SINGAPORE - Hours after it was announced that Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong would take up the reins as prime minister on May 15, residents from his ward in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC queued up outside the People’s Action Party’s Limbang branch at Block 787 Choa Chu Kang North 6.

As trains rumbled past Yew Tee MRT station nearby, there was little fanfare as the residents waited on plastic chairs for DPM Wong’s regular Monday night Meet-the-People Session (MPS) to start.

Residents whom The Straits Times spoke to at the MPS said they were happy for DPM Wong, who has been an MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC since 2015 and oversees the Limbang ward.

He made his political debut in 2011 in West Coast GRC.

Mr Andrew Ang, 61, said he has approached DPM Wong for help at the MPS multiple times, for housing and a dispute involving medical bills.

“We come here for help because Lawrence will get (the agencies’) attention. He’s very fast in assessing the facts. My cases involved money, and he is very good at assessing quickly.

“He told me straightaway, ‘Don’t worry, I will sort it for you’,” said Mr Ang.

The IT executive has lived in the neighbourhood for 15 years.

“He deserves to be our PM,” Mr Ang added.

DPM Wong, 51, had been the presumptive next prime minister since April 2022, when his peers picked him as the leader of the PAP’s 4G team.

Earlier on April 15, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that DPM Wong would be sworn in as the Republic’s fourth prime minister in a month’s time.

A resident of a nearby condominium, who wanted to be known only as Madam Ng, 52, recalled how DPM Wong arranged for stakeholders to meet residents to listen to their concerns when a nursing home was going to be built across their development.

“He made sure they heard our concerns, and there was some compromise in the end,” said the sales and marketing executive.

Madam Ng said residents in the area are generally happy, as DPM Wong and the other MPs made sure that requests for estate improvements such as shelters and linkways were met.

“I am happy for him, but it will be good if he can stay here in the next election,” she added.

Grassroots volunteer Shabirin Ariffin, 47, said that for DPM Wong, it is all about the residents.

“After every event, he will ask us how we can improve the next one for the residents,” he said.

“He is very forthcoming with new ideas and loves to listen to young people, listen to new innovative ideas, and always takes that into consideration when he gives his suggestions.”

DPM Wong arrived at his MPS at about 7.30pm.

He declined to comment about the announcement, and said that he would answer questions during a media interview on April 16.

When asked if things would change for his residents, he said: “No, I don’t think so.”