Having already fought two bruising election campaigns in Potong Pasir without success, when General Election 2011 came around, the logical choice for candidate Sitoh Yih Pin was to contest in a different ward.
However, leaving Potong Pasir never crossed his mind.
Explaining to Petir why he chose the harder path, he said: “First, it is incredibly important for me to pick myself up exactly where I fell. Second, quite honestly, I would rather lose with the team I have been fighting alongside for over 10 years than win somewhere else without them.”
His commitment to the ward had been a decade in the making.
Mr Sitoh first joined the People’s Action Party in 1990. He served as branch secretary for the Chong Boon division and later volunteered in the Punggol East division before entering electoral politics in 2001. Fielded in the Potong Pasir SMC, he faced a steep uphill battle against veteran opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Chiam See Tong, who had anchored the ward since 1984.
Mr Sitoh lost that first attempt in 2001 by a margin of 4.8 per cent. Five years later, he tried again and lost a second time, with the margin having doubled to 11.6 per cent.
Facing a difficult election in 2011, Mr Sitoh himself was far from confident. On polling day, an opponent’s activist told him directly: “You shouldn’t have contested here a third time. You know our roots run very deep here, and you know you cannot win.”
“Honestly, his confidence was entirely justified,” Mr Sitoh recounted.
Yet, against all odds, his perseverance paid off.
On his third attempt, he pulled off what was once thought impossible, winning Potong Pasir SMC by the narrowest of margins—just 114 votes. His razor-thin victory ended 27 years of opposition representation in the constituency. It was a feat achieved only after a decade of relentless ground-level campaigning and building deep, personal relationships with residents.
“After losing my first two elections, I concluded that in a small ward like Potong Pasir, trust and personal relationships with our residents matter most. So, I spent a lot of time building them.”
Most challenging moment for Sitoh – the period following his 2011 victory
Many assume that losing the 2001 and 2006 elections in Potong Pasir would be the most difficult moments of Mr Sitoh’s political career.
“Losing an election was incredibly painful. We were left battered and bruised,” he explained. “But to me, you cannot truly win until you have learnt how not to lose.”
His team shared that same unwavering resolve, refusing to give up on the constituency.
“We learnt from our past experiences, pushed our defeats to the back of our minds, and chose to move forward after every setback,” he said.
Rather, the most challenging period of his journey was his first term as an elected Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir.
“We won the 2011 election by just 114 votes,” Mr Sitoh said. “That meant that for every two voters I met, one did not vote for me. We knew we needed to unite a divided electorate.”
With internal resources limited and public expectations sky-high, the pressure to deliver was intense.
“I knew we had to climb a very steep, slippery slope. But we told ourselves to work hard and that the love would naturally flow. We didn’t take this job because it was easy. We took it on because we knew it would be hard. In fact, very, very hard.”
Recognising the immense stress he was under, Mr Sitoh’s team rallied around him.
He vividly recalled a moment when his activists offered their full support, telling him: “We know you are under a lot of pressure. But have no fear. We will work as hard as we can, every single day, for the next 1,800 days [of this term of government]. No matter which corner you are in, we will support you. But we need you to go out there and give our people the confidence that Potong Pasir will be a better place and a better home for everyone.”
He remains deeply grateful to his activists and residents, whose unwavering support sustained him through those challenging years.
Building comfort, step by step
Mr Sitoh and his team moved quickly to act on years of accumulated feedback from residents. It was a simple, single-minded focus on improving the everyday lives and experience of Potong Pasir residents.
Over the next four years, Potong Pasir was transformed by a wave of new infrastructure projects and community programmes. These ranged from lift upgrades and covered walkways to practical additions such as resting shelters and benches along footpaths for seniors.
“I would walk with, talk to, and observe our seniors as they left their homes to buy groceries,” Mr Sitoh shared.
“When a young person takes one step, a senior citizen needs two to cover the same distance. They also need to rest more often—sometimes every 100 metres. So we built these simple, sheltered seats at regular intervals to make those daily journeys easier for them.”
Shifting from quantity to quality
In 2015, Mr Sitoh was returned to Parliament with 66.4 per cent of the vote, a striking turnaround from the 2011 result.
Reflecting on his three terms in Potong Pasir, Mr Sitoh explained that his first four years were focused on delivering a rapid transformation of the estate. In his words, the team needed to “get our engine cranking as quickly as we could”.
“For the next two terms, we shifted our focus from quantity to quality. We strived for perfection at a human pace, focusing on the minutest details. It is like a master ramen chef whose only goal is to cook 100 bowls of the absolute finest, most perfect ramen every day.”
This human-centric approach was evident in how his team built four distinct gyms across three separate locations within the constituency, with a focus on encouraging residents to step inside and use them.
Party work has taught Sitoh the importance of empathy
Mr Sitoh retired from electoral politics ahead of the 2025 general election, yet he has continued to devote his life to public service.
He actively contributes to the Party, sharing his insights and mentoring the next generation of leaders serving in opposition-held wards.
His public service extended to the global stage in July 2026. He was appointed Singapore’s Non-Resident High Commissioner to the Maldives, representing the nation in a new capacity.
Having served the party and Singapore for more than 35 years, Mr Sitoh has learnt the importance of empathy, deep ground knowledge, and absolute attention to detail.
Offering his advice to a new generation of MPs, Mr Sitoh said: “We must believe that we have not yet reached our final peak. Sometimes, we need to dream the most impossible dreams to scale the next height.”
“And for fellow Singaporeans, I believe that if we get a chance at happiness in life, we should take it with both hands. True happiness in Singapore comes from standing together with the PAP.”
