Singapore opposition parties welcomed Dr Tan Cheng Bock, a former member of the ruling People’s Action Party who nearly won the country’s 2011 presidency, into the opposition cause with a new political party and pledged to work together with him.
In a statement issued Friday, the Singapore Democratic Party’s secretary-general congratulated Dr Tan for participating in electoral politics, “this time with the opposition”.
“We look forward to the formation of his new party and to work with him to strengthen the opposition and bring our nation one step closer to democracy,” he said.
The Reform Party also issued a statement on their Facebook page on Friday, along with a photo of party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam meeting Dr Tan.
“Because he is a popular and immensely respected establishment figure, Dr Tan lends the opposition much-needed credibility,” said a Reform Party spokesperson in the statement.
The party’s spokesperson also said that they had offered Dr Tan the option to join the Reform Party as a “fall-back” option in case he had difficulties registering his new political party, Progress Singapore Party.
According to the spokesperson, this is because the party had reportedly observed politician Lim Tean encountering alleged delays and difficulties when registering a new political party.
“We hope that the registration of his new party will proceed smoothly and bring the unity we have called for,” the statement added, emphasizing that the party intends to cooperate with Dr Tan in the West Coast, Radin Mas and Ang Mo Kio constituencies.
The party spokesperson also said Dr Tan could be a uniting figure in bringing together “disparate opposition groups” to achieve “a Malaysian-style breakthrough”, referring to the recent Malaysia elections which were won by the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat.
A Facebook post by the Democratic Progressive Party on Saturday also congratulated Dr Tan on his new party.
Checks made by Coconuts Singapore on the Registry of Societies website showed that the Progress Singapore Party was still not on the approved list of registered societies as of press time.
Dr Tan Cheng Bock contested in the 2011 presidential election, narrowly losing out to Dr Tony Tan by 0.35 percent of the votes.
After he announced his intention to take part in the next presidential election, the Singapore government announced that the next election was reserved for Malay candidates.
Singapore’s presidential elections are not tied to political parties, so candidates must stand as independents.
Other political parties, including Workers’ Party and the ruling People’s Action Party, did not release comments on the matter as of press time.
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