Veteran politician and former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock today (19 Jul) took to Facebook to express gratitude for the “warm and enthusiastic response” from Singaporeans as he announced that all tickets to Progress Singapore Party (PSP)’s launch on Sat (3 Aug) have been taken up in “a few short hours”.
Dr Tan, who is also the founder of PSP and an ex-People’s Action Party (PAP) cadre, also apologised to those who had “missed the opportunity” to snap up tickets to the event, and added that there “will be more opportunities for engagement” with him and PSP in the future.
The launch will comprise two sessions, namely a morning one from 9am to 12pm and an evening one from 1.30pm to 4.30pm as a means to “accommodate more people”, with each session having a maximum capacity of 500 people.
He highlighted that the police has confirmed that no permit will be required for the launch, and that the party has received approval from the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to screen a video during the launch at the Hotel Swissotel Merchant Court Ballroom.
The film, produced by local film maker Tan Bee Pin, has now been rated as Parental Guidance (PG).
In a Facebook post on 27 May, Dr Tan said that the official launch of the party was scheduled for 16 June 2019 at EXPO Hall 5, pending police approval.
Unfortunately, Police permit and other related permits such as the Public Entertainment License (PEL) were still pending, forcing Dr Tan to postpone the launch just two weeks before the event.
Earlier last month, Police told TODAY that it had been actively engaging PSP regarding the permits prior to the proposed date of the launch “with the intention of facilitating their approval before the planned event date”, adding that the Party had unilaterally decided to postpone the launch itself “without contacting Police”.
PSP’s chairman Wang Swee Chuang had applied for a police permit and was asked to provide more information.
“As PSP wanted to play recorded music and screen a video/film, Mr Wang was advised to apply for a Public Entertainment Licence (PEL), and submit the video/film to IMDA (Info-communications Media Development Authority) for classification,” Police told TODAY.
As PSP did not submit the film for classification, the Police noted that the permits were not granted at the time due to insufficient information.
PSP received formal approval from the Registry of Societies on 28 March 2019. Earlier this year on 16 Jan, Dr Tan had made the application to form PSP alongside “twelve likeminded Singaporeans” including “some ex-PAP cadres”.