GE2020 Battle for Nee Soon: K Shanmugam and PSP's Brad Bowyer's war of words

Many words are exchanged over the course of an election campaign, whether it be in person or over social media.  

In GE2020, shots have been fired in Nee Soon GRC between the incumbent Member of Parliament K Shanmugam and Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Brad Bowyer, one of the candidates contesting in the northern constituency.

Confused over what happened? Here's a timeline of what you need to know about what has taken place.

June 23: RP says PSP offered to cede Nee Soon GRC to them 

The war of words between the two men is rooted in a news article published in The Straits Times on June 23. It was reported that Reform Party's (RP) secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam said PSP offered to cede Nee Soon GRC to his party, but RP decided not to contest.

July 1: Shanmugam says PSP is half-hearted; Bowyer says 'ceding Nee Soon' is rumour

In a virtual press conference yesterday (July 1), Shanmugam said that PSP's attempt on Nee Soon GRC seemed “half-hearted”, in reference to the June 23 report. 

Later that day, Bowyer told The Straits Times that PSP's offer to cede Nee Soon was a rumour. “The only place I have ever been told I would stand is Nee Soon." 

Bowyer also posted on his Facebook account in the evening, saying: “Although I am not privy to the highest level negotiations, I have only ever been working on Nee Soon GRC and over the last two-plus months we have spent countless hours, resources and not an inconsiderable sum of money from HQ and by the team.”

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July 2: Shanmugam calls Bowyer dishonest; PSP says there was no horse-trading agreement 

In his Facebook post this morning, Shanmugam called Bowyer dishonest, and said Bowyer knew that PSP had offered Nee Soon to RP. 

He wrote: “And now you say, ‘You don’t know what happened at party leadership. And go into a long explanation about how hard you have been working. This is known as avoidance, when found out.”

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“Now you say, well I am only a small guy, I don’t know what happened with the bosses. Mr Bowyer, you should give a bit more credit to people’s intelligence?” he wrote. 

Shanmugam ended his post, directly addressing PSP chief Dr Tan Cheng Bock: “I think Nee Soon voters and the voters in Singapore need to know: Why this candidate, whom you handpicked, [said] something which was so obviously untrue?

“If no answer is given, it will speak volumes. It will also tell Singaporeans whether Dr Tan values honesty in his candidates.”

Shortly after, PSP's Leong Mun Wai responded on his own Facebook page: "As I am the person directly responsible in the discussion with all the alternative parties, let me reiterate what I have said before publicly.

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"There is no horse-trading agreement or negotiation between RP and ourselves with regards to Nee Soon or any other constituencies.

"As there are many opposition parties vying for the limited number of seats, various ideas were tossed up in the course of discussion but that does not mean they were accepted even as a basis for negotiation."

kailun@asiaone.com
kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com