Govt policies need to fix short-sightedness: SingFirst candidate
Mr Tan Peng Ann. Photo: Singaporeans First Party
SINGAPORE — Using the Population White Paper as his most recent example, retired army colonel Tan Peng Ann said there is room to address the “short-sightedness” of certain public policies.
Although the government has noted that the 6.9 million figure is a projection and not a target, the 67-year-old co-founder and vice-president of Singaporeans First Party, who was introduced as a candidate today (Aug 29), felt that there could still be consequences 30 to 50 years from now.
Mr Tan also said the government’s Stop at Two campaign in the 1970s is another example.
“I complied with it (but) today, we have to backtrack and go back to why the policy did not work,” said Mr Tan.
His worries have led him to join politics, and he hopes that his 30 years of experience as a colonel in the Singapore Armed Forces and service in a Community Development Council and a Town Council would allow him to contribute.
“I’d like to bring to the table the ability to serve the community, the less fortunate, those staying in two-room flats and the older generation of Singaporeans. I want to bring back to them their self-esteem,” he said.
Married with a wife, 66, and two children in their late 30s, Mr Tan has also started a non-government organisation in Takeo, a province in Cambodia, to educate and develop youths.
He studied in Raffles Institution, and read political science and history at the National University of Singapore on an SAF Local Training Award.
