SINGAPORE - While the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) is a new party, it is not new to West Coast GRC, said chief Tan Cheng Bock, pointing to his list of achievements when he was the People's Action Party (PAP) MP for Ayer Rajah.
Responding on Sunday (June 28) to a question on remarks by Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran, who had said on Saturday that the PAP will campaign on the basis of its track record of improving residents' lives in the area, Dr Tan indicated that the PSP would do the same.
He said: "When I took over Ayer Rajah, it was actually a very 'ulu' (remote) area. They had a lot of rebuilding, we made a lot of changes... What you see now in Ayer Rajah, particularly in Teban and Pandan, is to a large extent initiated by me when I was an MP there."
"So to say that we're new there, I don't think so, we're just coming home," he told reporters during a visit to Boon Lay Place Market and Food Village
Dr Tan, 80, was Ayer Rajah MP for 26 years from 1980 to 2006. The constituency was merged with West Coast GRC in 2006. He was chairman of the West Coast Town Council from 2001 to 2005, and said he had also looked after the surrounding constituencies in his roles as chairman of Jurong East Town Council and the Bukit Timah Community Development Council.
Mr Iswaran, the minister leading PAP's West Coast GRC team, was first elected MP in West Coast GRC in 1997 and has been in the constituency since.
During his visit on Sunday, Dr Tan was accompanied by fellow party members, including Mr Leong Mun Wai and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the brother of Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang has been embroiled in a long-running feud with PM Lee over the fate of their father's house in Oxley Road, but Mr Lee said his decision to join PSP had nothing to do with the family dispute.
"I think if you look at what I have been saying about my family issues, I've been able to say that without joining PSP. And if you look at what I've been articulating today, I'm not articulating anything about my family disputes... There's no reason why I need to join a political party to articulate any grievances or concerns I have about my family disputes."
Dr Tan added: "Frankly speaking, when Hsien Yang came to see me, I was very clear about this. And he understands our position because there's always a fear that Hsien Yang is going to come to my party and talk about his agenda."
