SINGAPORE, July 2 — With a new logo and flyers in hand, independent candidate Cheang Peng Wah spent the first afternoon after Nomination Day going door to door and introducing himself to residents living in the electoral division of Pioneer Single Member Constituency (SMC). 

Dressed in his chosen candidacy colours of a black-and-white shirt and grey pants, Cheang and two volunteers covered Blocks 698A, B and C along Jurong West Central 3 yesterday. 

Most residents did not recognise Cheang and his team when he approached them, but they warmed up quickly to him and told him some of their concerns, such as noise pollution from the nearby Boon Lay MRT Station and tracks.

Cheang, who declined to reveal his age, is the only independent candidate in the 2020 General Election (GE) and is contesting for the single seat at Pioneer, making it a three-cornered fight with Patrick Tay from the People’s Action Party (PAP) and Lim Cher Hong from the Progress Singapore Party (PSP).

His logo features a horse, which he said was chosen from among a list presented to him by the Elections Department Singapore at the nomination centre on Tuesday.  

“I chose the horse as it was a befitting logo and represents how hard I will work for the residents of Pioneer SMC if elected,” Cheang said, adding that the monochrome black-and-white colour scheme was selected to distinguish himself from the political parties.

“Our attire also mirrors that of the Japanese cabinet, and symbolises qualities of the Japanese that I admire such as courtesy, excellence and social harmony,” the former Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) engineer said. 

Beyond the symbolism, Cheang’s manifesto promises to enforce accountability on the Government and opposition parties, and it will be fully revealed during a Facebook live stream tomorrow. 

Campaign support

When asked about his campaign operations, Cheang — who is married and has a daughter — said that he has a team of about 14 friends and relatives who are supporting his campaign.  

Among them are election agent Gay Kiat Lam and volunteer Arulanandan Shankar, who were distributing flyers to residents with Cheang yesterday.

Gay, who also did not want to reveal his age, said that he supported Cheang’s candidacy because he has known him for more than 30 years and said that he is “a good and passionate person who would make a good leader.”

Shankar, 67, agreed, saying that he supports Cheang for “the future of Singapore that needs independent officials to voice the needs of the people.”

As for financing his campaign, Cheang said that he expects to spend at least S$30,000 (RM92,075), which includes the election deposit of S$13,500 and the printing of flyers, posters, as well as food, transport and attire. 

Candidates have to give up the S$13,500 deposit if they do not get at least 12.5 per cent of the vote in the constituency they are contesting.

Preparing for political broadcast

Beyond door-to-door visits, Cheang plans to engage with voters virtually through Facebook live stream.

After the session on his manifesto, the second live stream will be held on the eve of Cooling-Off Day, where Cheang will “remind voters to vote and the stakes involved.”

He will also appear on TV for the constituency political broadcasts, where he will speak for three minutes.

For this election, the constituency political broadcast will air on Mediacorp’s Channel 5 from July 3 to 8 at 7pm each day.

The broadcast line-ups will be published on Mediacorp’s website on each of these days.

Cheang said that he has already prepared his script for that, and will now focus on rehearsing it so that he can “communicate his points effectively and without mistake.” — TODAY