In addition, Mr Chan was a patron of the Kampong Chai Chee Citizens’ Consultative Committee and the Bukit Timah Community Club management committee, and serves as a member of charitable organisation SPD’s resource mobilisation and partnerships committee.
The People’s Association said in a statement on Feb 2 that he has stepped down from all grassroots appointments.
Between April 2011 and May 2019, Mr Chan wrote around 30 articles for Singapore Chinese-language news outlet Lianhe Zaobao, primarily in his capacity as president of the Kowloon Club.
Most were published as part of a regular column in Zaobao’s Crossroads section, to which he was one of several guest contributors. One piece was published in the opinion section and another in the paper’s forum pages.
Zaobao editor Goh Sin Teck said: “Crossroads aimed to facilitate the understanding and integration of new immigrants into our community, fostering mutual understanding amongst Singaporeans. The section ceased publication in 2019.”
He added: “Mr Chan’s writings were often his personal reflections, insights gleaned through his real estate profession, as well as immigration issues, such as assimilation of new immigrants into the local society.”
In October 2019, Mr Chan facilitated a public assembly discussing the protests over Hong Kong’s extradition Bill without a permit and was issued a warning by the police.
In his earlier interview with Chinese Headline New Media, Mr Chan said being overseas had exposed him to various voices about China, and added that China is often at a disadvantage in the war of public opinion.
Different media outlets hold different positions, and there are differences in their reports of the same news, he said.
“For example, despite China’s outstanding and exemplary contributions during the global fight against Covid-19, we see more foreign news media discrediting China’s fight against the epidemic.”
He also said Western countries have distorted the truth about China, pointing out that China’s diplomatic style has been labelled “wolf warrior diplomacy” and that terms such as “debt traps” have been used to describe its Belt and Road Initiative.
“The Western media has discredited China considerably. I believe that we cannot solely rely on the official messages conveyed by Chinese diplomats in public,” he said.
“We should put more effort in mobilising righteous individuals overseas who dare to speak up for justice, to get them to join the ranks of spreading truths and exposing the hypocrisy of fake news from the West.”
He added: “I believe it is more convincing and effective, and thus very important, that we turn their weapons against them.”