Progress Singapore Party to announce slate of General Election candidates on June 18

SINGAPORE — The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) will be announcing its slate of candidates for the next General Election next Thursday (June 18).

On that day, party chief Tan Cheng Bock and second-in-command Leong Mun Wai will also be addressing the party’s “state of readiness” for the General Election, which must be called by April 2021.

These were revealed in an invitation to a press conference sent shortly before it held its third outreach session on Thursday, during which it introduced four more new faces.

They add to the 10 new people whom the party had already introduced to the public over the past two outreach sessions, the first of which was held on May 21.

The latest to be introduced are a Singaporeans First candidate in the 2015 General Election, psychiatrist Ang Yong Guan, 65; former People’s Action Party and People’s Voice member Brad Bowyer, 53; IT professional Taufik Supan, 40; and chartered accountant Kayla Low, 43.

When introducing himself, Mr Bowyer, formerly a citizen of the United Kingdom, said that he followed his parents to Singapore in the 1980s when his father secured a job here at the Singapore Polytechnic’s computer centre. The younger Bowyer studied at Anglo-Chinese Junior College.

He added that he met his wife in Singapore 26 years ago; they got married and his son, now 18 years old, will serve National Service here.

Mr Bowyer also said that he had been in the political scene since the 2011 General Election. At the time, he was with the ruling party, being involved with the grassroots and volunteering at meet-the-people sessions.

Mr Bowyer on Nov 25 last year became the first individual to be issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, for a Facebook post which the Government said peddled misleading and false statements about state investor Temasek Holdings and sovereign wealth fund GIC.

He corrected the post on the same day the direction was issued.

Dr Ang introduced himself as a practising psychiatrist who served 23 years in the Singapore Armed Forces and had done 15 years of grassroots work and more than 30 years of community work.

When introducing himself in Mandarin, he said he believed that he is a familiar face as he had been featured on Mediacorp’s Channel 8 and Channel 5 programmes.

As for Ms Low, she said she started off working as a factory worker after completing her secondary school studies to support her parents and siblings, but she later achieved her goal to be a finance and accounting professional.

She said she is now the group chief operating officer and chief financial officer of 11 Singapore firms and four overseas companies that deal with retail, manufacturing, transportation and travel.

When it was Mr Taufik's turn, he said that he represents “the typical Singaporean”.

He added that he is not a scholar, was an ordinary student in school, but went on to complete a master’s degree by attending night classes and taking on odd jobs.

The party did not say if the four will be fielded in the General Election.