WP's Andre Low to take 'hands-on' approach to Parliament if elected

He sees himself advocating policies that matter to younger people, such as housing

- Aqil Hamzah and Wong Pei Ting Correspondent

Growing up around his father, who was a design and technology teacher, meant that Mr Andre Low was taught to be "hands-on" from a young age.

The pair bonded through doing things such as fixing light bulbs and splicing wires to extend power cords.

When the 33-year-old and his wife moved into their resale flat in Punggol three years ago, Mr Low did most of the home renovations himself, including the installation of ceiling fans and some of the plumbing.

That mentality has carried over to Mr Low's activities in the opposition WP, too, with the self-taught coder being responsible for refreshing the party's website into its present form.

The party unveiled Mr Low on April 18 as a candidate, although it did not disclose where he will contest.

Mr Low hopes to take this same hands-on approach into Parliament if he is elected, he told The Sunday Times on April 18 at the void deck of a Housing Board block in Rivervale, where he once served as an aide to incumbent Sengkang MP Louis Chua.

It is Mr Low's hope that Singapore would become a more open society.

"Ironically, back in the 90s and 80s, which we think about as a time when debate was much more circumscribed, it felt like there was more room to talk about issues. Singapore society has really been curtailed, and chopped off at the edges," said the disputes lawyer turned staff product manager at a global financial technology firm.

Mr Low's journey into politics was accidental.

His parents are opposition supporters, and his political leanings are aligned with theirs.

Yet his intention when he started volunteering with WP in 2020, before the general election that year, was just "to be an additional pair of hands" and help in whatever way he could.