Gan Kim Yong pledges to personally take care of Northshore residents who claim Janil is “No Action, Talk Only”

SINGAPORE: Amid a spate of complaints from Northshore residents about the state of their subdivision and concerns as to what their Member of Parliament Janil Puthucheary had been doing since the last election, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong has promised that he will personally take care of the sub-ward if elected. He also said he will appoint Sun Xueling as the chairperson of the new Punggol GRC Town Council to ensure residents’ needs are met.

Mr Gan, who is the anchor candidate for the ruling party’s Punggol GRC team, told the press that residents have been open with their feedback but “it’s not all positive.” He said, “They don’t say ‘oh good job, please carry on’. Some of them are quite honest, quite open and say that they’ve got problems here.”

Acknowledging that “there will always be issues because the world is not perfect”, Mr Gan promised to continue handling such problems with transparency and openness.

He added that he will personally oversee the Northshore region of Punggol GRC if elected. Northshore was a subdivision under Dr Janil’s purview during the 14th Parliament’s term.

Revealing that Northshore residents have flagged a number of problems, including workmanship issues with recently completed public housing flats, the DPM said, “I promised them that I will sit down and work with the relevant agency to see how we can reduce the population of monkeys to make sure that at least our residents in Northshore will feel safe.”

He added that the issues that residents have raised with him will be “addressed seriously and robustly. He said, “I cannot promise I will solve all the problems, but I promise that I will do my level best to improve the situation in Northshore, the environment, as well as to continue to increase connectivity.”

Some responding to DPM Gan’s comments pointed out that a common complaint among Northshore residents is that their MP hasn’t dealt with these issues even though they have been flagged to him.

One Northshore resident commented on Reddit, “Yeah confirmed janil all talk no action. I’ve sent him an email a year ago regarding pathway issues. Promised will look into it. A year has passed. No improvement until today.”

Another voter added, “Can confirm Janil never even reply my email even tho I send him follow up email. It’s been a year.”

Expressing concern over Dr Janil’s promising to “look into things” only for nothing substantial to be done, one Redditor said, “I wrote to Dr Janil 2 years ago about the LRT issue and he told me he will “look” into it. Now in 2025, DPM Gan say by third quarter this year, more 2 cars LRT will be added. If the congestion is bad in 2023, it’s worse today because more BTO projects opened up.”

Another commenter raised yet another issue that has been ongoing for years. They said, “Just check the corridor lights at 406A,B Northshore Drive left on for 24 hours not for days, not weeks, not months, but for years.”

Last June, about 50 residents of Punggol Point Cove gathered as Dr Janil conducted a walkabout in the area. The walkabout was preceded by a report published by TNP about the plight of the homeowners who were unable to move into their new HDB units due to workmanship defects.

While some residents were happy to be able to share their concerns directly with the MP, others told the press that they were disappointed to be told to email Dr Janil to voice their grievances.

Some commenting on the issue online took offence with Dr Janil’s body language during the June walkabout, claiming that the way the MP walked with both hands in his pockets suggests he wasn’t too concerned about this issue.

The comments were purely conjecture and speculative but pointed to concerns about whether the MP was serious about solving problems his residents face.

Punggol GRC is expected to face one of the hottest contests of the election season, with Mr Gan, Dr Janil and their teammates facing off against a Workers’ Party team that includes star candidate, Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh Nehal.