• PSP to field 24 candidates across four GRCs and five SMCs
• 3 more than WP, which is fielding 21 candidates this GE
• New candidates include SIA pilot and former senior female SAF officer

SINGAPORE — The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) may be barely 15 months old, but it will be fielding the biggest slate of candidates among the opposition parties at the July 10 General Election (GE) after unveiling what could be its final line-up of candidates on Friday (June 26).

The party, founded in March 2019 by People’s Action Party (PAP) veteran Member of Parliament (MP) Tan Cheng Bock, revealed the last seven of its 24 candidates across nine constituencies in a media statement. The final line-up could change, the party said.

The final seven candidates include a Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilot, a female former Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officer and Dr Tan, 80, who was in Parliament from 1980 until 2006.

One of Singapore’s oldest political parties, the Workers’ Party (WP), will be fielding 21 candidates, three fewer than the PSP. They will contest four Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and two Single Member Constituencies (SMCs).

Dr Tan Cheng Bock at the Progress Singapore Party's launch on March 8, 2019. TODAY file photo

The seven PSP candidates revealed by the party on Friday are:

• Dr Tan Cheng Bock, the party’s secretary-general. He was PAP MP for now-defunct Ayer Rajah SMC for 26 years. In his last election as a PAP candidate in GE2001, he won with 88 per cent of the votes against a Democratic Progressive Party candidate, and notched up the highest margin of victory among all MPs that year. In May 2011, he resigned from the PAP to contest the 2011 Presidential Election, which he narrowly lost to Dr Tony Tan by 0.35 per cent. Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who announced his departure from politics on Thursday, is his long-time friend. Dr Tan is contesting West Coast GRC.

• Mr Leong Mun Wai, 60, the party’s assistant secretary-general. The chief executive officer of investment firm Timbre Capital was an overseas merit scholar who graduated as a top economics student from the Hitotsubashi University in Japan and previously worked at Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, as well as financial institutions such as Mitsubishi Bank, Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch Hong Kong. In media material supplied by PSP, he said he is applying his management and financial knowledge to draw up policies that the party believes would make a significant difference to Singapore. He is contesting West Coast GRC.

• Mr Lim Cher Hong, 42, a financial consultant whom the party had not previously introduced to the public during its weekly engagement sessions. The father of three was a programme coordinator cum trainer at the Silver Generation Office in the Agency for Integrated Care, where he managed a team of volunteers in helping seniors apply for government schemes and referred vulnerable seniors to agencies. Instead of focusing on the growing medical costs for the aging population, the country should be promoting more wellness programmes, he said. He will be contesting at Pioneer SMC.

• Mr Terence Soon, 29, an SIA pilot. Prior to joining SIA, he ran a private aviation business. According to material provided to the media by the PSP, Mr Soon is a firm supporter of enterprise and of enabling youths to start their own business. He will be contesting Tanjong Pagar GRC.

• Ms Kala Manickam, 52, an adult educator at the Institute for Adult Learning Singapore. She started her career in the Singapore Armed Forces, and was among the first batch of women officers to train alongside men. She then won a position in the Officer Cadet School as the Platoon Commander of the women’s wing. In 1997, after seven years, Ms Manickam left the SAF to join the private sector, and eventually joined SingHealth’s nursing learning and development department, where she managed the training needs of nurses for local and overseas deployments, a role she left in 2004. She will be contesting Nee Soon GRC.

• Mr Abdul Rahman, 67, a consulting engineer at technology firm Parsons International specialising in fire and life safety audit and design. He started his career with the Singapore Fire Brigade — now the Singapore Civil Defence Force — in 1975, and became involved in engineering maintenance and design. In media material supplied by PSP, he said he has a special interest in education support, arguing that groups such as Mendaki, a self-help group for the Malay/Muslim community, should be reviewed. He said there should be a transparent and open review on the efficiency of the agencies’ funding models. He will be contesting Chua Chu Kang GRC.

• Mr Jeffrey Khoo Poh Tiong, 51, a botanist who is the chief marketing officer at Apac, a London-based multinational insurance firm.Mr Khoo, the current honorary treasurer of the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS), helped to organise the graduate club’s mentorship programme and has served as its chairperson for various subcommittees such as alumni development and university relations. He said he has an underlying concern for middle-age and qualified Singaporean professionals, managers, executives and technicians with challenges securing a suitably salaried job that matches their skills and qualifications. He will be contesting West Coast GRC.

VETERAN MP TAN BOCK CHENG 'KNOWS AREA, ISSUES WELL'

Dr Tan said the fact that he had represented the now-defunct Ayer Rajah SMC, which fell within the boundaries of West Coast GRC, for a long period meant he was familiar with the area and its issues.

“I have not only been there before, I’ve had extensive influence in the past, first being Member of Parliament (MP) at Ayer Rajah, and other also being (the chairman of the) town council, I (had been in) charge of all the wards that we are going to comb… I have walked that area before,” he told media on Friday.

“I feel like I should be able to get support from (residents).”

Unlike Dr Tan, Mr Lim is a newcomer to politics, and had not previously been introduced to the public by the PSP.

He will be contesting Pioneer SMC, held by MP Cedric Foo, a member of the ruling PAP, and said that he has been walking the ground and engaging in party activities such as market food centre walkabouts and door-to-door engagements.

“Ongoing, every day going from now until polling day I will be walking with my guys on the ground to understand the people, their needs, their wants and identify (how) we can help them.”

A father of three, he said more support is needed for parents including single parents, and that the current schemes are not adequate if the Government wants to improve total fertility rate.

For instance, Mr Lim said that the current baby bonus provided to new parents is insufficient to raise a child.

When asked what should be done to address this, Mr Lim said that the party is “proposing more budgetary assistance given to young families, rental subsidy provided for couples who are waiting for their built-to-order Housing and Development Board flats to encourage them to tie the knot early and more family-friendly practices to be implemented in the workplace”.

Ms Manickam said that she will be advocating for changes to the education system.

Her suggestions include a proposal for administrative work that is typically done by teachers to be outsourced so that teachers have the “respect and dignity to teach”. Class sizes should also be reduced from 30 to 40 children to 15 to 20 so more attention can be given to each child.

She also advocates from a “broad-based education system” that prioritises learning in the arts, such as in dance and drama.

“This should all be in the curriculum itself so that children need not have to go for extra classes after their school hours.”