GE2025: PAP's Desmond Choo to contest Tampines Changkat SMC

After a decade overseeing the Tampines Changkat ward as part of the PAP's Tampines GRC team, Mr Desmond Choo will contest the newly carved out Tampines Changkat SMC.

The 47-year-old was announced as the party's candidate in the single seat by Social and Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli during a press conference at Tampines GreenVines on April 16.

Mr Masagos is the anchor minister for the PAP team in Tampines GRC.

"For more than a decade, I have had the honour of serving our Changkat residents, not just as a Member of Parliament, but also as their advocate and friend," Mr Choo said at the same press conference.

"Changkat, to me, has always been more than a constituency. It is our home, a place where we have built a caring, resilient community."

Joining politics in 2010, Mr Choo made his political debut during the 2011 General Election in Hougang SMC, when he lost to WP's Yaw Shin Leong, who secured 64.8 per cent of the vote.

He was fielded by the PAP again the following year during the Hougang SMC by-election, this time losing to WP's Png Eng Huat, who received 62.08 per cent of the vote.

The two losses taught him "how to serve better, how to guide my people better, and how to be a better person", he said on April 16.

Mr Choo, who is assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and director of its policy division, added that the experiences he had gleaned then later shaped his approach to serving residents in the Tampines Changkat ward since 2015, when he was first elected as an MP for Tampines GRC.

He added that since the release of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report in March, some residents in the ward have asked him to stay on to represent them.

With Tampines Changkat SMC now carved out of Tampines GRC as a single seat, and Mr Choo moving over to contest the constituency, the PAP slate for the group representation constituency has had to undergo a refresh.

The five-member team, led by Mr Masagos, will continue fielding incumbents Koh Poh Koon and Baey Yam Keng.

Two PAP newcomers - former army chief David Neo and marketing professor Charlene Chen - will make up the rest of the Tampines GRC team.

At the press conference, Mr Masagos said the Tampines Changkat single-member constituency is "still part of Tampines".

He added that Mr Choo "will always remain part of our team", and that the ward will continue to be included in plans for the town.

Mr Choo, who is also North East District Mayor, said: "With the formation of our new single-member constituency, some may ask, 'Are we on our own?' Let me assure residents, as Mr Masagos had, (that) our deep ties with Tampines GRC continue."