Just six months have passed since he took over as MP for Hougang, but Mr Png Eng Huat has already become a familiar sight to residents.
As he brings Singapolitics on a tour around the ward, residents come up to him to chat and say hello. Others wave from across the road and from bus stops.
It is testament to how he has placed his own stamp on running the ward, a Workers’ Party (WP) stronghold which was under the charge of Mr Low Thia Khiang for 20 years.
While some had questioned in the May campaign if Mr Png was being overshadowed by his party chief, he is not bothered by the comparison.
“Low Thia Khiang has his own style. No one is a carbon copy of the other.
“Most of the time when I talk to residents, we don’t refer back to Low Thia Khiang. It’s all present issues and how I will solve it,” said Mr Png.
Part of his style, he said, lies in paying close attention to residents’ needs – from building benches, railings and paved walkways to asking about the bird nuisance and lift upgrading in Parliament.
Some of his top priorities are making Hougang elderly friendly and lobbying for an ATM or two to be built in the ward, which currently does not have any.
Mr Png also plans to expand a recent street soccer tournament for the young – a post-election pledge – into sports clinics where private estate residents and heartlanders can mingle.
One resident who approves of her MP’s hands-on approach is food stall assistant Lim Kim Hoi, 56.
She likes that Mr Png still keeps up Mr Low’s practice of visiting wakes and said the trips to Malaysia organised by the WP’s grassroots arm are very popular with her neighbours.
Asked if it is tough toggling between the nitty-gritty aspects of running the estate and big-picture policy issues, Mr Png said: “You must have a balance. If it’s all big things and you don’t know the ground, it’s not very healthy.”
While he has had to turn down requests like building power sockets at a void deck, he said he appreciates “when they come to me even with the smallest problem”.
He added: “At least I get to know the situation. I may not see the problem as you see it, but if you come to me and make me see your problem, that’s wonderful, at least I can understand you better.”
But in Parliament, Mr Png has also asked about population and infrastructure – topics he said he tracks closely. He also plans to speak on behalf of low wage workers and single mothers.
Mr Png’s opponent in the by-election has been keeping busy too.
The People’s Action Party’s Desmond Choo told Singapolitics that his work in Hougang continues, despite losing the election to Mr Png.
“Our work and commitment to residents are long term. The outcome of elections does not change our focus,” said Mr Choo, the ward’s grassroots adviser.
Mr Choo continues his “kopi session” with residents at the community club every Monday night.
He is still lobbying for a wet market to be built in Hougang – a pledge he had made ahead of the campaign. The National Development Ministry is evaluating his proposal, he said.
Mr Choo and his grassroots intend to expand ongoing schemes like a legal clinic, tuition programmes and transport subsidies for low-income students.
The battle over municipal issues
The fight for Hougang appears to have evolved into “municipal diplomacy” – with Mr Png and Mr Choo each striving to bring estate and community-level improvements to the ward while co-existing peacefully.
Both men met for lunch a couple of months ago and agreed to work for residents’ benefit.
Mr Png gives the go-ahead when grassroots groups ask for permission to hold events on areas run by the town council.
When Mr Choo and his grassroots leaders pushed for a new senior activity centre to be built in Hougang, Mr Png gave his blessings to the voluntary welfare organisation running the centre.
Mr Choo backed the WP town council’s nominations for the Home Improvement Programme (HIP) and Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) in Hougang. These national upgrading schemes can proceed only with the grassroots adviser’s support.
However, a bigger change seems to be afoot in Hougang. The ward, which has rarely benefited from national upgrading schemes in the past, is now getting three such programmes.
HIP and NRP were announced after the by-election, while the Lift Upgrading Programme is ongoing. Earlier this month, residents got to use a new bus service 116, part of the Government’s $1.1 billion Bus Service Enhancement Programme. Mr Png represented Aljunied GRC and Hougang in this national review of bus services.
The unprecedented amount of improvements has sparked talk that the PAP may have changed its stance towards placing opposition wards at the end of the upgrading queue.
Mr Choo said he could not comment on PAP leaders’ thinking, but “for us ground workers in Hougang, my alignment is with Hougang residents”.
He added: “If residents need it and it’s beneficial to them…We must try our best to lobby Government to get it for them.”
Mr Png said the PAP would know best if they have changed.
He noted that LUP has to be completed nationwide by 2014, while it is evident that the ageing estate needs sprucing up. “How long can you deny an estate upgrading? If you look at the estate, any person with a heart will know that it’s due for upgrading.”
His goal, however, remains unchanged: “People will be the judge of it at the end. Whether with upgrading or no upgrading, the bottomline is we must run this estate and run it well.”
