office-holders in one GRC’s slate, which has given rise to speculation that one or more of the ministers - DPM Heng, Mr Tong or Dr Maliki Osman - might not be on the eventual line-up at the coming polls.
Dr Maliki is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and also Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs.
When asked about the EBRC’s changes and how the GRC’s slate would be tweaked, DPM Heng said that the changes were necessary to reflect the changing profiles of the population, given the new housing developments in the area.
“As to how we will divide the work, (that) is something which the Prime Minister and (PAP) secretary-general will decide,” he added.
“But for now, we are all elected MPs. We have been elected by the people and our focus is on making sure that we carry out whatever we have announced earlier.”
Mr Tan said the team had begun reaching out to the residents that have come under the new East Coast GRC boundaries.
These include the HDB flats in Chai Chee with about 20,000 residents that were also drawn into the constituency in the recent changes.
“We started reaching out to the grassroots leaders there, the volunteers there, to understand what they’re doing,” he said.
“More importantly for us is to understand what the residents need, and what are some things that we can do to extend the support to our residents in those areas, and also involve them in creating a more inclusive and caring East Coast together,” he said.
DPM Heng also spoke of the team’s targeted efforts within each ward, given that East Coast is a “very diverse constituency” with residents of different ages and occupations.
Dr Maliki said with the higher proportion of private property owners in his Siglap ward, the challenge has been to get them involved when carrying out upgrading work in the estate.
In Fengshan and Bedok where there are more senior citizens, Ms Cheryl Chan said the community care ambassador programme aims to look out for isolated seniors.
With the next five years looking to be a “very unpredictable” period given global events and conflicts, DPM Heng underscored the importance of having political stability and a sense of togetherness as a people.
“It’s critically important for us to stay together as one united people, and for us to continue to meet the challenges of the future,” he said.
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