The latest Parliamentary Electoral Map has two Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and three Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs) that were not around in the 2011 General Election: Jalan Besar GRC, Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, Bukit Batok SMC, Fengshan SMC and MacPherson SMC. Meanwhile, three constituencies will not be in the next GE line-up: Moulmein-Kallang GRC, Joo Chiat SMC, and Whampoa SMC. We take a closer look at some of these constituencies.

Reintroduced

Jalan Besar GRC

Before its boundaries as a GRC were dissolved for the 2011 General Election, Jalan Besar had been contested in every election except in 1991, with the People’s Action Party (PAP) winning each time and making the seat a traditional stronghold.

In the 2006 GE, a PAP team that included Cabinet ministers Lee Boon Yang and Yaacob Ibrahim secured 69.3 per cent of the vote against a Singapore Democratic Alliance team.

Jalan Besar has been both a GRC and, before 1988, an SMC. The PAP first won the seat in the 1959 GE, receiving 62.5 per cent of the vote in a four-cornered fight. In 2011, most of the GRC constituted the-then-new Moulmein-Kallang GRC. And for the coming GE, the reverse has happened, with Whampoa SMC also subsumed under Jalan Besar, along with eight polling districts from Tanjong Pagar GRC.

MacPherson SMC

It has been the bastion of a minister, the battleground for an Opposition upstart and the current seat of the youngest PAP MP since 1963.

The PAP’s Tin Pei Ling helms a ward the PAP first held in 1968 through Mr Chua Sian Chin, who became a minister for Health, Education and Home Affairs. When he retired in 1991, the SMC was absorbed into Marine Parade GRC.

In the mid-1990s, Dr Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) challenged the PAP’s Second Organising Secretary Matthias Yao for the ward. The then-PM, Mr Goh Chok Tong, allowed MacPherson to be carved out from his GRC for the 1997 GE. Mr Yao won with a majority of 65.1 per cent. He stepped down in 2011, and MacPherson returned to Marine Parade GRC.

Bukit Batok SMC

Bukit Batok SMC has been carved out of Jurong GRC. In earlier elections, the PAP won by large margins or walkovers, but the 1988 and 1991 GEs saw a much closer battle, with the PAP’s Ong Chit Chung beating an SDP candidate in the 1991 GE by 858 votes. The SMC was merged into Bukit Timah GRC for the next GE in 1997.

Fengshan SMC

Carved out of Bedok GRC in 1984, Fengshan was an SMC for three elections, with Dr Arthur Beng as its MP. Fengshan was absorbed back into Bedok GRC in 1991, when the GRC grew to a four-member constituency.

Dropped

Moulmein-Kallang GRC

The GRC was formed for the 2011 GE by combining most of the old Jalan Besar GRC with the Moulmein ward of Tanjong Pagar GRC, and was contested between the PAP and The Workers’ Party.

The PAP team anchored by ministers Yaacob Ibrahim and Lui Tuck Yew captured 58.55 per cent of the votes.

Joo Chiat SMC

Even before independence, Joo Chiat was an SMC and was won by the Singapore People’s Alliance in the 1959 Legislative Assembly election. In 1963, the PAP won the seat with 65.88 per cent of the votes. In the 1968 GE, the constituency was uncontested and the PAP’s Yeoh Ghim Seng became its MP. The former Speaker of Parliament served the constituency for 22 years.

In 1988, Joo Chiat was merged with other constituencies to form Bedok GRC, before being reconstituted as an SMC in 2001. The PAP’s Chan Soo Sen beat independent candidate Ooi Boon Ewe that year with 83.55 per cent of the votes. He stepped down for the 2011 GE, where PAP veteran MP Charles Chong edged out the WP’s Yee Jenn Jong with 51.02 per cent of the votes.

Whampoa SMC

Whampoa was carved out of Jalan Besar GRC in 2011 after the latter’s boundaries were dissolved, and had also been an SMC from 1968 to 1988.

The PAP’s Heng Chee How, who was first elected into Parliament in 2001 in Jalan Besar GRC, faced off against the National Solidarity Party’s Ken Sun and won 66.1 per cent of the votes.