Ong Ye Kung leads PAP team to victory while elder brother Howard Ong loses in Australia's election on the same day

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and his older brother, Howard Ong, both stood for elections on Saturday (May 3), but emerged with differing results.

While Ong Ye Kung led his five-member team to victory in Singapore's general election, his brother Howard Ong failed to win a parliamentary seat in Australia's federal election.

Ong Ye Kung headed the People's Action Party (PAP) team — featuring new faces Ng Shi Xuan and Gabriel Lam with incumbent MPs Vikram Nair and Mariam Jaafar — in Sembawang GRC and managed to emerge victorious against their opponents Singapore Democratic Party and the National Solidarity Party with 67.75 per cent of the vote.

His brother, a member of the Liberal Party, contested for the Western Australian seat of Tangney in Perth. He received 43.8 per cent of votes, trailing behind Malaysian-born Sam Lim of the Labour Party who received 56.2 per cent of votes.

Howard Ong moved to Australia after completing his military service in Singapore, and studied at Curtin University, according his bio on the Liberal Party website.

"Our family has always had a strong commitment to serving the community, and I have carried that commitment with me," Howard Ong told The Straits Times on April 13.

The two brothers are not the only politicians in the family — their father, Ong Lian Teng, was also a politician with opposition Barisan Socialis and served as MP for Bukit Panjang from 1963 to 1968.

It was also revealed that PAP candidate for Jurong Central SMC, Xie Yao Quan, is cousins with the Ong brothers. Xie also emerged victorious on Saturday night with 80.51 per cent of votes in landslide victory against Kala Manickam from Red Dot United.

dana.leong@asiaone.com

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