On 29 September (Thursday), Progress Singapore Party (PSP) did its first walkabout at all 29 constituencies across the island.
Following its success, the party, which was founded by Dr Tan Cheng Bock, released a video on its Facebook page on 5 October (Saturday) highlighting some of the reasons why its members decided to join the party.
In the video, Dr Tan clarified that PSP belongs to everyone, contrary from what the majority of people think. “I want many Singaporeans to know about PSP. Many think that the party only belongs to Tan Cheng Bock, which we don’t want to portray that. The party belongs to all of us here,” Dr Tan said.
As for the reason in joining PSP, one member stated that he joined the party as he felt that needs to support. “I need to support a person who is stepping out,” he said, referring to Dr Tan who decided to launch a new political party in the beginning of the year, alongside “twelve likeminded Singaporeans including some ex-PAP cadres”.
Another member highlighted that there should be more than one dominant party in the Parliament if Singaporeans want to have “a real conversation, a real debate”, emphasising the need of an opposition party like PSP.
Additionally, one pointed out that Singaporeans want to have “more credible voices in the Parliament” who are just not “pure academic smarts”. These people should be “people on the ground who have the heart of the people,” the member explained.
If that’s not all, another man mentioned that Singapore is not run as a country, but rather as a company “whereby the bottom line is everything”.
He added, “The day has come where Singaporeans who feel that there are things that are not right with the country have decided to step forward. One of the very crucial things that I hope we can slowly eliminate is this fear in Singaporeans.”
Echoing the same sentiment, other members also said that in order to change things, people have to be courageous and come forward to do something. As such, they said that the first successful walkabout shows that the public are no longer afraid to come out and make a difference together.
Upon viewing the video, many netizens congratulated Dr Tan and the party for their successful walkabout in the comment section of the Facebook post. Some members of the party also highlighted that they are happy and proud to be part of PSP, while others pen their support for the party.
Others hoped that PSP will be able to “clean up (th)e mess which our PAP had done to make Singaporens suffer” and mentioned that they will vote for the new opposition party in the upcoming General Elections. Kaoru Momusuko Amaki Arashi also suggested some areas in which PSP has high chances of winning.
A bunch of online users also urged PSP to “vote out the heartless and greedy politicians”, referring to members of the PAP. Cla Ng wrote, “If PSP can gain beachhead in next GE..then will be a giant step for Singapore-kind..towards democracy”.
Additionally, a few people were all praise for PSP and all the things that the party stand for, like not to leave anyone behind. As such, Justina Yapp said that “this must be fleshed out and realised..To help those in our society who really need the extra help and support but who are not getting it”.
Kalki Devandran said that its time for Singaporeans to make the bold decision to vote correctly in the next elections in order to secure a good life for the future generations. He wrote, “it irks me that utmost priority is given to so called foreign talents in terms of jobs”. Although he is not xenophobic, but he feels he is losing the sense of belonging in Singapore.
