GE2020: Shanmugam calls for PSP’s candidate to clarify if party offered to let RP contest Nee Soon GRC

• Mr Shanmugam first said the PSP team contesting Nee Soon GRC seems “half hearted”, as it wanted to cede GRC to RP
• In response, PSP’s Bradley Bowyer said “rumours (are) being spread online” that the GRC had been “horse traded”
• Mr Shanmugam then noted that RP chief had spoke of the PSP offer and was not rebutted
• Asked Mr Bowyer to give straight answer and not “play with words”
• PSP candidate said PSP never offered GRC to RP, added his team committed to contest there

SINGAPORE — Mr K Shanmugam, the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) treasurer leading its Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC), on Wednesday (July 1) called on Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Bradley Bowyer to clarify if the PSP had offered to let the Reform Party (RP) contest in the GRC.

This came after Mr Bowyer had said that there were “rumours being spread online we might have been horse traded”, as he took issue with how Mr Shanmugam had earlier on Wednesday characterised PSP’s electoral bid for the GRC as half-hearted.

In response to Mr Shanmugam, Mr Bowyer told TODAY on Wednesday evening that as far as he knew, PSP never offered Nee Soon to the RP.

At a virtual press conference on Wednesday morning on the PAP team’s manifesto for the GRC, Mr Shanmugam was asked to comment on the GRC being contested by another opposition party in this election, after the Workers’ Party (WP) contested it in both 2011 and 2015.

This year, PAP will face the PSP slate comprising Mr Bowyer, who is a 53-year-old media professional, customer service manager Damien Tay, 51, adult educator Kala Manickam, 52, chartered accountant and party treasurer Sri Nallakaruppan, 56, and information technology professional Muhammad Taufik Supan, 40.

“I think the WP came twice, and for reasons best known to themselves, they decided not to come back. I don't want to speculate,” said Mr Shanmugam.

“The PSP has come (this year), but seems to be very half hearted about it. As you will recall, a week ago they were offering to trade Nee Soon for some other constituency,” he added.

“It’s like, ‘do you want Nee Soon? You can have it’. So that's why I say it’s half hearted it appears and I’m not sure how much interest there is, commitment there is. I'm saying this just based on the fact that a week ago they seem to be unsure, they wanted to give it up.”

Mr Bowyer then responded to Mr Shanmugam’s comments in a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon, saying that there were “online rumours” that PSP had ceded Nee Soon GRC to RP.

“This suggests to me that someone is very afraid of our campaign in Nee Soon and is trying to pull the wool over the voters eyes,” he said, adding that his team has been preparing for the campaign in the GRC since the electoral boundary report came out in March.

In response, Mr Shanmugam, too, took to Facebook and referenced a report in The Straits Times from June 25 where RP secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam was reported as saying that the PSP had offered Nee Soon to the RP but it decided not to contest the GRC.

Mr Shanmugam said that Mr Jeyaretnam had also put up a Facebook post saying the same thing and that “PSP has not denied this so far”.

“Today, however, Mr Bowyer has responded to my comments and has said that the news about PSP offering Nee Soon to RP is just a ‘rumour’. What exactly does this mean? Mr Bowyer should be honest with Nee Soon voters. Did PSP in fact offer Nee Soon to the RP? Mr Jeyaretnam said so,” wrote Mr Shanmugam.

He then urged Mr Bowyer, whom Mr Shanmugum noted “was handpicked” by PSP secretary-general Tan Cheng Bock, to “give a straight answer”.

“He will agree that honesty is important. You shouldn’t play with words with voters,” wrote Mr Shanmugam.

Asked by TODAY for his response to Mr Shanmugam’s comments, Mr Bowyer denied that he was playing with words as suggested by his PAP opponent.

“I want to make it clear to the citizens of Nee Soon, that we have been totally committed for months...my whole team has been preparing for months,” said Mr Bowyer, adding that he was told in April by PSP he would be assigned to Nee Soon GRC and has since been “working full time” with his team on contesting in the GRC.

“As far as I'm aware...I have no inkling (of the offer to RP),” he said, qualifying that he will “double check” this with his party in case there were developments that he was unaware of.

He said that while there is nothing certain in politics, given the amount of time and resources that the party has put into the Nee Soon GRC contest, it would seem unlikely that the party would give up on an “expensive” project. 

“So it doesn't feel like that had any veracity to it... this is my understanding now.”