Criminal lawyer and former public servant Marshall Lim has been confirmed as the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) candidate for Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the upcoming General Election, marking a renewed effort by the ruling party to reclaim the opposition-held ward.
Lim, 38, was officially introduced to the media on 13 April, 2025. His entry into the race sets the stage for a likely contest with Workers’ Party (WP) incumbent Dennis Tan, 54, a shipping lawyer who secured 61.21 per cent of the vote in the 2020 election.
Hougang SMC has been held by the WP since 1991, making it the longest-standing opposition ward in Singapore’s political history. The seat was first won by former WP chief Low Thia Khiang and has remained a symbol of opposition resilience since.
Speaking to reporters during his candidate introduction at the PAP Hougang branch office, Lim said, “It has been a privilege to serve Singapore and Singaporeans as a lawyer in private practice and as a public servant. I now ask Singaporeans and especially our Hougang residents to give me an opportunity to fight for you, your family and our community.”
Lim is a partner at Martin & Partners law firm and previously served as a deputy public prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
He also held the role of assistant chief public defender in the Public Defender’s Office, where he provided legal representation to individuals facing non-capital criminal charges.
Having assumed the PAP branch chairmanship in Hougang in February 2025, Lim replaced Jackson Lam, who had taken over from two-time Hougang candidate Lee Hong Chuang.
This reshuffling reflects broader strategic changes by the PAP in constituencies held by the WP, including Aljunied GRC.
Lim characterised his political debut as a continuation of his service-oriented career.
“Politics is a natural choice. I am a fighter,” he said. “I want to take the ethos of public service, what I’ve learnt doing years of advocacy in the courtroom, into my political journey.”
He highlighted his efforts to connect with residents, particularly the elderly, by learning Teochew to engage with the ward’s older demographic. “Many speak in dialect, and I immediately wanted to make that connection,” he said.
Lim noted that municipal issues, particularly estate cleanliness, were top concerns among residents. He promised a “comprehensive and permanent” approach to address these matters and said his full plans would be presented in due course.
When asked about the constituency’s entrenched opposition identity, Lim said, “I’m mindful of the history here, but I’m not shackled by it. At every election, the slate is wiped clean.”
According to data from the Department of Statistics published in June 2024, Hougang SMC has a younger voter profile, with 44.2 per cent of its electorate aged 21 to 45, surpassing the national average of 42.1 per cent. It also ranks sixth among all constituencies for private property residents.
Lim’s entry into Hougang is part of a broader renewal effort by the PAP.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who also serves as the PAP’s secretary-general, announced on 12 April that over 30 new faces will be introduced for the upcoming contest, making it the party’s largest slate of new candidates in recent history.
The Hougang ward remains one of only four single-seat constituencies left unchanged by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) in its latest report released in March. As of 1 February 2025, it has 29,433 eligible voters.
Netizens have pointed out that candidates who fail to unseat opposition MPs in single-member constituencies, such as Heng Chee How in 1997 and Desmond Choo in 2011 and 2015, have often been moved to other wards and later entered Parliament via Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs).
Some suggest that Hougang SMC serves as a testing ground for candidates, gauging their grit and loyalty, with eventual parliamentary entry seen by some as a reward for their sacrifice.
While the WP has yet to officially confirm its candidate lineup for GE2025, all signs point to a re-election bid by Dennis Tan, who has represented Hougang since 2016 and is known for his legal career and fluency in Teochew, which resonates with older voters in the ward.
As campaigning activity builds up ahead of the official election period, Lim continues to make ground engagements and has been actively documenting his visits with residents on social media.
Whether his profile and message will resonate in an opposition stronghold like Hougang remains to be seen.
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