SINGAPORE: Wildlife issues and difficulties for seniors in accessing digital support vouchers were among the challenges raised by Pulau Ubin residents, as a team from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) visited the island on Friday (Apr 11).

The island, with about 30 registered residents, was redrawn into the boundaries of the new Pasir Ris-Changi Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the latest review of the country’s electoral map. 

A PAP contingent consisting of Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Desmond Tan, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and Health Janil Puthucheary, Mr Sharael Taha and new face Valerie Lee, spent about an hour and a half speaking to residents there, accompanied by about 15 party volunteers.

Speaking to the media after the visit, Ms Lee said the team “had a great time really understanding the concerns of the residents living there”.

“Top of the line will definitely be a little wildlife challenges, which is why we kind of reiterate that we will work quite closely with (the National Parks Board) in the future to really help solve that,” said the head of corporate affairs for Singapore and Southeast Asia at Sembcorp Industries.

“Of course, on the island there's a lot of elderlies that we will continue to really support,” she said, adding that the team got their contact numbers so that they could directly assist them moving forward.

Some of the challenges faced by the mostly senior demographic of the island included redeeming government support vouchers, such as the Climate Vouchers, said Ms Lee.

UNIQUE ISLANDER CONCERNS

During the PAP team’s walkabout, residents spoke about unique challenges such as wild monkeys stealing rambutans from their trees and the limited electricity generation capabilities on the island.

Some also hoped for new developments to help draw visitors back to the island.

Madam Ng Ngak Heng, who has lived on Pulau Ubin for 50 years, told CNA: “It is very quiet here these days. There’s not many visitors anymore. People go to other places for holiday, such as Malaysia.

“This kampung life is special, nowadays you can’t easily find it anymore,” the 75-year-old said in Mandarin. 

Madam Ng, who runs a provision store on the island, also noted that there have been works done to pave the roads and make commuting smoother.

A NEW CONSTITUENCY

The five-member Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC was reconfigured into two GRCs - Pasir Ris-Changi and Punggol - in the latest electoral boundaries review.

The ruling PAP, anchored by Senior Minister Teo, won there in 2020 with 64.16 per cent of the vote after a three-cornered fight with Peoples Voice and the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA).

Due to the rise in the voter numbers since the last General Election, the Punggol estates were carved out and merged with Punggol West SMC to form the new four-member Punggol GRC.

The remaining districts were then merged with adjacent areas from East Coast GRC, notably the Loyang and Flora estates, to form a new four-member Pasir Ris-Changi GRC.

The new Pasir Ris-Changi GRC will have 100,639 voters, with 87,768 from Pasir Ris-Punggol and 12,871 from East Coast.

So far, the SDA has announced that it will contest in the new Pasir Ris-Changi GRC. It has contested the Pasir Ris-Punggol constituency for every election since 2006. 

Mr Tan acknowledged the SDA challenge in the ward, but reiterated that the PAP team’s focus would be to serve the residents in Pasir Ris and now Changi.

When asked about how the party is handling the shift of the Changi and Pulau Ubin areas into the new constituency, Mr Sharael shared that “there's been a lot of collaboration already” in understanding the residents now under their charge and “we continue to work together on that”.

Ms Lee said her presence on the ground in the ward shows that she really wants to work with everyone there, from party volunteers to the incumbent MPs, to serve the residents.

She added that “the party would have to decide on that” when asked about the PAP slate in Pasir Ris-Changi GRC.

Meanwhile, Mr Teo did not answer any questions during the session with the media, choosing instead to defer all queries to his younger colleagues.

Only when the team was asked why Dr Puthucheary attended the walkabout, but did not stand with the team during the media interview, did Mr Teo respond: “You can draw your own conclusions.”