SINGAPORE: The People's Action Party (PAP) on Tuesday (Apr 15) launched a website with details of the East Coast Plan, including interactive maps showing improved facilities and ongoing works of community spaces within different areas in East Coast.
The website - titled East Side, Best Side - comprises five sections: the plan, the progress, the promise, the people and the pulse.
It illustrates what has been done for East Coast GRC residents from 2020 to 2025. This includes strengthening financial aid for lower-income families and expanding access to healthcare; encouraging urban farming and food sustainability; and programmes that promote digital and lifelong learning as well as intergenerational bonding.
It also showcases ongoing and newly finished infrastructure improvement via an interactive map for each area in the GRC: Bedok, Changi Simei, Fengshan, Kampong Chai Chee, Chai Chee, Siglap and Joo Chiat.
The website outlines eight pillars in the East Coast Plan for the next five years - to make East Coast a place to learn, care, eat, pray, conserve, play, shape the future, and a place for all.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, anchor minister for the five-member East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the previous General Election, was absent from the event.
He was at the annual Administrative Service dinner on Tuesday night.
The "East Coast Plan" catchphrase went viral after Mr Heng's Nomination Day gaffe at the 2020 General Election when he stumbled over his speech while introducing his plan for East Coast residents. He has since publicly embraced his slip-up.
From left: PAP new face Hazlina Abdul Halim, Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jessica Tan and PAP new face Goh Pei Ming at the launch of the new East Coast website on Apr 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting)
Addressing questions about Mr Heng's absence on Tuesday evening, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong told reporters that Mr Heng was at another event.
"But DPM Heng remains part of the East Coast and he is currently serving as the grassroots advisor as well as the MP looking after (the) Bedok (ward)," Mr Tong said.
Mr Tong's current ward of Joo Chiat in Marine Parade GRC - as well as part of the Kembangan-Chai Chee ward - were shifted to East Coast GRC following the redrawing of electoral boundaries.
Asked whether he could now be the anchor minister in the PAP's East Coast slate for the coming election, he said: "I think DPM has made the point quite clear. We will be able to confirm it when our (secretary-general) clears the team.
"And as you know, there's a regular cadence of teams being announced starting a few days ago, and in due course, East Coast GRC will also be announced."
Singaporeans will head to the polls on May 3 for the country’s 14th General Election, after President Tharman Shanmugaratnam dissolved parliament on Tuesday. Nomination Day is on Apr 23.
Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How speaking at a media preview for the new East Coast website on Apr 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting)
Also present to launch the East Coast Plan website on Tuesday were Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, previous Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jessica Tan, as well as PAP new faces Hazlina Abdul Halim and Goh Pei Ming.
Mr Tan and Ms Tan were elected Members of Parliament (MPs) for East Coast GRC in the previous election.
Mdm Hazlina will be taking the place of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Mohamad Maliki Osman - part of PAP's winning team for East Coast in 2020 - in the upcoming election.
Dr Maliki said last Saturday that he wouldn’t be contesting in East Coast GRC in the election, although he declined to say if he would be retiring from politics or redeployed to another constituency.
In the 2020 election, East Coast was a fiercely contested GRC between the PAP and Workers' Party. The PAP garnered 53.39 per cent of the votes, marking one of its narrowest victories in the General Election.
The PAP’s 2020 outcome in East Coast was a decline from the 60.73 per cent achieved in 2015.
Mr Tong on Tuesday pointed out that every election is "tough" and "we never take it for granted", in response to a question about his thoughts on possibly going up against WP at the coming election.
"We respect our opponents, whoever they might be. But we do want to emphasise the work that has been done and continue to endeavour to work hard to (help) our residents. That ultimately is key, and the most important aspect of a local MP's job," he said.
"Beyond that, there's also the consideration of the broader interest of Singapore, beyond East Coast. And the election is not just about the local MP, but also about the selection of the government, and the ability of the government to look after Singapore ... and Singaporeans in the long-term."
Mr Goh, the former Singapore Armed Forces Chief of Staff - Joint Staff, has been volunteering in Kampong Chai Chee since 2007, becoming chairman of its Community Club Management Committee in 2021 and vice-chairman of its Citizens’ Consultative Committee in 2019.
He told reporters that he was waiting for the slate and his deployment to be finalised, but was "making full use of every opportunity to better understand the ground" in the meantime.
"I may be familiar with Kampong Chai Chee and Bedok, since I grew up here, but there are other parts of East Coast GRC and there's a lot more that I need to learn. So I'm eagerly ... making my way around," he said.
Mdm Hazlina, a former broadcast journalist and head of a non-profit organisation, said that she has noticed during her walkabouts that "being able to have the space to build strong, resilient families" was important for East Coast residents.
"I think every community is really close in East Coast. Having that opportunity to continue genuine connections and shared aspirations appears to be top of the mind for East Coast residents," she said.
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The website - titled East Side, Best Side - comprises five sections: the plan, the progress, the promise, the people and the pulse.
It illustrates what has been done for East Coast GRC residents from 2020 to 2025. This includes strengthening financial aid for lower-income families and expanding access to healthcare; encouraging urban farming and food sustainability; and programmes that promote digital and lifelong learning as well as intergenerational bonding.
It also showcases ongoing and newly finished infrastructure improvement via an interactive map for each area in the GRC: Bedok, Changi Simei, Fengshan, Kampong Chai Chee, Chai Chee, Siglap and Joo Chiat.
The website outlines eight pillars in the East Coast Plan for the next five years - to make East Coast a place to learn, care, eat, pray, conserve, play, shape the future, and a place for all.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, anchor minister for the five-member East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the previous General Election, was absent from the event.
He was at the annual Administrative Service dinner on Tuesday night.
The "East Coast Plan" catchphrase went viral after Mr Heng's Nomination Day gaffe at the 2020 General Election when he stumbled over his speech while introducing his plan for East Coast residents. He has since publicly embraced his slip-up.
From left: PAP new face Hazlina Abdul Halim, Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jessica Tan and PAP new face Goh Pei Ming at the launch of the new East Coast website on Apr 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting)
DPM HENG "REMAINS PART OF THE EAST COAST"
Addressing questions about Mr Heng's absence on Tuesday evening, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong told reporters that Mr Heng was at another event.
"But DPM Heng remains part of the East Coast and he is currently serving as the grassroots advisor as well as the MP looking after (the) Bedok (ward)," Mr Tong said.
Mr Tong's current ward of Joo Chiat in Marine Parade GRC - as well as part of the Kembangan-Chai Chee ward - were shifted to East Coast GRC following the redrawing of electoral boundaries.
Asked whether he could now be the anchor minister in the PAP's East Coast slate for the coming election, he said: "I think DPM has made the point quite clear. We will be able to confirm it when our (secretary-general) clears the team.
"And as you know, there's a regular cadence of teams being announced starting a few days ago, and in due course, East Coast GRC will also be announced."
Singaporeans will head to the polls on May 3 for the country’s 14th General Election, after President Tharman Shanmugaratnam dissolved parliament on Tuesday. Nomination Day is on Apr 23.
Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How speaking at a media preview for the new East Coast website on Apr 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting)
Also present to launch the East Coast Plan website on Tuesday were Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, previous Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jessica Tan, as well as PAP new faces Hazlina Abdul Halim and Goh Pei Ming.
Mr Tan and Ms Tan were elected Members of Parliament (MPs) for East Coast GRC in the previous election.
Mdm Hazlina will be taking the place of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Mohamad Maliki Osman - part of PAP's winning team for East Coast in 2020 - in the upcoming election.
Dr Maliki said last Saturday that he wouldn’t be contesting in East Coast GRC in the election, although he declined to say if he would be retiring from politics or redeployed to another constituency.
In the 2020 election, East Coast was a fiercely contested GRC between the PAP and Workers' Party. The PAP garnered 53.39 per cent of the votes, marking one of its narrowest victories in the General Election.
The PAP’s 2020 outcome in East Coast was a decline from the 60.73 per cent achieved in 2015.
Mr Tong on Tuesday pointed out that every election is "tough" and "we never take it for granted", in response to a question about his thoughts on possibly going up against WP at the coming election.
"We respect our opponents, whoever they might be. But we do want to emphasise the work that has been done and continue to endeavour to work hard to (help) our residents. That ultimately is key, and the most important aspect of a local MP's job," he said.
"Beyond that, there's also the consideration of the broader interest of Singapore, beyond East Coast. And the election is not just about the local MP, but also about the selection of the government, and the ability of the government to look after Singapore ... and Singaporeans in the long-term."
Mr Goh, the former Singapore Armed Forces Chief of Staff - Joint Staff, has been volunteering in Kampong Chai Chee since 2007, becoming chairman of its Community Club Management Committee in 2021 and vice-chairman of its Citizens’ Consultative Committee in 2019.
He told reporters that he was waiting for the slate and his deployment to be finalised, but was "making full use of every opportunity to better understand the ground" in the meantime.
"I may be familiar with Kampong Chai Chee and Bedok, since I grew up here, but there are other parts of East Coast GRC and there's a lot more that I need to learn. So I'm eagerly ... making my way around," he said.
Mdm Hazlina, a former broadcast journalist and head of a non-profit organisation, said that she has noticed during her walkabouts that "being able to have the space to build strong, resilient families" was important for East Coast residents.
"I think every community is really close in East Coast. Having that opportunity to continue genuine connections and shared aspirations appears to be top of the mind for East Coast residents," she said.
Continue reading...