Acting transport minister Jeffrey Siow gets support from PSP's Lawrence Pek, his GE2025 opponent

Acting Minister for Transport Jeffery Siow may be familiar with brickbats being thrown his way after Singapore’s MRT system recently faced a spate of disruptions over several weeks.

But a friendly word came from an unlikely place: his former election opponent.

Former Progress Singapore Party (PSP) candidate for Chua Chu Kang GRC and former Secretary-General of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation, Lawrence Pek, has urged Singaporeans to give Siow “time and space”.

Three challenges

Pek had posted on social media, clarifying that he was doing so in his personal capacity, not wearing his political hat, about the challenges that Siow faced.

He also acknowledged that he had met Siow prior to their political lives, in his time as the SMF’s secretary-general, where he had met Siow when the latter was a Managing Director at Enterprise Singapore, between 2021 and 2023.

Pek complimented Siow for being supportive of SMF and its members, and recalled liking him.

He then delved into the challenges that Siow faced, highlighting three points:

Firstly, the causes of the recent spate of disruptions likely predate Siow’s appointment, and he was not directly responsible for them.

Secondly, he pointed out that Siow had been in his appointment for around five months, since May 21 2025, and to address the causes of the disruptions, Siow would have to manage not just his own ministry, but also the train operators, SMRT and SBS Transit.

Finally, Pek pointed out that Siow had yet another appointment, that of Senior Minister of State of Finance, in addition to his duties as MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC.

Toughest portfolio

Pek recalled speaking to Siow's predecessor in the Transport Ministry, Chee Hong Tat, saying that the ministry was “one of the toughest portfolio(s)”.

If the trains run well, there would be no “pat in the back”, but the minister would be deemed responsible should there be even a single disruption.

Summing up, he urged those reading, presumably a number of them rather critical of Siow, to “give the young minister time and space to do what he has to do”.

“He is here to serve, after winning elections this year, so let him serve”.

Contest

Pek headed the PSP team for Chua Chu Kang GRC for the May 2025 general election, where he went head-to-head with Tan See Leng’s People’s Action Party (PAP) team.

Siow was part of Tan’s team, part of a pair of new faces selected for that GRC along with Choo Pei Ling.

Pek had lost that contest, winning 36.4 per cent of the vote to the PAP’s 63.6 per cent.

However, Pek has a simple message: He won, so let him serve.

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Top image via MDDI/YouTube & Lawrence Pek/Facebook