Ang Wei Neng hopes to continue serving residents in West Coast GRC

Three-term MP Ang Wei Neng said he hopes to continue serving residents in West Coast GRC and see through the work he has started.

"Of course, it's not up to me to say, it's up to Prime Minister (Lawrence Wong) whether he wants to field me," he said on Feb 15, on the sidelines of the official opening of the first cycling bridge in Jurong West - which is part of West Coast GRC.

Mr Ang, 58, has represented the Nanyang division of West Coast GRC since 2020. In the preceding two terms, from 2011 to 2020, he represented the Jurong Central division of Jurong GRC.

West Coast saw the closest fight in the 2020 General Election, where the People's Action Party team won with just 51.68 per cent of the vote against the Progress Singapore Party.

The group representation constituency is currently one member down following the resignation of former transport minister S. Iswaran after a corruption probe. The MPs in West Coast GRC are National Development Minister Desmond Lee, Ms Foo Mee Har, Ms Rachel Ong and Mr Ang.

New faces spotted at West Coast GRC in the past few months include Sembcorp head of corporate affairs Valerie Lee and entrepreneur Chua Wei-Shan. But both women do not fulfil the GRC's ethnic minority requirement.

When asked about potential new faces on the ground, Mr Ang referred to the Feb 14 resignation of two Nominated MPs - lawyer Raj Joshua Thomas and psychiatrist Syed Harun Alhabsyi.

The move has fuelled speculation that they could be fielded as candidates in the coming general election.

In his resignation letter, Dr Syed Harun said he intends to "explore opportunity for political service". Mr Thomas said he is "dedicated to serving Singapore" and is "contemplating doing so in a different way".

Mr Ang said that while he does not know if both men will be seen at West Coast, he pointed out that the GRC needed one minority candidate, "which is Indian or others".

He said: "If there's no change (to the electoral boundaries), and it's the original West Coast GRC, it has to be one Indian candidate - that's as much as I can say."

He added: "If there's a boundary change because of Tengah, and Tengah is huge... we need to accommodate this change and I don't know what's the impact. So we wait for the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report."

Mr Ang said that when he first came to the Nanyang ward at West Coast GRC, 147 blocks of flats were eligible for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), but only 10 had completed it. HIP is a government-funded programme that helps maintain older Housing Board flats.

Since then, work has been completed for 20 blocks, with 40 more currently undergoing works. Another 50 blocks are slated for HIP.

"I hope to see (the HIP works) through if given the opportunity," Mr Ang said.

He also highlighted other estate improvement projects such as the building of 13 covered linkways, nine fitness corners, eight playgrounds, six covered drop-off porches and three community gardens.

The official opening of the cycling bridge was also attended by Mr Lee, the anchor minister of West Coast GRC.