Comment: Punggol GRC needs an anchor minister. It may get 1 in Teo Chee Hean.

In what was perhaps the second-biggest news of the day (only because the Vatican would announce the death of Pope Francis literally a couple of hours later), Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean announced he would not stand for election in the newly-created GRC of Pasir Ris-Changi.

"I will not be standing for re-election for Pasir Ris-Changi GRC. I will continue to support PM Lawrence Wong and his 4G team and remain available to contribute to the team whenever and in whatever way the PM [requires]."

The Coordinating Minister for National Security spoke of his confidence in the team he would leave behind, including a surprise move by fellow minister Indranee Rajah eastwards to plug the "anchor minister" gap. But the political bombshell had already been dropped.

The political heavyweight and veteran was stepping down. But perhaps not yet out.

One of the longest-serving politicians

Teo is a septuagenarian who will turn 71 at the end of the year. He was the second-oldest member of the recently-dissolved Parliament, surpassed only by SM Lee Hsien Loong.

One might expect Teo to be a prime candidate for retirement, given his longevity in politics. He entered Parliament over three decades ago, not via a general election, but the by-election of 1992.

It was called by then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong specifically for his Marine Parade GRC, partly to allow then-Workers' Party chief JB Jeyaretnam a chance to stand for election after he was barred from the 1991 GE.

A young Teo replaced Lim Chee Onn in Goh's team, securing a comfortable victory over an SDP team led by Chee Soon Juan (Jeyaretnam did not take part).

At the next general election in 1997, Teo was moved to the newly-created Pasir Ris GRC. He won. And Teo has stayed there ever since, winning six general elections in a row.

Retirement on hold?

Other former Members of Parliament (MPs), and even Cabinet Ministers, have announced their intention to retire and step away from politics altogether.

Perhaps the highest profile resignation before Teo's announcement was Ng Eng Hen, Defence Minister, who will turn 67 this year.

But while Ng left no room for doubt in his announcement, bidding farewell in a poetic Facebook post afterwards, Teo was more circumspect.

He said he was stepping down as an MP for Pasir Ris, but did not say if it's from politics altogether.

When asked by the media if he would go elsewhere, he replied, "Well, I ask you for a little bit of patience. Wait two days, and all will be revealed," he said in a reference to Nomination Day (Apr. 23).

East side

When the 2025 Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) report was released, splitting Pasir Ris-Punggol into Pasir Ris-Changi and Punggol GRCs, one could have assumed Teo would remain in Pasir Ris-Changi, if he wasn't retiring.

After all, Teo's name is almost synonymous with Pasir Ris. Pasir Ris residents can attest to his popularity in the area (especially with the "aunties" who flock to his public events). Teo is a veritable institution of the neighbourhood.

It isn't just anec-data either, look at any of Teo's wins in Pasir Ris and if he isn't winning by walkover, he's racking up strong victories.

But there's no rule that Pasir Ris has to get custody of Teo in the Pasir Ris-Punggol "divorce".

The PAP may have need of Teo's campaigning abilities in the intriguing new GRC of Punggol.

A GRC in search of a minister

Due to high population growth, the EBRC recommended that the Punggol estates of Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC be carved out and joined to Punggol West SMC to form a new GRC.

Going by the estates that have been carved out, the 4-member GRC would include Sun Xueling, Janil Puthucheary and Yeo Wanling (assuming they all return for GE2025).

But it needs one more member.

And what's more, it needs an anchor minister.

Both Puthucheary and Sun are political office-holders, and while they could be promoted in a future reshuffle, the PAP generally doesn't ride into battle leaving a GRC anchor minister-less.

In GE2020, the only GRC without a Cabinet Minister was Marine Parade, and it had Tan Chuan-Jin as Speaker of Parliament and potential ministers in Edwin Tong and Tan See Leng.

So assuming Punggol needs a current Cabinet Minister, who could it be?

Where are the Cabinet Ministers?

Coincidentally, Apr. 21 also brought the news that yet another Cabinet Minister, Maliki Osman was officially retiring from politics altogether.

This put paid to the notion that he could move from East Coast to either Pasir Ris-Changi or Punggol.

There were rumours that of the two ministers who stood in Tanjong Pagar in 2020, Chan Chun Sing and Indranee Rajah, one would venture out to plug the gap in Punggol.

But Indranee turned up in Pasir Ris-Changi instead.

Let's take stock:

Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong: Staying put in Marsiling-Yew Tee.

Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong: He's in Ang Mo Kio.

Deputy Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong: Remaining in Chua Chu Kang.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat: We'll come back to him.

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean: You've been reading about him.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen: Retiring.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan: Staying in Holland-Bukit Timah.

Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam: Remaining in Nee Soon (and leading a brand new team).

Sustainability & Environment Minister Grace Fu: Anchoring the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing: Not yet announced, but likely anchoring Tanjong Pagar now Indranee has departed.

Social & Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli: Staying in Tampines.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung: Likely staying in Sembawang.

National Development Minister Desmond Lee: Announced for Jurong West-West Coast.

Digital Development & Information Minister Josephine Teo: Helming Jalan Besar.

Minister in the PMO Indranee Rajah: Leaving for and anchoring Pasir Ris-Changi.

Minister in the PMO Maliki Osman: Retiring.

Culture, Community & Youth Minister Edwin Tong: Not yet announced, but likely in East Coast.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng: Anchoring Marine Parade-Braddell Heights.

Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat: Anchoring Bishan-Toa Payoh after Ng's retirement.

Teo or Heng?

Given the various retirements and movements, one thing becomes apparent - there are only two Ministers left whose statuses remain unclear, and could plug the gap in Punggol.

One is Teo. The other is DPM Heng Swee Keat.

Now Heng's participation in GE2025 remains to be seen. Certainly there have been rumours he might retire. But equally certain is his presence at walkabouts and events at East Coast in recent weeks.

It is not out of the realms of possibility that Heng may soldier on, and even be moved to Punggol.

But it would represent Heng's second move in as many GE's, recall the last-minute switch from Tampines to East Coast in 2020.

Moving Heng again would mean he has under 10 days to get acquainted with the residents of Punggol, as opposed to the five years he's had in East Coast.

And Teo is right there.

Battlefield (Naval engagement?) Punggol

The elephant in the room is of course the Workers' Party.

They've stood for election in Punggol before, but specifically Punggol West SMC in 2020, where Tan Chen Chen lost to Sun Xueling by about 20 per cent of the vote.

Still, Punggol has enough similarities to Sengkang that intrigue analysts.

The Straits Times expects a "fierce fight" in Punggol, citing the relative youth demographics and its contiguity with Sengkang, another GRC that WP managed to win at the first time of asking.

But it also hastened to point out that Punggol is not Sengkang, and mentioned the various programmes and improvements the incumbents have enacted.

While the Singapore Democratic Alliance is targeting Pasir Ris-Changi, it's fair to say they're not as high profile as the WP.

The presence of Singapore's most successful opposition party may tempt the young voters of Punggol to go Blue.

If so, the PAP team could do with some reinforcements.

Reinforcements like a former Navy Chief who could well be up for one last campaign.

Top image by Mothership and Teo Chee Hean/Facebook