GE2025: Son of Liu Thai Ker, this PAP new face in Aljunied GRC knows what it's like to give up on your dreams

One can only imagine the disappointment that came upon the Liu household when a young Daniel, part-time disc jockey and son of Singapore’s former chief planner Liu Thai Ker, told his parents that his ambition in life was to pursue a career in the music business.

“Oh ... yes, they were not supportive, that’s for sure,” Mr Daniel Liu Keyuan said with a laugh, recalling his parents’ reactions.

At the time, in his mid-20s, he had already graduated with an economics and sociology bachelor’s degree from Macalester College in the United States. He was then contemplating pursuing a master's degree in electronic music or music production, so that he may then launch a career in music.

However, without his parents’ approval and because he was also “not brave enough” to follow through with his plan, he gave up on his dream.

At 40 years old now, he is the managing director of urban planning consultancy Morrow Architects & Planners – which his father founded – and is also executive director of Morrow Intelligence, its data analytics division.

This General Election, Mr Liu is on the drawing board of the People’s Action Party (PAP), which is likely going to field him in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) to contest with the team from the Workers' Party.  

In announcing the 32 new faces of the party last Thursday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also secretary-general of PAP, described Mr Liu as someone who made an impression with his “witty remarks”.

This was after Mr Liu quipped at an earlier press conference about people comparing him with British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran due to Mr Liu’s albinism that makes his skin look extra fair and his hair light-coloured.

When I sprung a request at the end of our interview for him to sing a couple of lines from the artiste, he brushed it off while laughing: "I'm going to be honest, I know nothing about Ed Sheeran." 

Throughout the two-hour sit-down interview with me in his office (his venue of choice) along Scotts Road on the Good Friday public holiday, I got to experience this wit up close, as Mr Liu talked about his professional and personal life and how all that has shaped his drive to want to serve in Aljunied GRC.

YOUTHFUL PASSION FOR MUSIC

One of the first things I wanted to know was why he did not go down the path of civil service like his father.

He replied candidly: “I think maybe because my dad was a famous planner, I didn't want to go into that world. I wanted to be judged based on my own merits.”

He also said that it boils down to them having different callings in life, much like how his father contributed to Singapore as an architect and urban planner while his grandfather, the prolific artist Liu Kang, contributed through the arts.

Growing up, like most other youth, he himself was “super interested” in music, recalling the hours he spent as a teenager looking through compact discs at music stores Tower Records or HMV.

He listened to a wide range of genres, but it was the driving beat and uplifting melodies of electronic dance music to which he was particularly drawn.

“When I have trouble concentrating on work, listening to a beat that is quite consistent helps me focus a bit more,” he said. “And also, the melodies are a bit more uplifting, so it kind of helps my own mood.”

So interested he was in the genre that he became a part-time music disc jockey at parties, taking lessons in his early 20s on mixing music and how to become a DJ.

“You do get a bit of satisfaction when you put on a song and suddenly, the number of people on the dance floor doubles or triples in size. There's a certain magic to that,” he said of the joy of spinning the turntable.

That was when he briefly contemplated pursuing a career in music, before being dissuaded and taking up auditing work instead. He eventually went to work in the family business.

Seeing that he comes from a well-to-do family background, I wondered if he would understand some of the day-to-day difficulties that constituents may have. 

It would not be a disadvantage, he said.

“If you're just relying on your background to connect with someone, I think you definitely get part of the way there. But I think real connection also takes hard work,” he added.

“I'm not trying to 'fake' where I am, but that doesn't mean that I can't help you to figure things out. This is the problem you tell me, I have some ideas, let me check, let me call, let me figure it out. I think that that's just as important as well.”

MEETING HIS WIFE

On his personal life, Mr Liu said that he follows the English Premier League and became a fan of the Tottenham Hotspur football club from a young age simply because he saw their match by chance on television. 

"And I went, 'Oh, okay, I guess this is my team now'," he said.

He has been married for 10 years. 

In 2012, his male friend had asked someone out for a date, but the prospective date agreed to it only if it was in a group setting. 

Mr Liu’s friend thus took him along, while his friend's date asked another woman to accompany her. That other woman was whom Mr Liu later married.

They became "serious quite soon after" that group date, Mr Liu recalled.

"So we've been together for more than 12 years, been married for 10 years,” he said. Their two friends on that group date did not end up together.

His wife, who is a veterinarian by profession, is the reason why, although he grew up among family members “who weren’t hardcore animal people”, he now has seven pets – two dogs, two cats and three birds.

All of them were sickly rescues that his wife took home and nursed back to health.

“It never gets easier,” he said when I asked about the emotional toll of adopting one sickly pet after another. However, he finds comfort in knowing that the animals are in his wife's very capable hands.

GRASSROOTS VOLUNTEERISM

It was also a friend who got Mr Liu involved in grassroots work and, eventually, political activities.

He met a “friend of a friend” who was a volunteer at the Meet-The-People Sessions (MPS) in Chong Pang ward under Nee Soon GRC.

“I knew that MPS existed, but I didn’t know what they did. I didn’t even know that the volunteers were there to write letters. I thought it was some kind of meet-and-greet thing,” he said.

After he learnt more about MPS and found them interesting, he jumped at the chance to volunteer at Nee Soon GRC and to see how the ruling party works, not because he wanted to get involved “with an intention to run for political office”. 

In February, Mr Liu was moved from Nee Soon GRC where he was serving for more than 10 years to the Workers’ Party-held Aljunied GRC, as chairman of PAP's Paya Lebar branch.

“I was not seeking to run in this election,” he said. “I didn’t even know if I was going to be a candidate until last week.” 

FIGHTING FOR LATE-BLOOMERS

Now that he is all but confirmed to be fielded there, he is ready to be a voice for Aljunied GRC residents.

As for national issues, he believes that the insights gleaned from his professional experiences would add value to policy debates in parliament.

He may be noted by the prime minister for being witty and he may be able to make you feel at ease with his lighthearted banter, but Mr Liu is very serious about his next move.

When asked during a quick-fire round of question-and-answer to talk about something interesting about himself, instead of bringing up a hobby or a funny anecdote, he chose to talk about how his day job gave him experience in dealing with governments around the world on issues of urban space planning.

At Morrow Intelligence, he works with various governments on “foresight work”, crunching data, identifying underlying challenges and setting out best-case and worst-case scenarios to make their urban planning more resilient.

He recalled one project he had handled to come up with a master plan in a developing country in the Pacific Island that was facing the problem of brain drain.

Mr Liu’s team research found that the lack of community spaces for the youth to pursue their interests was in turn leading them to gang and criminal activities.

“When crime increased, that forced people who had the means to leave the country,” he said. This was just one of various factors leading to the brain drain and also an example of the interconnectedness of policies and their impact on society, he added.

A cause close to his heart is helping the young find alternative pathways to success, especially for late-bloomers.

He sees himself as one as well, having found his calling later in life only after some working experience, taking up a master's in public administration and doing grassroots work.

“It wasn't until then that I realised, ‘Oh gosh, this is something that I am very, very interested in, very passionate about’. But at the time, I was already more than 30 years old.”

He has seen that the government has taken steps in calling for a broadening of the definition of success, but more can still be done to give Singaporeans the confidence to take the plunge in chasing their passions, regardless of their stage in life, he said.

I couldn't help but relate this to how Mr Liu himself could not find the courage to go against his family's wishes and follow his youthful fervour to make a mark in the music industry.

“For one reason or another, I just didn't have the faith to take the leap, for better or for worse,” he had said earlier in the interview.

What about this leap to serve at Aljunied GRC? Will it be better for the constituents there?

 “That’s for them to decide,” he said.