Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen will not run in GE2025 after 24 years in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who has been an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC for 24 years, is stepping down from politics.
He made this announcement at a press conference on Friday (18 April), where the People’s Action Party (PAP) introduced two new faces for Bishan-Toa Payoh.
Source: Ng Eng Hen on Facebook
Ng Eng Hen to step aside for new blood during GE2025
Speaking to the media alongside the candidates for Bishan-Toa Payoh, Dr Ng said he’s stepping aside for new blood as leadership succession is a cardinal strength and virtue of the PAP.
Senior politicians like himself emulate the examples of their predecessors they saw when they came in as newbies, he noted, adding:
If older ones don’t step aside for new ones, you don’t prepare for the future. It’s as simple as that.
Mr Chong Kee Hiong, another former MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh, will also not contest GE2025.
Dr Ng Eng Hen and Mr Chong Kee Hiong. Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
Chee Hong Tat will lead Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC in GE2025
Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC will be led by Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, the PAP announced on Friday.
He will be joined by Mr Saktiandi Supaat, who has been an MP for the GRC since 2015, and two political newcomers.
Source: Chee Hong Tat on Facebook
The two new faces are charity director Elysa Chen, 41, and social entrepreneur Cai Yinzhou, 35.
Source: People’s Action Party on Facebook
Dr Ng said Mr Chee is “more than capable” and has improved the lives of residents in Bishan-Toa Payoh over the last 10 years he has been in the GRC.
Ms Gan Siow Huang will also be returning to contest Marymount SMC.
Ng Eng Hen is S’pore longest-serving Defence Minister
Dr Ng, 66, entered politics in 2001 when he was part of the team that contested Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
He has served there ever since, becoming Manpower Minister in 2004 and Education Minister in 2008.
In 2011, Dr Ng became Defence Minister and has remained at that post ever since, becoming Singapore’s longest-serving Defence Minister.
Source: Ng Eng Hen on Facebook
‘The road less travelled’: He reflects on 24 years in politics
In a Facebook post shortly after the announcement that he was stepping down, Dr Ng reflected on his 24 years in politics.
He said he was a busy surgeon who found “satisfaction and fulfilment” taking care of patients and had no other ambitions but to continue on that path.
However, when he was invited to serve as a PAP MP he said yes, thinking he could manage both.
But when asked to join the Government, it meant giving up his surgical practice — a difficult choice to make.
He consulted former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who advised him that it would take six months for him to find out if he could do it.
24 years later, at the end of “the road less travelled”, he described it having “made all the difference”, having found the friendship and support of “honest to goodness folk, salt of the earth people”.
He has also added “a lifetime of experiences and memories”, he said, adding:
And yet, even as I come out of the woods, more paths lie ahead. “The last of life, for which the first was made, The best is yet to be.”
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Amy Khor will not run for GE2025, PAP team contesting in Chua Chu Kang GRC sees 2 new faces
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Featured image adapted from Ng Eng Hen on Facebook and Chee Hong Tat on Facebook.
