Jurong GRC MP Xie Yao Quan loves to sing and he demonstrates it by singing not one but two songs for the camera — Jay Chou's "Waiting For You" and "Danger" by Korean boyband BTS.

The verdict? This man can really hold a tune. Bonus points too for delivering the Korean lyrics flawlessly from memory.

If it is not already clear, Xie is a fan of BTS and he's not ashamed of it.

He likes the way their personalities shine through their music. His favourite member is RM whose songwriting "captivates me a lot".

He also belongs to the group of fans who prefer the Korean boyband's older songs. Aside from "Danger", Xie is partial to the band's Cypher series and their raps.

"And, of course, cannot miss out 'MIC Drop'. My favorite."

It's a glimpse into a less serious side of him, one which might not come out often to the public because of his "very serious work" as a Member of Parliament, he says.

"It is serious work because we have a duty to represent Singaporeans voices in Parliament. So that's a solemn duty. And we have a duty as well to care for the residents in our respective constituencies and to solve their problems...Every problem is a big problem to residents. And we bear both the emotional and the physical burden of these problems when residents come to us."

Volunteered at Meet-The-People sessions for years

Xie was fielded in the 2020 General Election when his fellow party candidate Ivan Lim bowed out of the race due to widespread criticism about his character. At 35, Xie is not the youngest PAP candidate but he is younger than the average new PAP candidate (42.7 years) fielded this year.

The full-time healthcare administrator has been a community volunteer with the party for a few years, helping at Meet-The-People sessions.

He also said before that running for elections was his way of stepping forward to be counted so as to "continue this Singapore story".

Inspired by ex-MP Lee Bee Wah

Now that he has been elected, Xie, who is part of Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's GRC team, has quite the task at hand.

This week, the 14th Parliament of Singapore will convene for its first session where Xie will deliver his maiden speech as a Jurong GRC MP.

This speech will bookend the start of his political career. For this reason, it will have to be significant, personal, memorable (hopefully), and as we find out on the day of our chat, is still missing a topic three days before Parliament sits.

"I actually haven't quite decided what I want to focus on in my maiden speech," he laughs.

There are issues that are close to his heart — seniors, vulnerable families, people with disabilities — all of which deserve plenty of airtime. But Xie says that he wants to hear more from his residents before he picks a topic for his first speech as an MP.

"The more residents I meet, the more stories I collect, and I want the maiden speech to be — and all future speeches, in fact, in Parliament — to really be a reflection of my residents' stories."

Perhaps then, it is quite apt that Xie finds inspiration in the speeches of ex-Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah.

Lee (also known as Sister Flower to her residents) was known to pepper her Parliamentary speeches with anecdotes from residents. That coupled with her confident delivery makes for quite an entertaining watch.

Xie has also been following the parliamentary speeches of his cousin, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung, who has personally reminded the newbie MP to be humble and put residents first.

"I aspire to be like him someday, in terms of the way he's able to communicate to people about policies, about ideas and explaining some of the things that need to be done, and the way in which he can connect with people."

Seeing himself and his mum in his residents

He might not have settled on a topic for his speech, but Xie is able to share two areas he intends to focus on during his five-year term:

1. Seniors and how we can care for them holistically
2. Low-income families and giving their children a fair shot in life

One of his residents, an old lady who lives alone, has a habit of knocking her floor with a bamboo stick, which annoys her neighbour downstairs to no end.

"And then as I work my way down to the unit below, it's also a senior living alone!"

Elderly people living alone is a growing trend and Xie wishes to see more eyes and ears in the community who can keep a look out for this demographic.

The issues that come out of elderly people living alone, away from their children, are issues that Xie is able to identify with because his mother lives alone.

"So, when I see [elderly people living alone], I see my mom....Some of these house visits, I also see the children who happen to be visiting them...So when I see the children, I see myself."

On low-income families, Xie says that more can be done to build up community support for them to complement the robust government policies we have in place.

Thankful for support from team and wife

100 HDB blocks. 10,000 households. 30,000 residents.

Xie's priority over the next two years is to "get to know every one of these residents, to be friends with them", he says.

In the two months since he assumed his new role, the MP has been busy acquainting himself with the residents of Jurong Central ward through house visits, Meet The People sessions, and even via email (they actually have a dedicated email channel to him).

It's a mammoth task but he is thankful for the work ethos of his Jurong GRC team which spurs him to work harder.

"The ethos of the Jurong team is we serve with full hearts, full effort. No problem is too big, we never walk away from a problem."

Xie's wife also supports him by vetting his emails and giving constructive suggestions on how best to approach and solve certain issues.

He is particularly thankful to her because there are days where she doesn't see him for more than 24 hours, no thanks to the demands of his full-time job and MP duties.

And while most residents in his ward have been warm (some even gave him tips on how he can do better), Xie knows that there are some who see him as merely a replacement for Ivan Lim.

"It is not useful," he says simply.

"It is not useful to think of that label as I go about my work, because how does it help in my work with residents? I'm aware that there are people who will continue to label me as such. Personally, I'm not affected."

If anything, the entire episode with Lim is actually a sign of a maturing democracy where people pay attention to candidates and scrutinise them. It's good, he says.

However, Xie cautions that we should also treat each other with decency.

"Just remember that Ivan also has a family. He has parents, he has a wife and kids. And anything that is said about him is also indirectly something said about this family."

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Top image by Abriel Tay.