Returning PSP leader Leong Mun Wai will bring his ‘forthright style’ to GE2025 campaign: Analysts
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Analysts expect the PSP campaign to run similarly to how secretary-general Leong Mun Wai and the party’s other NCMP Hazel Poa have engaged with the ruling PAP in Parliament.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
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SINGAPORE – Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai’s return as Progress Singapore Party secretary-general
Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan expects the PSP campaign to run similarly to how Mr Leong and the party’s other NCMP Hazel Poa have engaged with the ruling PAP in Parliament.
“It will be a combination of needling the PAP with strident rhetoric, pointed relentless questioning style of attack, engaging in obfuscation, and playing the underdog card,” he said.
Analysts noted that Mr Leong’s leadership style is likely to be more confrontational than that of Ms Poa – whom he is succeeding as party chief.
NUS political scientist Elvin Ong said: “Given what we know about their different styles in Parliament, we can probably expect Mr Leong to be more direct and blunt than Ms Poa.”
Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian, also from NUS, said Mr Leong will likely want to bring his “forthright style” to the PSP.
“It has won him respect in some quarters, even if some of that may be grudging,” Prof Chong said, adding that Mr Leong is more forward and vocal.
“This is especially in comparison to Ms Poa. This is a hallmark of Mr Leong, and I do not think that will change much.”
The PSP’s new central executive committee picked Mr Leong as party leader on March 26, just over a year after he resigned in February 2024 to take responsibility for receiving a correction directive under Singapore’s fake news laws for one of his social media posts.
He will now lead the PSP into the general election,
PSP's secretary-general Leong Mun Wai (right) and chairman Tan Cheng Bock greeting residents during the party's walkabout in Clementi Central on Feb 23.
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO
The party elected its top leadership body on March 20, with six new members out of 12.
Speaking to the media on March 26, Mr Leong said there will be little change as he and Ms Poa have always worked closely together, likening the leadership switch to a relay team passing the baton.
Associate Professor Tan said Ms Poa and Mr Leong should be seen as alternates to each other and that she was effectively standing in for him as secretary-general over the past year.
Mr Leong’s return as PSP chief signals that his standing in the party was not damaged by the circumstances in which he stood down, Prof Tan said, adding that the NCMP’s re-election shows its renewed confidence in his “folksy and combative style of political engagement” with the PAP.
Mr Leong stepping down over the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act order
“It was to shield him, to some extent, and the party from the incessant attacks by the PAP over his erroneous conduct.”
A PSP volunteer who declined to be named said Mr Leong’s return to the top job was “not a total surprise”.
The volunteer said: “The party was in a state of wanting to be more ready for election and because of that, some cadres wanted him back.”
The party is further energised. I feel the pressure myself, as a volunteer – in a good way.”
A party member, who also declined to be named, said Mr Leong’s return was “perfect timing”, given that he has been walking the ground and understands it.
The member added that Mr Leong understands the party well and has raised national issues.
Mr Leong’s campaign could focus more on economic issues such as the cost of living, said Assistant Professor Ong.
Prof Tan said PSP will go “big and deep” on immigration in the upcoming election, as it is an issue that gained the party a lot of traction in its first parliamentary term.
On where the PSP could stand in the election, Prof Ong said the party could opt to stay out of Nee Soon GRC and Jurong Central SMC, which Red Dot United has staked a claim to.
Other single seats the party might not contest again are Kebun Baru, Marymount and Yio Chu Kang, given that they are in central Singapore, he said.
Another factor is that PSP might want to contest in fewer electoral districts this time around to concentrate its limited resources, unlike in the 2020 General Election, where it stretched itself and fielded 24 candidates in nine constituencies, he added.
These were West Coast, Chua Chu Kang, Tanjong Pagar and Nee Soon GRCs, along with Pioneer, Hong Kah North, Kebun Baru, Marymount and Yio Chu Kang SMCs.
Based on where its members have been seen so far, PSP is set to contest Chua Chu Kang GRC again, as well as the new West Coast-Jurong West GRC.
The party looks unlikely to contest in Nee Soon GRC. It remains unclear which single seats it will contest, and if it will send a team to Tanjong Pagar GRC.
