'My eyebags have their own eyebags': Jeffrey Siow opens up about life since joining politics

New parliamentarian Jeffrey Siow has gotten less sleep since his election as MP for Choa Chu Kang GRC in this year's General Election, and subsequent appointment to the Cabinet.

The Acting Minister for Transport quipped in Parliament on Monday (Sept 22): "My daughter has observed that my eyebags have their own eyebags."

Siow was speaking at the debate on the President's Address, where he opened up at the beginning of his address on how life has changed since he entered politics.

"I have less time to play football with my friends on Sundays. And even when I do, I am the most polite of players. When I get kicked at the back of my leg, I am the first to say, 'sorry, sorry'," he described.

What keeps him going is his family, he said, thanking his wife, brother, children and his mother — who chips in by volunteering at his Meet-the-People sessions.

"My family makes me feel that I am part of a team," Siow added.

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The acting transport minister also addressed the recent train breakdowns and delays, revealing that he has asked the Land Transport Authority to share more data on train disruptions publicly.

He emphasised that transport workers including maintenance workers and customer service officers are the "heart of [the] team" that keeps the system moving.

"Not long ago, I read a letter published in the Lianhe Zaobao, titled 'Please return my father to me'," said Siow.

The author, whose father had been a bus captain for twenty years, wrote about his long work hours and hard shifts, and how he appeared to choose work over family.

"At the end of her letter, she wrote, 'Family is the last bus in life that we must never miss.'," he related, adding that the letter reminded him of his relationship with his father who also worked long hours in a coffee shop.

"Growing up, I wished for his presence, even though I understood his absence.

"Now I find myself dealing the same tension. Some evenings, my children would see me heading out. They would ask, 'where are you going, daddy?'

"And I wonder in those moments, if I am giving them enough. They are teenagers now; they don't need me to tuck them into bed anymore. But they still need me to listen, to be present, and to show up," he said.

Admitting that he feels "a tinge in [his] heart", Siow said he perseveres in his work, helping to build Singapore and supporting people who keep the country running.

"The way forward, is together. With our families, our friends, and as one nation, because the meaningful things in life cannot be done alone."

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com