Retired SAF officers among PSP’s newly unveiled candidates, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Retired SAF officers among PSP’s newly unveiled candidates

This article is more than 12 months old

Party chief Tan Cheng Bock says they are people who believe 'Singapore should change for the better'

The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) introduced another five candidates during a virtual press conference yesterday, including two retired Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) officers.

It was the third round of candidate introductions by the party and brings the total number of candidates it has made known so far to 17.

The party, led by Dr Tan Cheng Bock, has said it will be contesting 24 seats in nine constituencies in the coming general election.

The two former military men introduced are PSP organising secretary Michael Chua, 55, who has been spotted in party activities in Tanjong Pagar GRC, and Mr Nadarajah Loganathan, 57, the co-founder of a skills-training company, who is expected to be on the party's A-team in West Coast GRC.

Mr Chua was an SAF Merit Scholarship recipient in 1985. He left active service in 2002 as a major and continued doing national service as a deputy brigade commander until 2016.

Mr Loganathan retired from the military in 2009 as a lieutenant-colonel.

The other three candidates introduced yesterday are: lawyer Wendy Low, 43, who is also believed to be in the Tanjong Pagar GRC team; customer service manager Damien Tay, 51, who has been seen on walkabouts in Nee Soon GRC; and Mr Kumaran Pillai, 57, former publisher of the website The Independent Singapore, who confirmed that he will be running in the newly carved out single-seat ward of Kebun Baru.

ORDINARY PEOPLE

Dr Tan, 80, said during the press conference that the five are ordinary people who just want to serve the country, and who subscribe to his message that "Singapore should change for the better".

"They represent a spread of talent from all walks of life. Some may be more specialised, some may be just bringing their working experience to share with us, and also some of their involvement in NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and the private sector, and also some of them have worked before in the government sector," he said.

"They will bring along with them a lot of such experiences from all different sectors of our community and of our country."

Asked about how age factored into his choice of candidates, given the five are all in their 40s and 50s, Dr Tan said that age was not a consideration.

"This country belongs to all of us, young and old," he said.

"Don't worry about age. I started my computer learning at 70. And then I'm now learning about all these, Zoom and so on, it's so fun."

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