GE2025: Mayors remain important as they 'aggregate' district needs, seek resources, says PAP's Denise Phua

SINGAPORE: Mayors in Singapore do not "take over" the role of an MP or grassroots advisor, but instead function as a "regional role" as constituencies might lack the resources to tackle certain issues on their own, said Mayor for the Central district Denise Phua on Sunday (Apr 27). 

Ms Phua, a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate for Jalan Besar GRC in the 2025 General Election, is one of five mayors in Singapore.

Each mayor heads the Community Development Council (CDC) of a particular district: South West, South East, Central, North West and North East.

"We operate actually as a regional office ... really looking at the entire district, so that CDCs and the mayors are able to aggregate the needs of the district, find some common areas," she told reporters during a walkabout at Upper Boon Keng Market, in response to a question about the relevance of mayors.

This comes after the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) at its rally on Saturday evening called to abolish mayor positions in Singapore.

The party's candidate for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC Jufri Salim said mayors' salaries could be used to support seniors and students, provide housing grants and fund mental health services. 

Mayors earn S$660,000 (US$502,200) a year, according to a White Paper on ministerial salaries in 2012. The sum hasn't changed since.

CDCs and mayors "look at some of these common needs that I think individual divisions or constituencies may not have the resources or the bandwidth to take over", Ms Phua said on Sunday.  

"What we do is, when we identify these pivotal needs, we go and then seek resources ... from corporates, from agencies, and then work together, strategise and make sure these programmes are developed.

"And most importantly, able to be scaled across the district."

She highlighted The Purple Parade - a national movement celebrating the abilities of people with disabilities in Singapore and promoting inclusion - which she said started from the Central district. 

"I think many people know of the CDCs as maybe the brainchild ... as the lead agency to come up with the CDC vouchers," she added. "But the CDCs actually do a lot more than that, and a lot of the programmes are actually led by the mayors."

AVOID "REDUCTIONIST APPROACH" TO MENTAL HEALTH 

Ms Phua was accompanied on Sunday morning by the PAP Jalan Besar team comprising Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, Dr Wan Rizal and party new face Shawn Loh.

Dr Wan Rizal was also asked for his take on SDP's comments from another rally - in this case, that overpopulation was one of the main reasons for mental health issues in Singapore. 

“If we continue to allow the PAP to bring in more and more foreigners, our problems of mental health, cost of living, overcrowding, environmental degradation and overall quality of life are all going to worsen," party chief Chee Soon Juan said at the SDP rally on Friday evening.

Dr Wan Rizal, known for advocating for mental health issues in parliament, cautioned against taking a "reductionist approach" to the topic. 

"If you think ... that's the only way, or that's the only problem, then I think you're not looking at the big picture, what mental health is about. But mental health is a spectrum, and I think it's important to understand," he said. 

He noted that mental health is not only affected by "one factor" and that each person handles mental health issues differently. But he also acknowledged that having more such views was a positive thing, as it showed Singaporeans care about well-being.

"Because we can only make Singapore better through diverse views, and I think this is good to hear," he said.

"But we cannot take a reductionist approach. I think that is wrong."