SINGAPORE: Both Non-constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs), Mr Leong Mun Wai and Ms Hazel Poa, were reelected to the Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) top decision-making body on Thursday (Mar 20).
Founder, chairman and former secretary-general Dr Tan Cheng Bock was also reelected to the party’s central executive committee (CEC).
Of the 14 members of the previous CEC, six were reelected, including Dr Tan, Mr Leong and Ms Poa.
Former assistant secretary-general Dr Ang Yong Guan, Mr Lim Cher Hong, Mr Nadarajah Loganathan and Mr Jeffrey Khoo, who ran in Marymount SMC, Pioneer SMC and West Coast GRC in the 2020 General Election, were not reelected.
The new CEC members are:
- Tan Cheng Bock
- A’bas bin Kasmani
- Anthony Neo
- Hazel Poa
- Joseph Wong
- Leong Mun Wai
- Samuel Lim
- Wendy Low
- Phang Yew Huat
- S Nallakaruppan
- Soh Zheng Long
- Tee Kow Loke
Dr Ang informed PSP in January that he would not seek reelection for the next CEC term or contest in the upcoming General Election. His decision followed the extension of his suspension as a psychiatrist, which was initially set for two years but prolonged after an appeal.
On Thursday night, the PSP’s 100-odd cadres voted for 12 members of the new CEC, out of 24 nominees.
As members streamed into PSP’s headquarters before 8pm, they were asked to leave their handphones outside, where the devices were kept in several bags.
The meeting lasted until about 10pm, when cadres filed out of the party’s headquarters in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre to retrieve their phones while the votes were being counted.
The count concluded before 11pm and the names in the party’s newest CEC were announced one by one to the cadres, who cheered when some were read out.
On top of the 12 members, the CEC may later co-opt two more cadres to form a 14-member body, and then decide who will take up party leadership positions within it.
In 2023, the voting took place in late March and the positions were decided on and announced about a week later.
Dr Tan was PSP’s first secretary-general, leading it throughout the 2020 General Elections. He made way for Mr Francis Yuen in 2021, who vacated the position in March 2023 after two years in the seat.
A week later, Mr Leong was appointed the party’s secretary-general. But he stepped down from the post in February 2024, after he received a correction direction under Singapore’s fake news law for a social media post.
Ms Poa then became the PSP’s fourth secretary-general, and was the party vice-chairman before that.
Stopping to speak to media briefly after the announcement, Mr Leong said the new CEC is “always ready” for the upcoming General Election, but asked journalists to wait for “further deliberation” within the new team and declined to comment further on the matter.
When asked if the party would have a new secretary-general, he replied: “Wait for the new CEC.”
In 2020, the People’s Action Party (PAP) team, led by then-Transport Minister S Iswaran, beat their PSP opponents with 51.69 per cent of the vote in West Coast GRC, making it the tightest contest of the COVID-19 General Election.
The performance by PSP – led by former PAP MP Dr Tan – scored the party its two existing NCMP seats.
