Gan Siow Huang Prepared for Tough Fight in Defending Marymount Seat

Minister of State for Manpower and Education Gan Siow Huang said she is prepared for a tough fight as she defends her single seat of Marymount in the coming general election.

- Hazel Tang HW

But five years after the former air force general made her electoral debut, Ms Gan said on April 20 that she is confident she has built a community in Marymount, and that residents know who she is beyond her military background.

Speaking to The Straits Times between a Hari Raya celebration and a temple dinner to celebrate sea goddess Mazu's birthday, Ms Gan said she and her team intend to step up their pace of resident outreach over the nine days of the campaign period, even as they have been very active for the past five years.

Ms Gan, 50, said she was "thankful for winning GE2020, not by a big margin", against PSP's former assistant secretary-general Ang Yong Guan.

In 2020, she won 55.04 per cent of the vote against Dr Ang's 44.96 per cent. PSP said in February that Dr Ang, a psychiatrist, would not be contesting the coming general election, following a three-year suspension of his medical licence for professional misconduct.

Instead, Ms Gan will face off against Mr Jeffrey Khoo, who was part of PSP's best performing team at the 2020 polls, which took 48.32 per cent of the vote in West Coast GRC.