Progress Singapore Party’s official launch postponed as permits still pending

SINGAPORE — The newly-registered Progress Singapore Party (PSP) has postponed its launch because it has yet to receive a police permit and “other related permits” to hold the event, party leader Tan Cheng Bock said on Monday (June 3).

The event was originally slated to be held at Singapore Expo Hall 5 on June 15.

It will be pushed back to the end of June or sometime in July, Dr Tan — a former presidential hopeful — wrote on Facebook.  

“I have told my organising team that we should comply with all the permits required for the event, no matter how many there are,” said Dr Tan, who was a People’s Action Party member of parliament for 26 years.

Dr Tan — along with his team of mostly veteran grassroots volunteers who had assisted him in past election campaigns — first applied to register the party on Jan 16.

The planned launch event follows the PSP’s formal registration on March 28 and subsequent unveiling of its logo in April.

The party began holding “Meet the People” sessions from the start of May, with its inaugural session at a ballroom in the Bugis area on May 9 attended by about 200 people. Since then, it has held two more sessions.

“It’s our intention to hold these (sessions) on a regular basis,” Dr Tan had said in a Facebook post announcing the initiative. “We are grateful that many signed up to join our party after this event.