Hougang is an urban planning area and a suburb in the north-eastern area of the city-state of Singapore. Under classification by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the area is part of the North-East Region, an urban planning division. Hougang borders Sengkang New Town in the north and Serangoon to its south. Development started approximately around the 1980s. Most of Hougang is residential and encompasses the main Housing and Development Board's housing estate of Hougang New Town.

Hougang South, an old neighborhood of Hougang New Town.

Etymology and history[link]

Hougang is the pinyin version of Aū-káng, a Hokkien and Teochew name meaning "river end". In the past, the name connoted the area stretching from the fifth milestone junction of Yio Chu Kang Road and Serangoon Road to the seventh milestone confluence of Upper Serangoon Road and Tampines Road. (Above Error: The name Hougang stems from the Hokkien and Teochew word Au-Kang, which refers to the ‘river end’, as Hougang is located upstream or at the back of Sungei Serangoon. Many Singaporean Chinese residents in the town speak the Teochew language as many were formerly from a Teochew community at Kampong Punggol before being relocated to Hougang. This trend however undergoes constant shifts, with new residents moving in from other parts of Singapore. There was also a fishing port.^{[1] [2]}

The area was once a large piece of forested land. Farming of pigs was also carried out by farmers. The last of these pig farmers were relocated by the mid-1990s to HDB flats built in Hougang. Today, it is an HDB new town with over 40,000 housing units interspersed with pockets of private residential areas.

At Hougang Street 21, there was a well that is still identified as the tua jia ka well structure. This well identified the Teochew village of tua jia ka which means the "foot of a big well". In the past, the village was a popular place for food, street wayangs, itinerant Chinese medicine men and story tellers spinning yarns.

Amenities[link]

Hougang Mall Shopping Centre

Another view of Hougang Mall Shopping Centre, before renovation

Hougang is regarded as part of the "heartland" of Singapore, a significant distance away from the Central Area. Most of its commercial activity is centred on a few shopping malls such as Hougang Mall, Hougang Plaza, Kang Kar Mall, Heartland Mall and Hougang Festival Market.

Similar to most other residential towns in Singapore, Hougang was designed to be a partially self-sufficient with enough amenities to minimize the number of residents commuting to the Central Area. Facilities include a sports stadium where the S.League plays (homeground of Hougang United), an aquatics centre, an indoor sports complex, a number of parks such as Punggol Park, along with many wet markets and hawker centres. One of the more prominent landmarks in Hougang is the Buangkok Green Medical Park, which houses several medical facilities including the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and Singapore Leprosy Relief Association (SILRA). Hougang is served by two MRT stations: Hougang MRT Station which is located beside the bus interchange and Hougang Mall; and Kovan MRT Station which is beside Heartland Mall. Residents in Buangkok bordering Sengkang have the option of using Buangkok MRT Station as well.

Hougang Central Bus Interchange[link]

The Hougang Central Bus Interchange serves Hougang Town with a range of bus services going to other parts of the island. It is located in Hougang Central, near Hougang Mall and it has an underground link to Hougang MRT Station.

The services departing from Hougang Central Bus Interchange and their destinations are listed as follows:

• Bukit Merah - 132 & 153
• Buona Vista - 74 & 74e
• Singapore Changi Airport PTB 1, 2 & 3 - 27
• Singapore Changi Airport Cargo Complex - 89 & 89e
• Clementi - 147 & 165
• Kovan (Hougang South) - 112 & 113 (Loop Service)
• Jurong East - 51
• Kent Ridge - 151 & 151e
• Marina Centre - 107M
• Shenton Way - 107
• Woodlands - 161

A feeder service is also available, linking residents to the town centre.

• Majority Of Hougang Except Hougang South - Service 325 (Loop Service)

(On Weekdays, Most Commuters Are Students, from Hougang Primary School Or Hougang Secondary School) Hougang South Bus Interchange was closed (Since 15 Feb 2004) when the authorities acquired it for other developments.
It was situated next to the Kovan food centre/Wet Market, near Heartland Mall. Bus services operating from there included:

• Jurong East - 51
• Geylang Lor 1 - 62 (Now From Punggol To Geylang Lor 1 [Loop])
• Bukit Merah - 132
• Kent Ridge - 151
• Feeder Services 321, 322, 326, 327 & 328 (Merged To Service 101 From Serangoon To Buangkok Link [Loop])

The old bus interchange is now a public carpark and private bus terminal for express buses.
4 bus services currently serve the bus stop there (Kovan Hub):

• Hougang Ave 3 (Loop) - 115
• Hougang Central - 112 & 113
• Sengkang - 119

Highlights[link]

Houses in Hougang

A distinctive feature of Hougang lies in the large semi-circular balconies which occur in many Housing Development Board public housing flats in the area. This feature is not as prevalent in public housing outside Hougang.

Political history[link]

Hougang belongs to five political divisions in three different constituencies. A portion belongs to Hougang Single Member Constituency, which is held by Png Eng Huat of the Worker's Party. The seat was left temporarily vacant from 15 February 2012 to 27 May 2012, when Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Workers' Party. Yaw was one of six elected opposition Members of Parliament. It was previously held by Workers' Party secretary general Low Thia Kiang from 1991 to 2011 and is embedded within Aljunied Group Representation Constituency. Low Thia Kiang is now the Member of Parliament for the Bedok Reservoir-Punggol division of Aljunied GRC, in the northern part of Hougang. Chen Show Mao is the Member of Parliament of Paya Lebar division, which contains the southern part of Hougang. A small portion of Hougang is located in the Punggol South division of Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency in which lies several residents' committees, various facilities and the popular Hougang Green Shopping Mall which remains dear to the hearts of most residents living there. Part of Hougang also lies within the Ang Mo Kio - Hougang division of Ang Mo Kio GRC.

In the 1997 general election, Cheng San Group Representation Constituency which comprises large parts of Hougang was the scene of an intense battle between the ruling People's Action Party and the opposition team led by Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam and Tang Liang Hong of the Workers' Party (WP). Prominent members of the cabinet such as the then Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew and then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong made numerous visits to the Group Representation Constituency to canvass The vote was deemed too close to call such that the PAP thought it necessary for ministers to visit the polling stations on voting day. The opposition later charged that the PAP had violated the law which prohibits politicians from being in the vicinity of a polling station but the Attorney-General found no impropriety on the part of the ministers as the law only prohibits politicians from the vicinity of the polling station but not in the polling station itself.

Hougang appeared in the limelight again in the 2006 general election. Both Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC were contested by the Workers' Party, with the latter being defended by the three-term incumbent, Low Thia Khiang, who is the WP's secretary-general. Once again, like the 1997 general election, WP won in Hougang, with Low securing his place in Parliament with 63% of the votes, an increase of more than 8 percentage point from 2001. Aljunied GRC was narrowly held onto by the People's Action Party with a slim 12% lead over the WP team who gained 44% of the votes.

It is widely believed that Hougang residents of the GRC had leaned towards the WP, with one PAP MP-elect describing the counting process as "tense", saying that the vote tally was about "a one-to-one ratio when the counting first starting, and we got worried." Nonetheless, this swing towards the opposition was neutralised by the strong PAP showing in other parts of the GRC, such as Bedok Reservoir and Eunos. Another PAP MP-elect remarked that "we received well over 60% of the vote in Malay-majority Eunos". Sylvia Lim, the de facto leader of the WP's team, subsequently accepted the NCMP seat.

On 7th May of the 2011 General Elections, Mr Yaw Shin Leong from the Worker's Party won the seat for Hougang SMC against PAP's Desmond Choo, taking 64.81 per cent of the valid votes.^[3] Low Thia Kiang, Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Pritam Singh were also elected as the MPs for Aljunied GRC on that day.

However,on 15th February 2012,Mr Yaw Shin Leong was expelled from the Worker's Party due to allegations of extramarital affairs.This led to a hougang resident, Mrs Vellama, filing an affidavit to the high court to compel a By-Election in Hougang. (source required)

A By-Election was called for 26th May 2012. Mr Png Eng Huat of the Worker's Party and Mr Desmond Choo of the People's Action Party ran for Hougang SMC. The Worker's Party retained Hougang SMC with a winning vote percentage of 62.09% and the People's Action Party garnered 37.91% of the votes, with Worker's Party Mr Png Eng Huat declared the winning candidate.

Language[link]

Many of the Singaporean Chinese residents in Hougang speak the Teochew language, because they were originally from Kampong Ponggol, a predominantly Teochew community, before they were relocated to Hougang as Singapore began developing. However, this is becoming less of a trend as the newer residents come from all over the island.

Schools[link]

Private Universities

• University of New Brunswick (Singapore College)

Junior Colleges

• Serangoon Junior College

Secondary Schools

• Bowen Secondary School
• Holy Innocents' High School
• Hougang Secondary School
• Montfort Secondary School
• Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Secondary)
• Serangoon Secondary School
• Xinmin Secondary School
• Yuying Secondary School

Primary Schools

• CHIJ Our Lady of the Nativity (formerly known as CHIJ Punggol)
• Holy Innocents' Primary School
• Hougang Primary School
• Montfort Junior School
• Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Primary)
• Punggol Primary School
• Xinghua Primary School
• Xinmin Primary School
• Yio Chu Kang Primary School

Condominiums

• Evergreen Park Condominium
• The Florida
• Hougang Green
• Central Place
• Central View
• Minton Rise
• Regentville
• Rio Vista Condominium

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Singapore#Hougang

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1

See also[link]

• Hougang MRT Station

Chen Show Mao
Member of Parliament for Paya Lebar Division, Aljunied GRC
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2011
Preceded by	Cynthia Phua
Personal details
Born	Taiwan
Nationality	Singaporean
Political party	Workers' Party of Singapore
Alma mater	Harvard University, Oxford University, Stanford University
Occupation	former partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Religion	Chinese folk religion[1]

Chen Show Mao (simplified Chinese: 陈硕茂; traditional Chinese: 陳碩茂; pinyin: Chén Shuòmào; born 6 February 1961) is a Singaporean politician and lawyer. He is a member of the opposition Workers' Party, and has been a Member of Parliament for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency since 7 May 2011. He represents the Paya Lebar ward, replacing PAP's Cynthia Phua.^[2]

Personal profile[link]

Chen was born in Taiwan and moved to Singapore at the age of 11. He studied at Nanyang Primary School, Catholic High School and the Anglo-Chinese School.^[3] Chen was the president of the students' council at National Junior College and graduated as the top student in Singapore for the 1979 "A" level examinations,^[4] scoring straight As in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics B, as well as A1s for General Paper and Chinese.

Although Chen had yet to become a Singapore Citizen, he chose to serve National Service. During National Service, Chen served as an infantry platoon commander at the Fifth Singapore Infantry Regiment (5SIR) and as Brigade Adjutant, or DYS1, at the headquarters of the Third Singapore Infantry Brigade (3SIB).^[5] He took up citizenship in 1986, six years after serving National Service.^[6]

Despite graduating as the top student for the 1979 "A" level examinations, Chen did not gain admission into the local medical school.^[7] Thereupon, he pursued his undergraduate studies with major in Economics at Harvard University. Chen graduated from Harvard University in 1986 and from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University in 1988, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.^[8] In 1992 Chen received his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School and in 2005 received his M.A. from Corpus Christi College, Oxford University.^[9]

Legal career[link]

Chen is a partner in the Corporate department of Davis Polk & Wardwell and a managing partner of the Beijing office. An experienced lawyer, he has practiced in the New York office since 1992, the Hong Kong office since 1999 and the Beijing office since 2007.

Chen advised the Agricultural Bank of China on its recent US$22 billion initial public offering (IPO), which was the second largest IPO in history.^{[citation needed]} He also advised the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) on its US$21 billion IPO, as well as China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) on its proposed US$19 billion acquisition of Unocal. Chen also completed the global IPOs of Air China, China Construction Bank, China Unicom, Metallurgical Corp. of China, Sinopec, as well as offerings by the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).^{[citation needed]}

Besides China, Chen has completed international securities offerings and M&A transactions by various companies including Acer, ASE, Asus, AU Optronics, BHP, Foxconn, Freeport-McMoran, HTC, TSMC and UMC. He also worked with financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Republic of China (ROC).^{[citation needed]}

Beyond that, Chen has worked with sovereign wealth funds such as The China Investment Corporation (CIC), the Development Fund of the ROC and also advised the Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan Stock Exchanges on proposed regulations. Chen was named one of American Lawyer’s 2010 "Dealmakers of the Year" in April 2011.^[10]

On 1 July 2011, Chen announced on his Facebook page that he had retired from active practice as partner of his law firm given his new responsibilities as an MP. The decision was made so that he can spend more time with his family, to better serve his constituency and country, and that he would be exploring alternative work arrangements.^[11]

Political career[link]

During his time abroad, Chen regularly returned home to Singapore to visit his parents, his sister and her family.^[12] In 2007, he visited the headquarters of the Workers’ Party of Singapore, and found, over a period of time, a meeting of minds on their shared goals for Singapore's future. Subsequently, he became a member of the Workers’ Party of Singapore.^[6] Upon his entry into Singapore politics, he was referred to as the Workers' Party "star catch" by the local press. This was mainly because Singapore's opposition parties had previously struggled to recruit top-calibre candidates with profiles comparable to Chen.

Chen stated that he joined the Workers' Party because he believed that "the best way to ensure good governance for Singapore is through the growth of a competitive opposition that offers a credible alternative to the party in government".^[13] During an interview, Chen frankly explained why he decided to join the Workers' Party of Singapore^[14]

On 27 April 2011, Chen submitted his candidacy for the five-member Aljunied Group Representation Constituency with the Workers' Party of Singapore Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Pritam Singh, a postgraduate law student, and Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap, a freelance counsellor. The incumbent team included two cabinet ministers and one Senior Minister of State, and was helmed by the prominent Minister for Foreign Affairs, George Yeo.^[15]

During the intense nine-day campaign period that followed, Chen was singled out by leaders of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) for criticism. The PAP's Organising Secretary and Minister for Education, Dr Ng Eng Hen, questioned Chen's motives for entering politics in a letter to The Straits Times. Ng also questioned whether Chen would be able to relate to the aspirations of Singaporeans after having spent most of his career in the United States and China.^[16] The PAP's co-founder and former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew also suggested that Chen could return to China after losing in the election.

Throughout the campaign, Chen kept a low profile when the WP was faced with tough questions, instead allowing frontman Low Thia Khiang to take the heat. He displayed his affinity with regular Singaporean culture and Singaporeans by addressing crowds at rallies with smatterings of Malay and Hokkien to dispel the notion that he was a "foreigner", as he had spent many years abroad. He also highlighted at a Workers' Party rally that he came to Singapore at a young age with his parents and sister, that he served National Service, and that he owns an apartment in Bishan and frequently commutes by MRT train.

On 7 May 2011, Chen and his Workers' Party team won the Aljunied GRC with 54.71% of the total votes cast, with Yeo's PAP team obtaining 45.29% of the votes. The victory was considered historic because it was the first time that a GRC seat had been captured by an opposition party, and the first time that two cabinet ministers had lost their seats in a general election. Chen became the first foreign-born opposition MP in the history of Singapore, while his teammates Sylvia Lim and Muhamad Faisal Manap became the first female opposition MP and the first Malay opposition MP.^[17] Also, together with Pritam Singh and Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap, he became one of the first three opposition MPs to be elected into parliament at the first attempt.

Committee of Selection[link]

On 15 October 2011, it was announced that Chen was nominated to sit on the Committee of Selection, making him the first non-People's Action Party MP to be named to this committee.^[18]

Current posts[link]

• Member, Committee of Selection
• Council Member, Workers' Party of Singapore
• Advisor, Aljunied Constituency Committee (AJCC)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile at Workers' Party of Singapore website

Offices[link]

Sylvia Lim Swee Lian
At a Workers' Party of Singapore rally at Bedok Stadium on 30 April 2011 for the Singaporean general election, 2011
Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2011
Preceded by	Lim Hwee Hua
Majority	12,333 (9.42%)
Member of Parliament for Non-Constituency
In office 6 May 2006 – 7 May 2011
Preceded by	Steve Chia
Succeeded by	Lina Chiam Yee Jenn Jong Gerald Giam
Personal details
Born	(1965-03-28) 28 March 1965 (age 47) Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Political party	Workers' Party
Alma mater	National University of Singapore University College London
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer, Lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]

Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (simplified Chinese: 林瑞莲; traditional Chinese: 林瑞蓮; pinyin: Lín Ruì Lián; born 28 March 1965) is a politician, lawyer and academic from Singapore. She is currently the Chairman of the opposition Workers' Party and an elected Member of Parliament (MP) representing the constituency of Aljunied GRC. She is in charge of Serangoon division. ^[2]

Lim previously served in the Singapore Police Force, and taught as a law lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic. She is currently a senior associate in Peter Low LLC.

Personal profile[link]

Lim had her early education at CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel, CHIJ St Joseph's Convent and National Junior College. She then read Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS), graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree in 1988. She obtained a Master of Laws degree from the University of London (University College London) in 1989^[3], and was called to the Bar in Singapore in 1991.

During her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Lim did volunteer work with the Spastic Children's Association, Salvation Army Home for the Aged and University College Hospital. She later did voluntary editorial work for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme of the Law Society.

In 1991, Lim joined the Singapore Police Force for three years as a Police Inspector. She initially did investigation work at the Central Police Division Headquarters, and then became a staff officer under the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department.

Lim joined the law firm M/s Lim & Lim in 1994. She handled both civil and criminal cases in the High Court, Subordinate Courts and Juvenile Court between 1994 and 1998.

Lim joined Temasek Polytechnic in 1998 as a lecturer on the Diploma in Law and Management course. She also became the Manager of Professional Development and Manager of Continuing Education and Training at the polytechnic's School of Business. Her main areas of teaching and research are in civil and criminal procedure, criminal justice and private security. During her time at Temasek Polytechnic, Lim has contributed to the volume on Criminal Procedure for Halsbury's Laws of Singapore (2003), a legal practitioners' reference series, and has also collected and published primary research on private security in Singapore.

In March 2006, Temasek Polytechnic modified its staffing policies to enable Lim to run as a candidate in the general election without having to resign her teaching position at the institution.

Political Career[link]

Lim joined the Workers' Party in 2001 and quickly rose to become the Chairman of the party in 2003.

At the 2006 general election, Lim was a member of the Workers' Party team which contested the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency. The Workers' Party team lost to the team from the governing People's Action Party (PAP) by 58,593 votes (43.9%) to 74,843 (56.1%).^[4] This was the highest percentage of the vote garnered by any losing opposition candidates in the election, and therefore meant that the Workers' Party was entitled to select one of its team members from Ajunied GRC to become a Non-constituency Member of Parliament. The party chose Lim to become its NCMP.^[5]

During her term in Parliament, Lim spoke out against ministers' salaries, and also against means testing in hospitals, which resulted in the PAP deferring a decision on this for a period of two years from 2006 to 2008. In addition, she also called for a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax, arguing that it was a regressive tax, and urged the government to do more to help retrenched workers.

In the 2011 general election, Lim again contested in Aljunied GRC, along with Muhamad Faisal Manap, Pritam Singh, Chen Show Mao and party leader Low Thia Khiang, who vacated his seat of Hougang to lead the charge in Aljunied. Lim was returned as an elected Member of Parliament for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency after her team won 54.71%[2] of the votes (54.72% including overseas votes), the first time that an opposition party won a Group Representation Constituency since the system's introduction on 1 June 1988. In addition, the defeat of the incumbent PAP team marked the first time in Singapore's electoral history that a serving cabinet minister lost his seat. She has been assigned to look after the Serangoon ward previously held by the PAP's Lim Hwee Hua and has also been appointed Chairman of the combined Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

Lim's victory also made her the first female opposition MP in Singapore's post-independence history.

One week after the election, she announced that she would be resigning from her lecturing job at Temasek Polytechnic after 12 years of service. She said that her political activities had already led to her having to take significant time off from her teaching duties in the past, and that she did not think it would be fair to the Polytechnic if she stayed on seeing as her Parliamentary duties would take up even more of her time.

Since then she has returned to the legal profession and is now a senior associate with Peter Low LLC.

Current posts[link]

• Chairman, Workers' Party of Singapore
• Co-Chairman, Aljunied Constituency Committee (AJCC)
• Chairman, Aljunied-Hougang Town Council

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile at Parliament of Singapore website

Yam Ah Mee (simplified Chinese: 杨雅镁; traditional Chinese: 楊雅鎂; pinyin: Yáng Yǎměi,^[1][2] born 2 July 1957) is a Singaporean civil servant and Chief Executive Director of the People's Association. He shot to fame after Singaporeans took to his monotone voice and expressionless demeanour, as the Returning Officer for the General Elections in 2011.^[3]

Biography[link]

Yam studied at Hwa Chong Junior College^[4] and graduated from the University of New South Wales with a First Class Honours in Engineering and Royal Military College, Duntroon, Australia, with The Queens Medal,^{[citation needed]} on a Singapore Armed Forces scholarship. He also has a Masters in Business Administration degree from the National University of Singapore and a Masters in Public Administration degree from Harvard University.^[5]

Yam served in the Republic of Singapore Air Force, writing an article in the Military Journal POINTER,^[6] rising to be the chief of staff of the air staff ^[7] and commanding the ground based air-defence systems, including the new Igla short range surface to air missiles,^[8][9] before retiring as a Brigadier-General and entering the Civil Service.

He joined the Public Service Division in August 1998 and was appointed the Deputy Secretary (Development) and the CEO & Dean of the Civil Service College. He was then posted to the Ministry of Transport as Deputy Secretary (Sea & Air) on 1 June 2004 and was appointed chief executive of Land Transport Authority on 11 May 2005. He was also President of the Singapore Youth Flying Club for 8 years from 1998 to 2006.^[10] Yam was honoured in 2008 with the Public Administration (Gold) Medal, a top National Day Award.^[11]

On May 1, 2010 Mr Yam was appointed CED-designate of the People's Association and on June 1, 2010 fully assumed the Chief Executive Director (CED) mantle, taking over from the retiring Tan Boon Huat.^[12][13][14] His appointment as Returning Officer also took effect on June 1, 2010.^[15]

Elections[link]

Singaporean general election, 2011[link]

Yam shot to fame during the election results release night/morning, as the Returning Officer (having replaced Tan Boon Huat, who retired). He was noted for his monotoned "nasal" voice and expressionless demeanour while reading out the 26 batches of results. Fan pages were soon created on Facebook while the results release was still ongoing. Netizens have also released music videos with clips and remixes of his voice on YouTube.^[16] A video of Yam doing the chicken dance with youths from Geylang Serai Community Club also went viral, before it was quickly taken down.^[17]

Yam has since explained that his "robotic" and "nasal" voice is due to an operation he had to remove a fishbone in his larynx,^[18] although he has also said, explaining his impassive delivery to The Straits Times, that he "felt it was important to announce (the election results) clearly, concisely and impartially."^[19]

Singaporean presidential election, 2011[link]

Yam was appointed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as Returning Officer for the Singapore Presidential Election.^[20] Yam announced the results of the 4 nominated candidates for the Presidential Election on 4:24am (GMT +8).

Singaporean by-election, 2012[link]

Yam was named as the Returning Officer for the 2012 Hougang by-election. He delivered the nomination announcement at 12.35 pm on 16 May 2012.

Post-elections[link]

Yam's robotic voice announcing the results for Aljunied GRC had turned into a mix just within a few hours ensuing the elections. Many have taken clips of his voice and mixed it with various styles of music, from electro to dance, on popular video-sharing website YouTube.

Within two days, Yam's Facebook account had reached the 5000 friends limit. Yam thus created an official page for himself ; although non-official pages had already appeared by then.

After a week, he did a "spoof" video of himself, in which he announced PAssion Movie Night, held to celebrate a million PAssion Card memberships, in his trademark manner.

Mr. Yam filmed a video in late May, to promote a K-pop dance event on May 29, 2011, to be held at Ngee Ann City.^[21]

In less than 24 hours after the release of the presidential election results, a club mix of Yam announcing the results was released on YouTube,^[22] by the same user responsible for the earlier club mix of Yam's general elections "performance".

Yam starred in a musical held to celebrate the opening of the first 12 stations of the Circle Line, on 2 October.^[23]

External links[link]

• People's Association Directory
• OurCommunity.sg
• PAssion Card

References[link]