SPP chairman Jose Raymond leaves politics to focus on his business

• Singapore People's Party chairman Jose Raymond announced that he will retire from politics
• He said he wants to focus on expanding his business regionally
• Mr Raymond stood as a candidate for the first time in the General Elections in July
• He lost to incumbent Sitoh Yih Pin of the ruling People's Action Party in Potong Pasir constituency

SINGAPORE — Singapore People’s Party (SPP) chairman Jose Raymond announced on Tuesday (Dec 22) that he will be retiring from politics.

In a Facebook post, Mr Raymond, 48, said that he is leaving politics to focus on expanding his strategy and communications advisory firm SW Strategies.

“The time has come for me to focus on things that will help me create impact in other ways, to help others in different ways and to take my firm regional — something that I have been wanting to do ever since I started the firm in 2016.” 

Mr Raymond later told TODAY that he had planned go regional with his company when he first started it. He set up a second office in Malaysia last year.

He now needs to focus on getting his third office started in Jakarta, Indonesia, or Bangkok in Thailand, and that has been taking up a lot of his time.

“That aside, I have also thought about where I can serve the public and in what areas. I figured politics may not be the only place to serve, which is why I decided it’s good for me to focus on what I want to do to help others,” he said without elaborating.

Thanking his volunteers in his Facebook post, Mr Raymond, who joined the SPP in 2017, said that he had entered politics with “an objective to help, and expected nothing in return”.

“For me, it is now about finding the path on which I wish to serve others, and to be able to continue impacting the lives of others positively. And it does not need to be in politics.

“I have fulfilled a wish my father had, for me to stand for elections, and I enjoyed every moment of it,” he added.

Mr Raymond was elected to SPP’s central executive committee in October last year. He received the least number of votes among those elected to the 12-member committee.

He replaced Mrs Lina Chiam, 71, as SPP’s chairman a month later. Mrs Chiam is also the wife of veteran opposition politician and former SPP secretary-general Chiam See Tong.

During the General Elections in July this year, Mr Raymond contested in Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency, the first time he stood as a candidate.

He lost to incumbent Sitoh Yih Pin of the ruling People’s Action Party, getting 39.33 per cent of the votes.

Mr Raymond told TODAY that he had informed SPP of his resignation in writing last Thursday and will step down after serving a 30-day notice.

Mr Steve Chia, the secretary-general of SPP, confirmed that the party’s central executive committee had received Mr Raymond’s resignation and said that it will “make a decision” at the committee’s next meeting.

Outside of politics, Mr Raymond has also been actively involved in the Chiam See Tong Sports Foundation, set up in 2017 to fund needy athletes. He is a director on its board of management.

Before joining politics, Mr Raymond had been the executive director at Singapore Environment Council and served as press secretary to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, then Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

He had also been a journalist at TODAY and The Straits Times.

In his Facebook post, Mr Raymond said that those who need his help can continue to reach out and he will do whatever he can within his ability to help as much as possible.

“My life purpose to serve humanity remains intact.”