Jagathishwaran Rajo—Jaga to those who know him—is a man shaped by service. A first-time candidate under the PAP banner in GE 2025, he stood in Aljunied GRC.
Although didn’t win, his story is more than just one GE contest. It’s about a man who has spent almost two decades helping people consistently; a man who chose to stay present for others in their darkest moments, even when no one else was watching.
From Ground Up: The Heart in Grassroots Work
Jaga started his journey from the ground up. He received his very first Edusave Merit Bursary Award at 13 and decided to pay it forward by serving in the Indian Activity Executive Committee, followed by the Youth Executive Committee.
Political Activism
Subsequently in 2009, he started helping out in Zhenghua Division in Holland–Bukit Timah GRC. His evenings and weekends were spent with residents in the eight years he served as a PAP branch secretary there.
Besides rushing from work to attend house visits, ground engagements, and funerals, he sat with residents in public rental housing and walked families through financial aid forms. He followed up on ground feedback including workplace disputes, just showing up, again and again.
By 2024, he became the PAP Eunos Branch Chair, fostering community connections, building bonds with residents and looking after their interests, such as organising anti-scam awareness campaigns, cross-cultural exchanges and fitness activities.
Fighting for Vulnerable Workers
For over a decade, Jaga has been a trade unionist advocating for workers’ rights and well-being.
For example, serving as Senior Industrial Relations Officer at NTUC under the Building Construction And Timber Industries Employees’ Union (BATU), he looked after the welfare of BATU members who worked in companies such as Suntec. Building trust with the workers and management, he has improved working conditions to be safer and raised staff morale with acts of care.
After serving in several unions, he is currently an Assistant Director at the NTUC Freelancers and Self-Employed Unit (U FSE). Many still assume freelancers are free spirits who enjoy flexibility, but Jaga sees the dark side of freelancing and self-employment—drivers and riders who got into accidents and lost income, freelance coaches with little CPF savings, and freelance creatives owed months of unpaid invoices.
He meets them in person, listens to their stories and advocates for their interests. With his U FSE team’s groundwork, and NTUC’s Labour MPs lobbying for change in Parliament, NTUC has successfully pushed for better legal protections, CPF contributions by platform operators, and collective representation for private-hire delivery drivers, taxi drivers (ride-hail) and freelance delivery workers through the Platform Workers Bill.
As the Executive Secretary of the Visual, Audio, Creative Content Professionals Association (Singapore) [VICPA], he supports freelance creative professionals. He knows that a poorly designed contract or no written agreement can mean no income or late payments. Hence, he regularly shares with freelance creatives on how they can negotiate fair contracts and protect their rights under the Tripartite Standards on Contracting with Self-Employed Persons and the Tripartite Standard on Procurement of Services from Media Freelancers.
The Caregiver’s View of Service
What shapes a person like this? In Jaga’s case, it’s caregiving for his late grandmother at the tender age of 12.
“When I was born, my grandmother took care of me till I entered Primary School. She then had bone cancer and she had to go NUH regularly for radiotherapy. When I was doing my PSLE, I used to bring her there for appointments and do my homework while waiting for me to complete the radiotherapy session. While caring for her, I learnt a lot of housework including cooking from her,” he shared.
“When I was born, my grandmother took care of me till I entered Primary School. She then had bone cancer and she had to go NUH regularly for radiotherapy. When I was doing my PSLE, I used to bring her there for appointments and do my homework while waiting for me to complete the radiotherapy session. While caring for her, I learnt a lot of housework including cooking from her,” he shared.
When he was 21, he was also a caregiver for his late mother, who battled diabetes for a long time and had to undergo several surgeries and amputations. He managed hospital visits, medication, home care, and supporting her emotional health, while juggling university studies. He also continues to caregive for his elderly father.
These experiences, which he had written about in a CNA article, were also what made him more empathetic.
He explained, “My mother always taught me to do good for others and to never be afraid to speak up when it matters. She’s a courageous woman.”
When he sees overstretched caregivers who juggle jobs while caring for their children and parents, he knows what burnout feels like and what it’s like to hold grief in one hand and responsibility in the other. He has felt the tension on the ground when workers are too afraid to speak up, and has counselled teenagers who mask their feelings and then act out due to pressure.
These personal and professional experiences have pushed him to advocate for the vulnerable, such as better caregiver support, workers’ wages and welfare, and improved mental wellness. He rolled out the PAP Eunos Caregivers Support Programme as the Branch Chair of PAP Eunos Branch in April 2025. In the subsequent three months, the branch received close to 600 applications and a total of 400 households had benefited to date.
What kind of leaders do we need?
Although Jaga didn’t win GE2025, he still walks the ground in Eunos, pushes for workers’ interests through his NTUC work, and actively builds on practical solutions for social and workplace issues, in whichever capacity he is in.
He is the kind of voice that Singapore needs more of—a role model of servant leadership, caring for the vulnerable and making a difference in their lives.
This is the kind of leadership we need to pay more attention to.
