PAP’s Lam Pin Min has been a loyal servant to the cause for nearly a decade, having served as a Member of Parliament for close to 15 years. During that time, he has served as MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC (Sengkang West division) as well as Sengkang West SMC.
Despite a successful run of victories, Lam ultimately lost his MP seat at the General Election on 10 July 2020, losing to Oppa the Worker’s Party team which had won the election with 60,136 votes (52.13%) to 55,214 votes (47.87%).
This serves as the second Group Representation Constituency (GRC) loss by the ruling PAP, since their 2011 defeat to the Worker’s Party in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency.
Notwithstanding the loss, however, Lam has kept his head held high as he moved on from his parliamentary tenure.
As his Facebook friends would surely attest to, Lam has been keeping busy since the defeat, whether it’s a farewell walkabout at Sengkang or a power breakfast combo of chee cheong fun and coffee.
He has also found time to catch up with old friends and enjoy a break from what must have been a hectic political career.
But here’s the thing. While Lam might have lost his seat, it does not necessarily mean that he has deserted the game in its entirety. After all, there’s always the next election to look forward to.
PAP’s Lam Pin Min Post Image of Gathering & His Shirt Looks like a PSP Uniform
Just yesterday (19 July 2020), Lam posted an update on his Facebook page, chronicling a recent gathering he had attended with a group of old friends.
And yet, nostalgic and sweet as the gathering may be, Netizens could not help but notice something rather… striking in the picture.
Lest you’re unaware, PSP refers to the Playstation Portable, not the Progress Singapore Party.
Just kidding.
Anyways, here’s how a Progress Singapore Party team kit looks like:
What’s this, the second coming of Tan Cheng Bock?
Similarities
Also, it should be noted that Lam’s choice of attire looks strikingly similar to what our favourite ladies at the cookhouse wear as well.
Which means that between Lam Pin Min, the PSP and the cookhouse folks, there’s one common connection.
Though what it signifies exactly, however, is still unclear for now.
But of course, it could very well be a mere coincidence. After all…
Not everyone who wears black has a distant relative in the coffin.
Still, one can’t help but scrutinise Lam’s choice of attire for the occasion.
Is it really a coincidence, or is there actually more than meets the eye?
Lam Pin Min
PMD riders will be very familiar with Dr Lam Pin Min.
As Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport, Lam was a lightning rod for public anger after a ban on PMDs on footpaths was announced last year.
Earlier in his career, Lam served as a regular medical officer in the SAF and held several appointments in the RSAF.
While in the RSAF, he led the medical team to serve in the United Nations Military Hospital in East Timor during pre-independence.
Lam was part of the PAP team that won Ang Mo Kio GRC in the 2006 general election, defeating WP’s team with 66.1%.
In GE2011, Lam contested in the newly-formed Sengkang West SMC and defeated WP’s Koh Choong Yong with 58.1% of the votes.
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He retained Sengkang West SMC in the following election, beating out the same WP candidate.
Lam has served as a Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport (which explains why he was there to announce the PMD ban).
Do note that a Minister of State is not a full minister, but kind of like a junior minister. For example, in this case, the “full” Minister of Health was Gan Kim Yong and the “full” Minister of Transport was Khaw Boon Wan.
Fellow Party Mate, Ng Chee Meng
While Mr Lam is enjoying his downtime (at least from his Facebook posts), his team leader for the Sengkang GRC election isn’t.
Having any downtime, I mean.
Other than being a full minister in the Prime Minister Office, Mr Ng Chee Meng is also the labour chief for Singapore.
Meaning, he helms NTUC, Singapore’s one and only trade union, to fight for the workers in Singapore.
After he was stopped from continuing his political career, some analysts have wondered if Mr Ng will still be effective in his role since he’s been kicked from the big boys’ table.
NTUC’s central executive committee (CEC) has spoken up, endorsing him in his position.
He was put into place as the boss of NTUC by a different election back in 2018, and disregarding whether he holds a political office or not, he is still the head honcho in NTUC until the election in 2022.
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Some analysts also felt that Mr Ng Chee Meng will be pretty busy even after GE2020 as NTUC (and by relation, Mr Ng himself) is given a huge bulk of responsibility in taking care of workers who have lost their jobs in this pandemic.
It’s really unlikely that NTUC will be relegated to the side just because the head isn’t a politician, the analyst said.
You can find out more about his story here.
Well, one thing for sure, there’s probably no chee cheong fun and kopi for him in the near future.
Now that you know more about the men who had to walk away from Sengkang GRC, you might as well just watch our video on how WiFi routers work and how you can make them fast even at home: