SINGAPORE: One of the highlights of GE2025 is the imminent showdown at Punggol GRC, with the Workers’ Party’s Harpreet Singh in one corner and the People’s Action Party’s Gan Kim Yong in another. Punggol has been the constituency to watch as Mr Singh, a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court and this year’s highest-profile candidate, has squared off against the Deputy Prime Minister, who calls Prime Minister Lawrence Wong his “good friend”.
After Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean resigned, it was announced that Mr Gan would contest at Punggol, instead of at Chua Chu Kang, which he had represented in Parliament since 2006. When Mr Singh was fielded by the WP at Punggol, it became evident that the ruling party would need a candidate who could hold their own against a strong contender.
The Independent Singapore takes a look at the career paths of the two men and how they got to where they are today.
In this corner: Gan Kim Yong
Mr Gan’s career trajectory has been solid but low-profile in comparison to other PAP leaders. The 66-year-old first became a Member of Parliament in 2001, representing the Zhenghua ward at Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC.
At the GE in 2006, he won the seat at Chua Chu Kang SMC, and in subsequent elections, after the ward was absorbed into Chua Chu Kang GRC, he anchored the PAP team there. This year, Tan See Leng has taken his place.
Mr Gan has worked in the Civil Service as well as the private sector. He served in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) early in his career. Later, he had a stint in the Singapore company, NatSteel, becoming its president and CEO in 2005, a year after it was acquired by India’s Tata Steel, which sold off its stake in 2021.
In government, Mr Gan has served as Manpower Minister, Health Minister, and Minister for Trade and Industry. In May 2024, he became the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the city-state’s central bank, as well as Deputy Prime Minister.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Gan was also one of the heads of the multi-ministry task force assigned to manage the government’s response to the pandemic, along with Mr Wong.
The challenger: Harpreet Singh Nehal
Among all the new candidates for the May 3 polls, Mr Singh has perhaps made the biggest splash. Anticipation of his being in Parliament began as far back as late 2023, when the Senior Counsel began to be seen on the ground at WP activities. He joined the party in 2024, and, as they say, has never looked back.
Mr Singh graduated from the National University of Singapore and Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar as an advocate and solicitor in 1992 and appointed Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 2007.
He has worked with Drew & Napier, Clifford Chance, Cavenagh Law LLP and, in 2019, established Audent Chambers LLC, where he is the managing partner.
“Harpreet’s main areas of practice involve international arbitration and complex commercial litigation across a wide spectrum of disputes including banking and finance, oil and gas, company law, equity and trusts,” it adds.
He has also been appointed an independent reviewer by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in an investigation into an international bank in relation to a corruption scandal.
The Minister-in-Charge of MAS to the Appeal Advisory Panels under the Business Trusts Act also appointed Mr Harpreet to the Appeal Advisory Panels under the Business Trusts Act, Financial Advisers Act, Insurance Act, Securities and Futures Act and Trust Companies Act from 2019 to 2023.
The lawyer also sits on the Disciplinary and Appeals Committees for the frontline regulator of Singapore’s capital markets, SGX, and is a member of Harvard Law School’s Leadership Council of Asia. /TISG