GE2025: PSP’s Lawrence Pek to tap corporate experience to speak up for Chua Chu Kang residents (2025)

SINGAPORE – Having spent almost three years advocating for manufacturing enterprises of all sizes in Singapore, PSP new face Lawrence Pek now wants to apply his skills to engaging with the Government to draw attention to what Chua Chu Kang GRC residents need.

This includes being their voice for municipal issues – such as pushing for more transport links to Tengah, one of the constituency’s newest estates – and national concerns about the cost of living and jobs.

Mr Pek, 55, is a political newcomer who was introduced by party chairman Tan Cheng Bock as part of the PSP’s line-up for Chua Chu Kang GRC on April 19.

Stockbroker S. Nallakaruppan, 60, tech lawyer Wendy Low, 48, and training consultant A’bas Kasmani, 71, make up the rest of the four-member slate for the group representation constituency.

The three of them have contested general elections in the past.

Mr Pek is the only first-time candidate to be announced by the PSP in this election thus far.

He was secretary-general of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) from 2020 to 2023, and has more than two decades of work experience in the technology sector in Dubai, China and India.

Speaking to The Straits Times after the PSP’s Chua Chu Kang GRC slate was revealed on April 19, Mr Pek said his previous role in the federation was mainly to represent members, understand the issues they face, and then communicate them to the Government.

“I bring that skill set, that knowledge, I understand what it takes to be able to do that,” he said. “You have to be patient in listening, and also very patient in describing the situation back to the Government. And you would always try to do your best for those you represent, and try to give them the outcome, if possible, that they want.”

He also believes his past work experience has shaped his views on Singapore’s policies, and how they can be improved.

In 2008, Mr Pek set up a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, China, where he learnt about the minimum wage law for all staff members, regardless of their roles and performance.

“So it was explained to me... It protects the local workforce against very difficult and demanding, and sometimes unscrupulous, employers,” he said.

“It (also) protects its local workforce against a very high rate of inflation,” he said of the measures that the Chinese authorities use to protect the workforce in that country.

He said his experience in China shaped his views on policies, and was one reason why he felt personally connected to the PSP’s push for a minimum wage law to protect local employees.

Mr Pek said that as leader of the SMF, he rubbed shoulders with civil servants, directors and key executives from various organisations in Singapore. The manufacturing industry contributes some 20 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

During his time at the federation, he said, he worked with Mr Jeffrey Siow, who was then managing director of Enterprise Singapore.

Mr Siow left the public service on April 2 to join politics. He has since been introduced as a candidate in the PAP’s Chua Chu Kang GRC team, whom the PSP slate will be up against in the hustings.

The rest of the PAP team for Chua Chu Kang is made up of Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, backbencher Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, and another new face in neuroscientist Choo Pei Ling.

Asked about his views on the competition, Mr Pek said he found Mr Siow talented and likeable from their past dealings, and noted his quick rise through the ranks in the civil service.

He added that residents have told him that senior civil servants who enter politics seem like they are cut from the same cloth in how they think.

Mr Pek said the civil service is structured, efficient and effective. Still, he added: “If I were to bring up one key area, which I think that they know themselves as well, is that sometimes it can become an extremely large echo chamber.”

He said he has witnessed this over the course of his work with the SMF, but declined to cite specific instances over confidentiality concerns.

Mr Pek said that in his view, the PSP, being a smaller party, has an edge over the PAP in that it can be nimble and adapt quickly.

It is impossible to ask a large organisation like the PAP to adapt to rapid geopolitical, economic and social changes, he said. “They always say that they will have the processes, the structure, and talents will always want to join them as such.

“However, I think that, especially over the last two terms, it is very clear that the momentum is shifting among the voters of Singapore... (such) that the voters are now starting to vote for alternative voices.”

This, Mr Pek said, reflects a more mature electorate that seeks more transparency and accountability, citing as an example the role played by opposition parties in seeking answers to the scuppered acquisition of Income Insurance by German firm Allianz.

For instance, before the deal was called off, PSP had raised questions on the acquisition and its impact on insurance policyholders.

Mr Pek, who is married with a daughter, 23, and a son, 26, said his political ambitions grew after an August 2023 meeting with PSP chairman Tan Cheng Bock and secretary-general Leong Mun Wai, when he felt a “sense of common purpose” after listening to the party’s plans.

He added that he brought his daughter with him to meet Dr Tan, who played the ukulele for her during their meeting in Dr Tan’s home.

“After which, I had a long, difficult and intimate discussion with her. She said that she’d be proud if I do this,” said Mr Pek, referring to his going into politics.

He has been seen volunteering with the PSP team in the Hong Kah area, including Tengah estate, for over a year.

This estate, comprising many new Build-To-Order flats, had initially been part of Hong Kah North SMC until changes to electoral boundaries were announced on March 11. Tengah is now part of Chua Chu Kang GRC.

Mr Pek said the PSP team has adapted its outreach strategy for the area. This includes ramping up its presence in common areas, such as at Plantation Plaza mall, and combing blocks where more people have already moved in.

He added that he would also push for more transport links, saying that Tengah residents have expressed their frustration over waiting for buses that end up being too packed to board.

He also expressed gratitude towards residents there who have welcomed him to join community chat and interest groups, such as those for pet lovers.

Noting that many of Tengah’s residents are young parents, he said: “The first-time voters in this general election may end up defining the election.”

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