General Election 2025

[LITTLEREDDOT]

SAF Chief of Staff Goh Pei Ming steps down ahead of GE2025​

SAF Chief of Staff - Joint Staff Goh Pei Ming has held various senior command appointments within the SAF.ST PHOTO: FELINE LIM

Anjali Raguraman
Apr 01, 2025

SINGAPORE - SAF Chief of Staff - Joint Staff Goh Pei Ming has left the armed forces, raising speculation that he is likely to be fielded in the upcoming general election.

The brigadier-general confirmed with The Straits Times that March 31 was his last day with the Singapore Armed Forces, but did not comment on his next move or whether he will stand in the election.

Mr Goh, 42, also served concurrently as SAF Inspector-General and chief sustainability officer.

His departure is the latest in a string of resignations from the public sector in recent weeks, which has fuelled talk that these senior officers will be fielded in the general election.

Mr Goh has held various senior command appointments within the SAF.

These include Director of Joint Operations, commander of the 3rd Singapore Division and head of the Joint Plans and Transformation Department.

He chaired the National Day Parade organising committee in 2022, and was previously deployed to Afghanistan.

As at March 29, Mr Goh had a newly-created public Facebook profile.

He currently serves as chairman of the Kampong Chai Chee Community Club Management Committee.

An alumni of Victoria Junior College, he holds a civil engineering degree from Cornell University in the United States.

He also holds a Masters in Defence Studies from King’s College London in the United Kingdom, and a Masters in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University in the US.

Mr Goh is the third person from the military who has been touted as a potential candidate.

Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash, a former brigadier-general, has stepped down as chief executive of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) and will likely be fielded in the upcoming polls.

The other possible candidate is Major-General David Neo, who stepped down as Chief of Army on March 21.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

GE2025: WP’s likely replacement for Raeesah Khan outlines plans for improvements in Sengkang​

Potential WP candidate Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik (in grey shirt) seen at a Sengkang GRC townhall meeting on March 29. He is a senior property manager at Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY

Ang Qing
Apr 02, 2025

SINGAPORE - A potential WP candidate expected to fill the empty seat in Sengkang GRC has assured residents in Ms Raeesah Khan’s former ward of Compassvale that he will work to address lift issues in the estate.

In an Instagram post on April 1, Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik, a senior property manager at Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), said he will work closely with the WP MPs in Sengkang GRC to identify and address the root causes of these lift problems.

Sharing photos of his house visits, he said Compassvale residents flagged these concerns about lifts, which “are a crucial mode of vertical transport in Singapore, especially for the elderly”.

The public promise to Sengkang GRC’s residents is the strongest indication yet that Mr Abdul Muhaimin, 35, could be fielded in the four-member constituency at the upcoming general election.

Citing his experience managing lifts in a town council for nearly a decade since August 2015, Mr Abdul Muhaimin said he understands what it takes to keep lifts running safely and reliably.

He said: “Asking the right questions, listening closely, and pushing for fixes - that’s how we lift Sengkang GRC up, together”.

Mr Abdul Muhaimin is no stranger to Compassvale, as he has been helping out at monthly Meet-The-People Sessions in the ward under the mentorship of Aljunied GRC MP Faisal Manap.


Mr Faisal - WP’s vice-chair - has been advising the Sengkang team after Ms Khan admitted to lying to Parliament and resigned from her post in December 2021. Following Ms Khan’s departure, the Compassvale ward was split among her remaining teammates He Ting Ru, Louis Chua and Jamus Lim.

While the WP has not formally unveiled Mr Abdul Muhaimin as a candidate, a Facebook page identifying him as a politician was set up on April 1, shortly after an Instagram account that publicised his groundwork.

This comes after the Elections Department confirmed on March 27 that Sengkang GRC will need at least one candidate from the Malay community.

He has been seen at community events involving the Sengkang MPs since 2023, with his involvement in walkabouts and house visits featuring more prominently in the subsequent years.

On March 8, WP chief Pritam Singh posted a photo of Mr Abdul Muhaimin with Ms He, Associate Professor Lim and Mr Chua outside Masjid Al-Mawaddah in Compassvale Bow, referring to the group as “Team Sengkang GRC”.

Most recently, he has been photographed greeting and serving residents with the Sengkang MPs at the constituency’s mass break-fast celebration and a Hari Raya Puasa visit to Al-Mawaddah. He was also spotted interacting with residents at a March 29 townhall meeting by Sengkang MPs for their constituents to discuss national and local issues.

According to Mr Muhaimin’s social media profiles, he studied at Tampines Junior College and was appointed as a platoon commander during his national service in the Singapore Civil Defence Force.

After graduating from Nanyang Technological University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2015, he joined the town council as an assistant lift manager.

Less than three years later in 2018, he was tasked with managing other projects on top of his lift portfolio.

For the financial years of 2021 to 2023, AHTC was among 14 of Singapore’s town councils that received top ratings from the Government for estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance and service and conservancy charges (S&CC) arrears management.

To score the top rating for lift performance, town councils must ensure that there are fewer than two lift faults per 10 lifts per month, and less than one hour of downtime per lift each month.

Sengkang Town Council also hit the top banding for all areas for the financial years of 2021 and 2022, except for S&CC arrears management, which it was marked down for.

This improved the next financial year, making it the first time that all town councils scored full marks since the Government started issuing reports on town council management in 2010.

The Straits Times has contacted WP for further comment.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

GE2025: Trade unionist Natasha Choy joins Desmond Lee’s team in West Coast​

National Development Minister Desmond Lee and trade unionist Natasha Choy at an event held in Jalan Mas Kuning on April 2.ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

Hariz Baharudin
Apr 02, 2025

SINGAPORE - PAP fresh face and trade unionist Natasha Choy has joined National Development Minister Desmond Lee’s team in West Coast GRC and getting a grip on key issues and initiatives rolled out in the area.

Ms Choy, who is in her 30s, was seen with Mr Lee, an MP for West Coast GRC, on April 2, at an event held in Jalan Mas Kuning, a landed enclave off Clementi Avenue 2.

Responding to questions from reporters, Mr Lee said: “Natasha has joined us recently. She’s an active member of NTUC, a trade unionist, and she’s coming here to learn about the community, and initiatives that we have rolled out.

“And we hope she will contribute actively to active ageing, youth engagement, community bonding, as well as to ensure that we improve the infrastructure, not just in West Coast, but in other parts of our districts as well.”

Ms Choy, who did not speak to reporters, has been seen in West Coast GRC community events since mid-February.

When the latest electoral boundary changes - unveiled on March 11 - take effect, West Coast GRC will absorb parts of Jurong GRC, and become West Coast-Jurong West GRC when Singaporeans go to the polls.

Also, parts of West Coast GRC like HarbourFront and Sentosa will be hived off to form Radin Mas SMC, and areas like Dover and Telok Blangah will merge with Tanjong Pagar GRC.

The new West Coast-Jurong West GRC will be a five-member one, and it will have 158,581 voters, up from the 144,516 voters in West Coast GRC during the 2020 General Election.

The PAP won West Coast GRC with 51.68 per cent of the vote against the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), led by Dr Tan Cheng Bock, a former PAP stalwart, who helped form PSP in 2019.

In recent months, members of the PSP’s 2020 slate, including Non-Constituency MPs Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa, have been spotted in the West Coast area.

West Coast GRC was helmed by former Transport Minister S. Iswaran, who resigned in January 2024 amid a corruption probe. He was later found guilty of illegally obtaining gifts as a public servant, and given 12 months’ jail.

The PAP has not revealed its slate for West Coast–Jurong West GRC but Mr Lee is expected to be joined by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Finance Shawn Huang.

Mr Huang oversees the Taman Jurong and Jurong Spring wards in Jurong GRC — both of which now fall under the new West Coast–Jurong West constituency.

Another fresh face who is widely expected to stand for election is orthopaedic surgeon Hamid Razak, who has been active in the Jurong Spring area.

Apart from Mr Lee, West Coast GRC MPs includes Ms Foo Mee Har and Mr Ang Wei Neng, both of whom have served three terms.

The general election must be held by November, but is widely expected to take place in the next few months.