SINGAPORE, March 28 — Six Progress Singapore Party (PSP) members were newly elected into the party’s 12-member central executive committee (CEC) today, with party chief Tan Cheng Bock among those who kept their places in the committee.
The elections took place over the span of three hours on Sunday morning amid rumours of infighting within the party.
Asked about the rumours, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai said: “As you can see at the elections today, there are no troublesome events so the unity of the party is not in question at all.
“It’s just that there are some opinions and all that, so a democratic process would allow that.”
Pressed if this meant the allegations were false, Mr Leong would only say that the rumours “won’t have a substantial impact”.
On Thursday, a website RedWire Times claimed that some party cadres were “mustering support” to demand that Dr Tan step down from the party and hand over the leadership to “more talented rising stars”.
When approached by the media, Dr Tan, who led a PSP team that contested West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the 2020 General Election, declined to comment on the results of the party elections or take any questions.
The elections took place across two locations, with 45 members — including all the 26 candidates — at PSP’s headquarters at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, and another 20 members at a PSP branch at 71 Tannery Lane.
The six new CEC members are:
- Dr Ang Yong Guan, a former candidate for Marymount Single Member Constituency (SMC)
- Kayla Low, a former candidate for Yio Chu Kang SMC
- Wendy Low, a candidate for Tanjong Pagar GRC
- Harish Pillay, also a candidate for Tanjong Pagar
- Jess Chua, a pricing manager for an airline company
- Phang Yew Huat, a businessman in the early childhood education industry
The new CEC will serve for two years until March 2023, according to a statement provided by the party.
“The new CEC has six new members to provide the party with a renewed leadership at the highest decision-making body,” the statement added.
“This is a significant milestone in PSP and the new CEC will chart the way for the party and our future,” said Dr Tan as part of the statement.
The respective roles of the members will be announced on Thursday, the statement said.
Besides Dr Tan and Leong, the other members who have remained are:
- NCMP Hazel Poa
- Wang Swee Chuang, former chairman
- Francis Yuen, former assistant secretary-general
- Peggie Chua
Eleven members have left the CEC, reducing the number of people in the committee from 17 to 12.
The most notable member to step down during this reshuffle is former treasurer S Nallakaruppan.
Asked about his departure from the CEC, the chartered accountant said that he had recently taken up the role of President at the Society of Remisiers. As the society will have discussions with government agencies such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, he “does not want to involve politics”.
The former candidate alongside Dr Tan at West Coast GRC added that he would still be a member of the party.
Former Tanjong Pagar GRC candidate Michael Chua and Chua Chu Kang GRC candidate Abdul Rahman have also left the CEC.
When asked about why he departed from the CEC, Chua would only say that he did not put his name up for the elections.
The party officially launched in 2019, and there was a CEC reshuffle in January last year, with five new members co-opted.
One of these members, Ms Michelle Lee, quit her vice-chairman role within two months, denying rumours that she had left over disagreements on the appointments of new CEC members.
Tension outside the headquarters
As the proceedings went on, tension was building outside the party headquarters as former candidate for Nee Soon GRC Kala Manickam was denied entry to the meeting by members at the door.
She told TODAY that PSP had terminated her membership at the end of December, days after she had a terse Facebook exchange with her fellow Nee Soon candidate and party member Brad Bowyer.
Bowyer had in a Facebook post on December 17 questioned the wearing of masks, which led to Kala, who is a Covid-19 survivor, to voice her disagreement with the post in the comments.
“As a Covid survivor, I would say that we need to be very mindful, so I thought the party would take some action (against Bowyer)” Kala said. “Yet he continued to post… and he’s still in the party, so where is the fair treatment?”
Bowyer was among the members present at the meeting on Sunday.
Kala added that since her appeal against her membership termination was under review, she should be allowed to voice her side of the story, instead of having the review go on without her present.
At the end of the meeting, Dr Tan walked out and spoke to Kala when she approached him to ask for the outcome of the appeal.
He said that the party cadres would be the ones to tell her the result of the appeal, before leaving. — TODAY
