SINGAPORE, July 11 — Despite being defeated in all nine constituencies where he had fielded candidates, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) chief Tan Cheng Bock said he is proud that his one-year-old party achieved an average vote share of 40 per cent.

“We have caused an impact in this General Election (GE). We may not have won seats, but if we look at the level of support to PSP candidates, the average is about 40 per cent,” said the 80-year-old former People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament-turned-opposition leader. 

“An average of 40 per cent for a new party and going into all these new areas, I am actually quite proud of that performance. I think it is the beginning of a new chapter for PSP, and I think the movement that I have created will grow.”

He was addressing reporters at the PSP’s headquarters in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre past 3am on Saturday (July 11), minutes after hearing the result for West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) where he had contested but lost by a difference of 3.38 percentage points. The PAP had secured 51.69 per cent of the vote there.

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Stressing that he has made a “headstart” for the future and “set the stage” in this GE, he said: “We are not deterred by this disappointment because I think the team that I have built will go further in the next election. 

“I told my men: Don’t worry. Sometimes we are defeated once. The next round, we will come back.”

PSP’s performance

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PSP is a new political party that Dr Tan founded only last year. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s estranged younger brother, Lee Hsien Yang, was inducted as a member of the party a day after Parliament was dissolved on June 23, and had since been vocal in urging voters to deny the PAP a supermajority in Parliament. 

But despite it being relatively new, PSP fielded the largest slate among 10 opposition parties here in GE2020, contesting 24 of 93 seats. The Workers’ Party (WP), Singapore’s leading opposition party, sent 21 candidates.

PSP’s average result for the constituencies it had contested was just over 40 per cent. PSP’s average result for GRCs was higher, at 41.16 per cent, while its average result for SMCs was 39.08 per cent.

Here’s a breakdown of its performance at each constituency:

West Coast GRC: 48.31%

Tanjong Pagar GRC: 36.87% 

Chua Chu Kang GRC: 41.36% 

Nee Soon GRC: 38.1%% 

Marymount SMC: 44.96% 

Yio Chu Kang SMC: 39.17% 

Kebun Baru SMC: 37.03% 

Pioneer SMC: 35.24% 

Hong Kah North SMC: 39.02% 

The closest fight was in West Coast, where Dr Tan’s team was up against a PAP team helmed by S. Iswaran, 58, and Desmond Lee, 43. Iswaran was the Minister for Communications and Information, while Lee, PAP’s organising secretary, was the Minister for Social and Family Development. 

On its West Coast battle, Dr Tan said: “We were very close. I think we gave them a good fight.”

Younger candidates in next GE

Asked if he might run again in the next GE, he said he would “never give up”. But he reiterated that he is only here to “set the stage” to get the right people on board to help him build a much stronger Singapore, as he is “very disappointed with the current PAP”.

In the next GE, he hopes to field a much younger team, he said. PSP’s youngest candidate this GE was 23-year-old law undergraduate Choo Shaun Ming who contested in Nee Soon GRC, but the average age of its 24 candidates this time round was 53.

When he was still campaigning last week, Dr Tan had said that he would not take up a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat even if he was offered one. 

The NCMP scheme allows the “best-performing losers” among the opposition to enter Parliament. This GE, the honour goes to PSP’s West Coast candidates.

Dr Tan asserted this morning that he will not reconsider his decision. Repeating a stance he had stated previously, he said: “I will not take up the NCMP because I’ve been in politics for so many years. There’s no reason why I should be there.”

Nevertheless, he revealed that an executive committee in the party is discussing the possibility of sending two individuals to serve that role in Parliament. The exposure would give them an understanding of how parliamentary processes are like, and how debates take place in the House, Dr Tan said.

A near-miss was something Dr Tan had experienced in the 2011 Presidential Election as well. Then, Dr Tony Tan beat him by a 0.34 per cent margin and was inaugurated as the seventh President of Singapore.

When asked how he felt about losing narrowly again, Dr Tan said he has had six “damn good elections” so he has had “no near-misses”. The Presidential Election, he said, was another matter altogether. 

He said that he would be back for the “next round, if I am still strong”. 

What analysts say

With a vote share of about 40 per cent, which is slightly higher than the opposition’s average of 38.76 per cent, analysts said that PSP had put up a good fight, attributing much of its success to Dr Tan.

“If there was a PSP and there was no Tan Cheng Bock, I don’t think those results would be there,” National University of Singapore political scientist Bilveer Singh said. 

“Tan Cheng Bock was the energiser. He made the difference. He was the driver, and I think the face of Tan Cheng Bock made the PSP what it is today, and I think he’s going to leave behind a very powerful legacy.”

Assoc Prof Singh said he will be “very surprised” if Dr Tan ends up taking up an empty NCMP seat. 

Elaborating, he said: “What better way to train younger leaders than in Parliament? One of his greatest successes is in getting two PSP candidates into Parliament.”

Assistant Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah of Nanyang Technological University’s School of Social Sciences said what is critical now is for Dr Tan to build PSP into a party that is more than just about himself.

“I don’t think PSP can survive in the post-Tan Cheng Bock era. If he steps down, it’s the end of PSP,” he said, adding that Dr Tan needs to now focus on building the party.

What West Coast residents say

TODAY spoke to West Coast residents on PAP’s narrow win in their constituency.

A 21-year-old who wanted to be known only as Tan said he was disappointed with the results and hopes that Dr Tan returns in the next GE. “I think a lot of us had high hopes for him in West Coast GRC… A lot of people must be disappointed.”

Accountant Tng Zhi Liang, 30, believes that PSP will “definitely do better” in the next GE. 

“The results were expected after all, considering that they are a one-year-old party. They have definitely done well and put up a good fight,” he said. “Based on the results, they’ll have a higher chance in the next election and maybe we’ll see them then.”

Catherine, a professional in her 50s who has lived in West Coast for over 30 years, said the West has always voted strongly for the PAP and she could not believe that the results were so close.

Recalling the instant when the sample count results were released, which showed that PSP had taken 48 per cent of the vote, she said she could hear people in the surrounding flats cheering as if a football team had scored a goal.

“I wondered if it was cheering that it was a close fight or cheering because PAP won,” she said.

Rachel Lee, a 31-year-old senior marketing executive, said the close results are an indication that there are areas the PAP will need to pay attention to.

 Syah Hassan, 26, a security officer, said it hurts that Dr Tan had come so close to winning. “Utmost respect to Dr Tan being 80 years old and still fighting for us. Losing by that little margin again just speaks volumes of how much people highly regard him,” he added. — TODAY