The true maverick of this General Election, independent candidate Cheang Peng Wah hopes to be the dark horse for Pioneer SMC.

You may know the 62-year-old for his interesting choice of campaign logo or for his animated constituency political broadcast. Or from the memes.

To get to know the man better, I decided to spend half the day with him to see what a typical day of campaigning was like for an independent candidate in Singapore.

Putting up posters

I met Cheang at 10am on day seven of the campaigning period, along Boon Lay Way. He had two volunteers with him.

He greeted me and gestured for us to talk in the shade. Contrary to his strong speech and demeanour in his televised rallies, Cheang is actually quite soft-spoken in real life.

The first agenda for the day, he said, was to continue putting up his campaign posters along the main road and within the HDB blocks.

Armed with a pack of zip-ties and posters, Cheang and his volunteer Gay Kiat Lam, his ex-colleague, fixed around 20 posters in the HDB estate surrounding 655 Jurong West.

I was curious as to how many volunteers were supporting him. Cheang replied that the total pool of volunteers was around 20. Most of these volunteers were friends and family who supported him once his nomination was successful.

The other volunteer that day was Arulanadan, who helped to drive the two men around the estate. Both volunteers are in their 60s.

Cheang shared the campaigning had been really busy for him - he could only sleep at 2am and was usually up at 7am, woken up by the pressure to perform.

"Time's short. But if it is too long it would also be killing me. If they (ELD) give us 21 days(for campaigning) I will die."

5-year plan

After putting up the posters, Cheang had an interview with CNA at 11am.

This is no flight of fancy for Cheang, in fact he had been intending to run for MP since 2011, and had already written a draft manifesto and designed the shirt logo five years ago.

This year, he decided it was now or never as he was still energetic. He wasn't sure if he would have the same energy five years later.

Furthermore, the Covid-19 campaigning restrictions are actually an advantage for him, as he did not need to solicit the help of too many supporters.

Key concerns for Pioneer residents

When asked about what were the key concerns that Pioneer residents face, Cheang brought up estate issues, and also mentioned issues like integrating new citizens.

Nationally, Cheang would want to voice out in Parliament over the government's accountability when it comes to money spent on programmes. He also mentioned that the objectives of programmes should be stated more clearly and a public debrief should be held to evaluate the effectiveness of these programmes.

"[The PAP is] not close to the ground, don’t know how to manage. They have all the scholars that push paper in the ministry, very impressive on paper. They have never done operational work before," he said.

When asked how he could resolve these issues if elected, he quoted his extensive resume, saying that his experience in management is evidence of his credibility. He also mentioned that he contributed a lot to the national dialogue, having written about 50 published forum letters to the Straits Times.

Doing home visits

At 12pm, Cheang finished the interview with CNA and proceeded to conduct his house visits.

Up till our meeting, Cheang had completed 16 HDB blocks out of the 117 in Pioneer.

Cheang, who had bought a list of electors from ELD, greeted the residents by name as he asked them to vote for him.

One resident recognised him walking toward his block, and shouted his name as he passed by his unit.

Most of the residents treated Cheang well, politely receiving his manifesto. There were some who were nonchalant toward him, but no one was hostile.

His heart for Singapore's politics

After completing two blocks of flats, Cheang and his team decided to go back to his apartment, in the western part of Singapore, for lunch at 1pm.

Back home, his eldest sister had prepared lunch for everyone, so that they could refuel before heading out for another round of house visits in the afternoon.

Lee Kuan Yew 'the best we can have'

Cheang said that his political awakening started when he was young as he grew up on Lee Kuan Yew's way of governance. He would always watch the National Day Rallies just to hear Lee speak.

"When he spoke, I felt encouraged by him. But since Goh Chok Tong, Lee Hsien Loong, I think, 'aiyo, what is happening?' It’s so-so, so-so. You wouldn’t be influenced by them to do any better," he said, noting that the latter Prime Ministers lacked the capability that Lee had.

In the course of his life, he had also been to the U.S. and China. After understanding how they governed, he felt that Singapore's governance needed capable voices in Government.

As for whether he felt that he was capable enough to live up to Lee's legacy, he said:

"So you do things, you’re obviously limited by personal ability and money and knowledge, but you do for the people. Whatever you do, you do it for the people, for Singapore.

I think that’s enough. Negativity [motivates] you to do better. They tell you you’re losing your deposit, you just work harder to make sure you don’t lose your deposit lah. It’s meant to motivate you.”

All photos by Rexanne Yap