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PSP Candidate Suing PSP to Recover $10K ‘Election Expenses’ After She Was Terminated

2021-11-17 , 11:44 am

In last year’s general election in Nee Soon GRC, the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) lost out to the ruling party with 38.1% of the votes.

In that team were media consultant Bradley Bowyer, 53, and adult educator Kalayarasu Manickam, 52.

Kala would be terminated just five months later, and Bowyer resigned a year later.

The former, however, believes she was wrongly terminated and has taken her party to court.

PSP Candidate Suing PSP to Recover $10K ‘Election Expenses’ After She Was Terminated

Kala filed the wrongful termination application in the High Court in July this year, six months after her termination.

She is seeking to recover the $10,000 which she claims to have contributed to PSP as part of election expenses for the general election.

Her former colleagues, however, have a very different view.

“No Basis” For Application

PSP, which is challenging the application, has brought to light some negative experiences that party members have had with Kala in the past.

These experiences were shared in their affidavits.

For one, the $10,000 contributed by Kala was a contribution all other party candidates made as the party did not have enough funds, said secretary-general Francis Yuen.

Yuen added that Kala’s application to recover this amount has “no basis”.

“Uncooperative” & “Disruptive” During Walkabouts

Two other PSP candidates – Muhammad Taufik Supan and Damien Tay Chye Seng – who were part of the team that contested in Nee Soon GRC along with Kala, said she was “uncooperative” and “disruptive” during walkabouts.

She refused to attend morning meetings at coffeeshops or join the team for walkabouts, and would often go for walkabouts on her own with her own volunteers rather than party volunteers.

In fact, in their nine days of campaigning, Kala only joined two team walkabouts.

In addition, she was reportedly controlling, demanding that things be done her way. At one point, she allegedly called Tay a “lousy leader” and didn’t inform him when she arranged a walkabout with founder Dr Tan Cheng Bock and fellow member Lee Hsien Yang.

This, and other issues, drove 17 party members and a party volunteer to file a petition to PSP’s central executive committee on 26 Aug last year, demanding her removal.

Resourceful & Outspoken, But Uncompromising

According to Dr Tan, Kala was “resourceful, outspoken, and had strong fighting spirit”. But her “uncompromising attitude” made it difficult to work with her.

Dr Tan said that he and other party members had attempted to reconcile with Kala during a meeting in November last year, but Kala was confrontational instead of conciliatory.

“Each time any of us tried to stop her to say something, she would shout over us and continue with an angry spiel about the wrongdoings of the other members of the Nee Soon GRC team. (Kala) then aggressively questioned if we had any proof of her wrongdoings by shouting, ‘WHAT PROOF? WHAT PROOF?'” he said.

In the end, the party decided to give Kala a week to tender her resignation from 17 December, 2020. She failed to do that, however, and so the party was left with no choice but to terminate her membership.

In the termination letter, Dr Tan said Kala’s behaviour during the meeting in November “was disrespectful and tantamount to insubordination”.

PSP Candidate Suing PSP to Recover $10K ‘Election Expenses’ After She Was Terminated

PSP Candidate Suing PSP to Recover $10K ‘Election Expenses’ After She Was Terminated

“No Basis” For Application

“Uncooperative” & “Disruptive” During Walkabouts

Resourceful & Outspoken, But Uncompromising

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