PAP and PSP allege harassment during Chua Chu Kang walkabout, offer different accounts

SINGAPORE – A series of altercations between volunteers from the ruling PAP and the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP) in Bukit Gombak on Jan 4 has gone public on social media.

Each side is alleging harassment by the other, offering a different account of what happened.

Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Low Yen Ling, in a Facebook post on Jan 8, said PSP volunteers started the altercation when both teams encountered each other during their outreach to residents.

One man from PSP intimidated a PAP volunteer and slapped his face twice, she said, adding that the PSP man also taunted a second PAP volunteer, among other hostile acts from the PSP group.

Her account differs from an earlier one from PSP member and former election candidate S. Nallakaruppan, which was posted on Facebook on Jan 4.

He said PAP volunteers had started following his party’s Chua Chu Kang team during PSP’s block visits at Goodview Gardens in Bukit Gombak, which is in Ms Low’s ward in Chua Chu Kang GRC.

On Jan 8, PSP chairman Tan Cheng Bock posted a video allegedly taken by a PSP volunteer in a lift.

In the video, a man is filming PSP volunteers at close range with a mobile phone. It is unclear if the man filming is a PAP volunteer.

A PSP volunteer has since filed a police report over the incident.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the police confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

Ms Low said the PAP team had considered filing a police report after two of its male volunteers were “manhandled”, but decided not to.

In her account, Ms Low said the PSP member who slapped the PAP volunteer’s face also pulled the shirt of the second PAP volunteer, to force the latter to take a video and photo with the PSP team.

She also said a group of female PAP volunteers saw that their movements were being recorded by PSP members that afternoon, and responded by doing the same.

Later, the PAP volunteers encountered the PSP members again, at a sheltered walkway on their way to a nearby coffee shop, she said.

Ms Low said: “The PSP members shouted at them and taunted them and took a photo of them.

“These photos have since been posted online by PSP members. Some female PAP volunteers who appeared in these wefies have fallen victim to doxxing. Some are currently undergoing counselling and extra care to protect them from such online harm.”

Mr Nallakaruppan, who contested Nee Soon GRC in the last general election, had also posted several photos of PSP members with people in the background who he said were PAP volunteers.

In his post, he said this was not the first time his team had been followed by PAP volunteers, and alleged that such actions are a PAP tactic to harass opposition members.

He said the PAP team took photos and videos of the PSP volunteers, and told PSP members it was “their territory” and that they had a right to follow them.

Mr Nallakaruppan added that whenever the PSP managed to reach out to a resident during the block visit, PAP volunteers quickly handed out their fliers as well.

Ms Low, who is Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth, said: “It is clear that PSP has twisted the truth and has given an untrue picture of what happened.”

This has led to considerable distress among her volunteers, she added.

Ms Low noted that the PSP has filed a police report.

She said: “We look forward to a full police investigation, and for the whole truth to become public. That way, the public can know what actually happened.”

Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, also an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, weighed in on the incident in a Facebook post on Jan 8.

He said in a note sharing Ms Low’s post: “Dr Tan Cheng Bock has joined the discussions and asked Chua Chu Kang GRC PAP MPs to state their case. He would now know what Senior Minister of State Low has said about what happened.

“Am sure Dr Tan would agree that PSP volunteers should not be involved in conduct that involves restraining, assaulting and insulting others – though he says nothing about this.”