Lee Hsien Yang joins Progress Singapore Party

LEE Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was officially unveiled as a member of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) on Wednesday, after months of speculation that he could join the ranks of the new opposition party led by former People's Action Party (PAP) politician Tan Cheng Bock.

Making the announcement at the party's breakfast meeting at Tiong Bahru Market, the 80-year-old PSP chief said: "This morning, I have great pleasure in giving this, our Progress party membership card, to Lee Hsien Yang who has joined us quite some time ago, but because of Covid-19, we couldn't communicate (this)."

"But now we are able to come together and this morning, we use this occasion to hand him this very, very precious card."

Mr Lee told reporters: "I joined the party because I think that Dr Tan is committed to doing the right thing for Singapore and Singaporeans. He loves the country and he has brought together a group of people who share his vision, which I believe will build a better Singapore."

This announcement came a day after the authorities announced that Singapore would go to the polls on July 10.

The market where the news was shared is part of the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC), where Mr Lee's father and founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew served as a member of parliament for nearly 60 years.

The GRC went uncontested for over two decades until the 2015 elections.

PSP had earlier shared in a virtual press conference that Tanjong Pagar is one of eight constituencies it plans to contest in.

But neither the party nor Mr Lee Hsien Yang disclosed whether the latter would be fielded as a candidate in the upcoming polls.

Many have associated the younger Mr Lee with PSP since the party's early days. In a Facebook post in January last year, the 62-year-old business executive had called Dr Tan "the leader Singapore deserves".

"I have known Cheng Bock for many years and he has consistently put the interests of the people first," Mr Lee Hsien Yang wrote in the post.

"We are fortunate that he has stepped forward to serve Singapore," he added.

In a separate post in July, he said that the incumbent PAP has lost its way and was no longer the party of his father. He also wrote: "I wholeheartedly support the principles and values of the Progress Singapore Party."

Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his sister Lee Wei Ling have been estranged from Mr Lee Hsien Loong after a public rift over the fate of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's family home at 38 Oxley Road.

More recently, Mr Lee also appeared in PSP member and prospective candidate Brad Bowyer's Facebook post dated June 18.

Mr Bowyer wrote: "It is from one of our meetings and meals where we explored deeply what we think is wrong with Singapore and where it has gone wrong."

"My wife and I are looking forward to catching up again with Hsien Yang and his lovely wife after the 'circuit breaker' ends tonight so we can continue those enlightening and critical discussions."

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