GE2025: PAP new face Shawn Loh an excellent fit for Jalan Besar GRC, says Josephine Teo

SINGAPORE - Mr Shawn Loh, a former director with the Ministry of Finance (MOF), “is an excellent fit for the residents of Jalan Besar”, said Mrs Josephine Teo, who helms the PAP team in Jalan Besar GRC.

“I will certainly hope the Prime Minister considers fielding Shawn within our constituency,” said Mrs Teo, who is also Minister for Digital Development and Information.

She was answering a question from the media on the sidelines of the town’s SG60 Kids’ Carnival, held at the grounds of the National Library on April 13, on whether Mr Loh will be fielded

in Jalan Besar.

“We want to put together as strong a team as possible that can serve the residents’ needs. We have been very fortunate these last few years that we have a team that brought different perspectives as well as resources to the table,” she said.

Mr Loh, 38, was director of security and resilience programmes at MOF and one of

eight new PAP faces

revealed in a video by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on April 12.

He was the Budget director for 2024 and 2025, which were the first Budgets to include programmes from the Forward Singapore engagement exercise.

Mr Loh joined MOF in June 2023, and worked on programmes including the CDC and SG60 voucher schemes.

Prior to joining the ministry, he was the Economic Development Board’s vice-president of Singapore businesses as well as industry manpower development.

Mrs Teo said that with the present economic conditions having changed “quite dramatically”, Mr Loh’s rich experiences in both the private and public sectors and international outlook could help the team “strengthen our programmes and initiatives to support (the small and medium enterprises) better”.

Mr Loh, a father of four who is currently with local company Commonwealth Capital Group, said: “I think a lot of businesses are concerned about the (present) environment and I hope to be able to help in that capacity.”