Jalan Kayu SMC has captured media attention as labour chief Ng Chee Meng faces Workers’ Party candidate Andre Low in a contest marked by recent controversies.
The NTUC leader has faced questions about the halted Income-Allianz deal, which the Government stopped in October 2024. Ng addressed this at a 27 Apr rally, noting he initiated a review within NTUC Enterprise and acknowledged: “In NTUC, we will do our best, and sometimes, I’m sorry that it is not good enough, but… we will do better.”
Union leaders have come forward to show support for him.
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The 56-year-old NTUC secretary-general Ng has highlighted how his union experience can benefit Jalan Kayu residents with job concerns. “Maybe with that dose of age, of having seen different things, I am able to translate fresh ideas into real possibilities,” Ng stated during a coffee shop interview.
An example of how he managed to make changes is through the SkillsFuture JobSeeker Support Scheme.
Ng identified key local issues including job security worries among younger residents, long Build-to-Order flat waiting times, and rising living costs affecting all age groups. Elderly residents have voiced needs for more lifts and sheltered walkways.
His candidacy draws attention partly due to his previous electoral experience—Ng lost his parliamentary seat when WP won Sengkang GRC in 2020. From that defeat, he learned “the humility that one learns over 10 years in political service. You do your best, and really listen more and more.”
Meanwhile, his 33-year-old WP opponent Andre Low has thrust Jalan Kayu into headlines as well.
WP Andre Low’s Leaked Messages
For Low, his spotlight isn’t positive: leaked Telegram messages from a private chat with business school classmates surfaced on social media on 29 Apr.
The messages showed Low using profanity about a resident who contacted him after a Meet-the-People session, as well as disparaging comments about the government, TraceTogether, CNA, and Grab drivers.
In his public apology, Low described the messages as “rants” mostly from the Covid-19 pandemic period. “I am not proud of the way I expressed my views, and I am deeply sorry for the language I used. It was in a different stage of my life,” he wrote.
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Low joined WP in 2020 and served as secretarial assistant to MP Louis Chua after the party’s Sengkang GRC victory. During the pandemic, he built a digital Meet-the-People Sessions solution for residents to reach their MP.
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