https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...tions-12755854
SINGAPORE: Progress Singapore Party (PSP) secretary-general Tan Cheng Bock on Thursday (May 21) addressed recent reports of members who had resigned or were expelled, saying that their departures were "no big deal" to the one-year-old opposition party.
There have been people with "big egos" who joined PSP out of self-interest, instead of contributing to Singapore's development, said Dr Tan in an outreach session streamed live on Facebook on Thursday night.
"I believe in giving everybody a chance to join our party," Dr Tan said during the video conference.
"Over time, we realised that some joined expecting what the party can do for them ... We want the people, when they come and join the PSP, to do something for the country and not for themselves."
There have been reports of two members resigning and another two members expelled from PSP in the last two months.
Among them are Mr Ravi Philemon, who resigned from the party last week and former vice-chairman Michelle Lee who left the party in March. Former party member Daniel Teo was expelled from PSP earlier this month, as was former member Jan Chan in March.
Responding to a question from the public on the seemingly high turnover of PSP members, Dr Tan said: If those people who come in to join the PSP, hoping to extract something from the party for themselves, I think even if they leave, I will not feel sorry.
Dr Tan said that there were some party members who had "big egos" and believed that their way of doing things was the "only correct way".
But we have party discipline. We have party ways for allowing people to come and express their disappointments and dissatisfaction.
But when they have big egos, it is very difficult. When their egos get hurt, they react very negatively, he said.
He also said that PSP has more than 1,000 members, and having between 20 and 30 people resign was no big deal.
"To me, it's no big deal. Currently, there are so many waiting to join us," said Dr Tan in a session where he also appealed to viewers to join the party.
Besides Dr Tan, eight members of the party also answered questions from the public in a Zoom meeting to reach out to residents in the west of Singapore.
They included assistant secretary-general Leong Mun Wai, vice-chairwoman Hazel Poa and PSP members such as workplace safety senior trainer Abas Kasmani, marketing executive Jeffrey Khoo, lawyer Wendy Low and law undergraduate Choo Shaun Ming who at 22 years old is the youngest on the panel.
Dr Tan also said that while PSP has been through "a lot of pain", it has learned from the challenges it faced and grown in the process.
"Any young political party has to go through this, even the PAP (People's Action Party) when they started, there was a lot of infighting, there were a lot of problems. But they overcame it."
The PSP was established in March last year.
SINGAPORE: Progress Singapore Party (PSP) secretary-general Tan Cheng Bock on Thursday (May 21) addressed recent reports of members who had resigned or were expelled, saying that their departures were "no big deal" to the one-year-old opposition party.
There have been people with "big egos" who joined PSP out of self-interest, instead of contributing to Singapore's development, said Dr Tan in an outreach session streamed live on Facebook on Thursday night.
"I believe in giving everybody a chance to join our party," Dr Tan said during the video conference.
"Over time, we realised that some joined expecting what the party can do for them ... We want the people, when they come and join the PSP, to do something for the country and not for themselves."
There have been reports of two members resigning and another two members expelled from PSP in the last two months.
Among them are Mr Ravi Philemon, who resigned from the party last week and former vice-chairman Michelle Lee who left the party in March. Former party member Daniel Teo was expelled from PSP earlier this month, as was former member Jan Chan in March.
Responding to a question from the public on the seemingly high turnover of PSP members, Dr Tan said: If those people who come in to join the PSP, hoping to extract something from the party for themselves, I think even if they leave, I will not feel sorry.
Dr Tan said that there were some party members who had "big egos" and believed that their way of doing things was the "only correct way".
But we have party discipline. We have party ways for allowing people to come and express their disappointments and dissatisfaction.
But when they have big egos, it is very difficult. When their egos get hurt, they react very negatively, he said.
He also said that PSP has more than 1,000 members, and having between 20 and 30 people resign was no big deal.
"To me, it's no big deal. Currently, there are so many waiting to join us," said Dr Tan in a session where he also appealed to viewers to join the party.
Besides Dr Tan, eight members of the party also answered questions from the public in a Zoom meeting to reach out to residents in the west of Singapore.
They included assistant secretary-general Leong Mun Wai, vice-chairwoman Hazel Poa and PSP members such as workplace safety senior trainer Abas Kasmani, marketing executive Jeffrey Khoo, lawyer Wendy Low and law undergraduate Choo Shaun Ming who at 22 years old is the youngest on the panel.
Dr Tan also said that while PSP has been through "a lot of pain", it has learned from the challenges it faced and grown in the process.
"Any young political party has to go through this, even the PAP (People's Action Party) when they started, there was a lot of infighting, there were a lot of problems. But they overcame it."
The PSP was established in March last year.