Ng Chee Meng likely to run in PAP stronghold in next GE: Observers

He may be fielded in a safer GRC like Jurong or Ang Mo Kio and not return to Sengkang

- Anjali Raguraman , Zaihan Mohamed Yusof 

Labour chief Ng Chee Meng is likely to run for the next general election, but in constituencies such as Jurong GRC or Ang Mo Kio GRC, said political observers.

They added that he will probably not return to Sengkang GRC, where a four-man People's Action Party team led by Mr Ng lost to the Workers' Party during the 2020 General Election with 47.88 per cent of the votes.

Speculation on Mr Ng making a comeback during the next general election intensified when he made an appearance at a Hari Raya Aidilfitri event organised by the FairPrice Group in Bukit Batok on April 21. Bukit Batok's sitting MP, Mr Murali Pillai from the PAP, was also at the event.

However, Mr Ng told reporters on April 25 that people should not "read too much" into the event, and that such appearances are part of NTUC's regular groundwork.

A Cabinet minister has traditionally held the post of NTUC secretary-general. The practice began with Mr Lim Chee Onn, who was the first labour chief to be appointed minister in the Prime Minister's Office in 1980.

Mr Ng who has been NTUC secretary-general since 2018 is the first labour chief in decades who is not also a sitting MP.

"Despite not being a current PAP MP, his continuing as NTUC secretary-general in the past four years indicates that the ruling party leadership has significant plans for him should he be elected," said Singapore Management University associate professor of law Eugene Tan.

"The symbiotic relationship between the PAP and NTUC makes it imperative for Mr Ng to be elected if he is to continue as the labour chief."

Prof Tan added: "There are options for the PAP as to where he could be fielded, but it is unlikely he will be fielded in an SMC and even more unlikely to be fielded again in Sengkang GRC." Observers suggested that Mr Ng is likely to be fielded in a PAP stronghold instead.