PSP names Leong Mun Wai as party chief

The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) has named Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai as its secretary-general.

He will lead the party into the upcoming general election and will take over the secretary-general position from Hazel Poa, who will be the vice chairman of the party, announced the opposition party on Wednesday (March 26).

Speaking to the media at the party's headquarters in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, PSP founder Dr Tan Cheng Bock said there was no contest for the position and Poa had wanted to "pass the baton" back to Leong.

Leong had been elected as PSP's secretary-general in April 2023 but stepped down as leader in February 2024 to take responsibility for a Pofma correction direction he received for a social media post.

Poa then succeeded Leong as secretary-general.

Addressing Leong's past Pofma order, Dr Tan said the former had "owned up" to it.

"If we do something that's not proper, we step down, but we'll come back again, because that is the way good politicians conduct themselves," said Dr Tan.

On this, Leong said that as a politician, if one makes a mistake, one should take responsibility.

"But that doesn't mean that's the end of his political career. So at the right time, when the situation demands, he should always step up again, and that's what I'm doing today," he added.

Leong said that he's honoured the party's central executive committee (CEC) has asked him to take back the position of the section, and "to lead the party into the election so that we can scale greater heights".

"For the past 12 months, Hazel has done a tremendous job of organising the party's structure to be ready for the general election," he added.

"It is about orchestrating our campaign so that we can scale greater heights... Hazel and myself always work very closely together. So this change is like a relay team, she does one part, and then I take over from now, so that is how we do things in PSP as a family."

Preparing for GE2025

The party is expected to contest multiple constituencies in the upcoming General Election, including the newly created West Coast-Jurong West GRC and the neighbouring Chua Chu Kang GRC.

Dr Tan had earlier indicated that he intends to contest this year.

When asked after a walkabout in Clementi this February, he replied: "As long as I am able and I am still relevant, I will be around."

In the 2020 General Election, the People's Action Party team, led by then-transport minister S Iswaran, won West Coast GRC with 51.69 per cent of the vote while PSP earned 48.31 per cent of the vote.

Dr Tan, Leong and Poa were on the PSP's West Coast GRC slate.

It was the narrowest loss that year, and it enabled PSP to send Leong and Poa into Parliament as NCMPs.

lim.kewei@asiaone.com

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