Race hots up in Tampines as multi-cornered fights loom

With battle lines redrawn and significant changes to many constituencies, which will be the ones under the spotlight in GE2025? The Straits Times dives into the issues and concerns on the ground in Tampines, where both a GRC and an SMC will be contested.

- Aqil Hamzah David Sun Correspondent

Since its formation in 1988, Tampines GRC has borne witness to a two-way electoral race at every general election except in 1997, when there was a walkover.

But at the upcoming election, up to three opposition parties could end up contesting both the group representation constituency of about 147,900 voters and the newly carved out single seat of Tampines Changkat with around 23,800 voters.

Even before the electoral boundaries were redrawn on March 11, there was talk of a possible four-way showdown between the incumbent PAP, the WP, National Solidarity Party (NSP) and People's Power Party (PPP).

The NSP contested Tampines GRC in the 2020 election, while the PPP staked its claim in late February. The WP has been walking the area over the past two years, and looks set to field a team there as well.

More than 280,000 people, or about 5 per cent of Singapore's population, live in Tampines. Of these, some 170,000 are registered electors.

Almost one in four residents in Tampines is Malay, making it the GRC with the highest proportion of Malay voters.

Its Malay population, at 23.6 per cent, is 10 percentage points above the national average, based on an ST analysis using Department of Statistics data from the 2020 population census.

Despite Tampines being a mature town, its population has continued climbing on account of new housing projects in recent years.

These include new Housing Board Build-To-Order projects in Tampines North such as Tampines GreenCourt, GreenDew and GreenFoliage.

Treasure at Tampines, completed in 2023, is Singapore's largest condominium, with more than 2,200 units.

The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee has carved out Tampines Changkat, where the condo is located, because of population growth.

In the upcoming election, the five-member Tampines GRC will take in parts of the current Aljunied GRC, while losing some to the new Tampines Changkat SMC.