East Coast GRC MP Raymond Lim retiring ahead of upcoming GE

SINGAPORE — Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC Raymond Lim announced his intention to retire from politics this evening (Aug 15) at a Hari Raya event at Fengshan CC, to spend more time with his family.

His speech stating that he would not be running in the next General Election is reproduced below, in full:

Dear Residents,

I want to take this opportunity to inform you personally that I will be retiring as your Member of Parliament in this coming general election.

I had informed the Prime Minister some time ago that I intend to retire so as to have more time with my family. He had asked me to help identify a good candidate to succeed me. I have. The candidate will be formally announced in due course.

As I said at our recent National Day dinner, it has been a great honour and privilege for me to have served as your MP for the past 14 years

I will miss Fengshan. After so many years, the community has become very much a part of my life. I will miss the weekly MPS and house visits, taking part in community events and simply walking around the estate on a weekend afternoon to see how people are and how things are going. I will miss our streets, our HDB blocks, the sights and sounds of life here. But most of all I will miss our residents whose lives have become so much a part of my own and our grassroots leaders whose dedication to public service inspires me. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your friendship, kindness and support over all these years and I wish you well - a good and happy life.

As for my years as a Member of Parliament and a Cabinet minister, I believe that life must have a purpose and that there are causes much greater than ourselves. And I believe that there is no greater cause nor service a man may be called upon to do in his life than to serve his country and his people.

Duty, honour, country – I cannot imagine any other way to live my life.

Once again, I want to thank all of you for your kindness and support all these years together.

Thank you.

CHANNEL NEWSASIA