Singapore—At the moment, Progress Singapore Party (PSP), the country’s newest political party, has embraced being known as the party of former longtime People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament Dr Tan Cheng Bock, although PSP’s assistant secretary-general Anthony Lee has said that there is a lot of work to be done in “branding”—or defining what the party is all about.
Furthermore, while its leading figure is the 79-year-old Dr Tan, PSP is endeavouring to show that it is up to date, and not “outdated” in carrying out its goals, TODAY reports.
Mr Lee said that because PSP is still working on its “roots” there is “no way we can separate PSP from Dr Tan. So ultimately, it is for us to try to do the branding up… It is not an easy task, but we are still working on it. So we came out today to meet all Singaporeans.”
Mr Lee was referring to PSP’s first walkabout, which they held on September 29, Sunday, throughout all of Singapore, covering all 29 constituencies (16 GRCs and 13 SMCs). Members carried flyers that featured only Dr Tan’s image on it.
Dr Tan, who served as MP for Ayer Rajah from 1980 to 2006, went to meet people at hawker centres in Ghim Moh and Tiong Bahru on Sunday, after which the former PAP MP spoke with members of the press, underlining the youthful element to PSP.
He said, “There’s always this fear that the party is only Tan Cheng Bock. But I think, later on, when we introduce our young people, they’d realise that they are not so old.
We are not so outdated in the way we do things.
In fact, I’d say the manner in which they are conducting themselves is quite different from the time when I was a Member of Parliament.”
He told the press that the younger members of PSP have been given duties and responsibilities to steer the party forward, even if they are inexperienced.
“Wait till we show you some of the things later on…. They have given me a lot of ideas. They will campaign differently from old traditional methods. That is what we call progress,” he added.
On his Facebook page, Dr Tan wrote that the party had received “A very warm reception at the walkabout.”
He continued, “Today, the weather was kind to us and PSP had it’s 1st islandwide walkabout. We covered 29 constituencies (16 GRCs and 13 SMCs). A big thank you to the 29 team ICs, and all members and volunteers who came and walked together today.
The purpose of this walkabout was to reach out to Singaporeans, keep them informed about our new PSP party and connect with them. We distributed all our flyers (picture 1) and were heartened and encouraged by the warm reception that we received.
I joined the walkabout at Ghim Moh and Tiong Bahru. During my walkabout, we met the MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, Ms Indranee Rajah and shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Later over lunch with my youngest supporter, I met MP Tan Wu Meng, the MP for Jurong GRC.
This is the first of many events that the PSP is planning, to reach and connect with our fellow Singaporeans.
For country, For people.”
/ TISG
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