Nine members leave Reform Party
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Posted: 23 February 2011 1410 hrs
SINGAPORE: Secretary General of The Reform Party, Mr Kenneth Jeyaratnam has confirmed the resignations of at least nine Reform Party members which include five in its central executive committee.
The members who resigned include Mr Tony Tan and Ms Hazel Poa, who were regarded as two potential candidates for the upcoming General Election.
In a statement, Mr Jeyaratnam said that the party which has over 110 members, will come out of this stronger and firmer of purpose as a result.
He said that his party has a joint walkabout with Mr Chiam See Tong and Singapore People's Party on Sunday.
He added that a group of Reform Party members will attend the PKMS 50 year Jubilee party on Wednesday evening.
- CNA/fa -
Internal problem.
How to take care of the people where they themselves resign?
What will the pple think?
Very bad image.
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Aiyo...no wonder everybody says that before election opposition party will like got alot of problems.....Haiz..even this 2 people contesting WC GRC leaving....Bad Image...
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RP Press Release on the departure of nine members
Posted by theonlinecitizen on February 23, 2011
PRESS RELEASE 23/02/2011
The Reform Party www.thereformparty.net.
I can confirm today the resignations as reported in the Press.
I have no wish to air the Party’s internal matters in public but I have seen previously how untruths left unchallenged get repeated and embedded. I am making this statement as it is in the best interests of the Party and its ordinary members to get the facts out there. I believe transparency is the best course of action right now.
The Reform Party will be smaller because of the resignations, it is true. But we had over 110 members and will come out of this stronger and firmer of purpose as a result.
We have just had a period of our most successful outreach activity ever. Our walkabout team is larger, more united and more determined than at any time in our history. Last night the team RP outreach support reported that roughly 50% of the residents canvassed said they would vote for RP.We had the first women’s wing of any opposition political party, a rally which attracted 400 people in heavy rain and are about to launch a new integrated digital media platform. We have a new blog on economics, sonofadud.com which has been quoted in the media across the world and we have launched our first podcast.
This coming Sunday we have a joint walkabout planned with Mr Chiam and SPP and tonight a large group of us will attend the PKMS 50 year Jubilee party.
According to the report in Main Stream Media this group have cited personal differences as a reason for resigning. But if that were the case why would they not come to the mediation table? The timing of this departure, its highly co-ordinated and planned manner and the way the individuals then went to the Press, hardly seems an appropriate response to personal incompatibility.
It has the hallmark of an action designed to do maximum damage to The Reform Party and gain maximum publicity for the political careers of the individuals involved.
In fact far from being personally intractable there was an offer from me on the table to step aside from the SG position and to give Tony Tan or whoever wanted it, my full support in that role. I did this as I firmly believe that no individual, no matter what his or her paper qualifications, should be more important than The Party and its stated goals. In fact without the duties of SG I would be free to work on my own campaign.
The facts are Tony Tan resigned from CEC on 13th December 2010 and became an ordinary member.On 10th February 2011 the CEC, excluding the SG, held a meeting. The Chair invited prospective candidates to attend the meeting. Alec Tok declined to attend. Four other prospective candidates did take up the invitation. Two were allowed in the meeting and for reasons which are not clear the CEC took a vote which resulted in another two being barred entry.
The two who were barred became aggrieved and wrote a letter of complaint.
The crux of their complaint was:
ï‚· that they had been invited but then barred by a vote.
ï‚· That some candidates were allowed in and others kept out.
ï‚· That they had witnessed, whilst being kept waiting, two prospective candidates give packets of money ( Ang Pow) to one of the CEC .
The vote of the CEC member who received the Ang Pow had an impact on the decision of the meeting as to whether to admit them. They returned home and wrote some angry letters of complaint to The Chair and to the CEC..
There is no suggestion here that there was any causal connection between the money given and the resulting vote. The SG did not attend that meeting and he did not write the letters of complaint. But the members did raise a legitimate complaint and ask questions that needed answering.
Subsequently the SG was made aware of the letter of complaint and spoke to the recipient who admitted to receiving $400 from the candidates.
The SG recommended that the Party deal with the complaint and answer the questions raised. The CEC refused to answer the complaints or to hold an enquiry. The candidates and 4 CEC members resigned.
I do not see that we can demand transparency and accountability from the government if we do not demand it from ourselves. The Reform Party believes in Change and democracy. Our stated aim is to form an alternative government whether that takes 10, 30 or a hundred years. There is a group within the Party who don’t believe in Change. They feel our best route would be to propose only minor tweaks and to aim for an NCMP seat.
Those of us who go on outreach several times a week have witnessed a sea change on the ground and a Tsunami of democracy is currently sweeping the Middle East and Africa. History will show the Reform Party’s message of change to be the prevailing one.
Released by Kenneth Jeyaretnam on behalf of the Reform Party, February 23rd, 2011
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I do not see that we can demand transparency and accountability from the government if we do not demand it from ourselves. The Reform Party believes in Change and democracy. Our stated aim is to form an alternative government whether that takes 10, 30 or a hundred years. There is a group within the Party who don’t believe in Change. They feel our best route would be to propose only minor tweaks and to aim for an NCMP seat.
Pappies buyout?
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NIne big moles?
Looks like PAP spies are everywhere.
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Originally posted by Askingyouto:
NIne big moles?
possible.
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It was really too good to be true when ex-scholars joined. I was there at their HQ before in Chinatown, it was quite crowded then. There was a young woman member who waved, said a few hellos and went away fast, gave me an impression that she wasn't sincere at all.
Maybe she was also in the nine big moles.
Utimately, PAP is too clever for any of us. It was really too much to hope for that PAP would leave KJ alone without any worry.
No dynasty would be so stupid to leave a son of the banquished alone, to canvass a army to defeat them.
Still if any opposition come to contest at my side, I would still vote for them, this is the last chance.
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Originally posted by Askingyouto:
It was really too good to be true when ex-scholars joined. I was there at their HQ before in Chinatown, it was quite crowded then. There was a young woman member who waved, said a few hellos and went away fast, gave me an impression that she wasn't sincere at all.
Maybe she was also in the nine big moles.
Utimately, PAP is too clever for any of us. It was really too much to hope for that PAP would leave KJ alone without any worry.
No dynasty would be so stupid to leave a son of the banquished alone, to canvass a army to defeat them.
Still if any opposition come to contest at my side, I would still vote for them, this is the last chance.
It is the repetition of SDP years ago, just that what happened in RP is before election.
Needed those bad news to wreck any potentials major changes.
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I am also not discounting the fact that some of them could have been warned by ISDee. This have happened before. Both scholar-couple business is childcare, need liecense from government.
The worst problem is that if this is true,it justify the reasons to stay away from opposing the government, locals will then just have to continue to be sheeps, to be slowly slaughtered by the gov.
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i saport Mr Kenneth Jeyaratnam
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AT LEAST 20 LEFT RP, INCLUDING NEWEST MEMBER GILBERT GOH
Posted by theonlinecitizen on February 23, 2011
Reform Party recently announced on February 9, 2011 of its newest member Mr Gilbert Goh who came on board the team. However, it is now confirmed that Mr Goh has left RP as well, amongst the others.
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留��山在, �怕没柴烧
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not gang enough, dun join politics
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
AT LEAST 20 LEFT RP, INCLUDING NEWEST MEMBER GILBERT GOH
Posted by theonlinecitizen on February 23, 2011
Reform Party recently announced on February 9, 2011 of its newest member Mr Gilbert Goh who came on board the team. However, it is now confirmed that Mr Goh has left RP as well, amongst the others.
Aiyo..maybe next will be other opposition parties.
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TONY TAN AND HAZEL POA RESPONDS TO RP’S PRESS RELEASE
Posted by theonlinecitizen on February 23, 2011
In response to the Press Release from the Secretary-General of the Reform Party, we wish to clarify the facts as follows:
1) Tony did give an “Ang Pow” to a CEC member which was meant for his children as it was Chinese New Year. He did the same thing last year during Chinese New Year with exactly the same amount. There is absolutely no bribery involved. We gave out a lot of “Ang Pows” during Chinese New Year and had not thought this was something that needed explaining.
2) We did not announce our resignations to the media. The media received the information from their sources and sought us out.
Our stand has been and still is, that we will try our best to minimize any harmful effect to the Reform Party arising from our departure. As the Secretary-General has pointed out, the Reform Party is a lot larger than the small number of us who have left. It has many talented and passionate members and has made tremendous progress in its short history. In the short one year plus that we have been in the Reform Party, although we have our disagreements, we have also seen the SG’s drive and dedication. Since we cannot achieve agreement, we do not wish to be in his way. The Reform Party has an election to prepare for, and further speculations are not constructive. If he is elected to Parliament, we are sure he will serve his constituents with the same degree of dedication he has shown.
Tony Tan and Hazel Poa
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Originally posted by FireIce:
留��山在, �怕没柴烧
I think I will be the first to burn finish.
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Originally posted by likeyou:
Internal problem.
How to take care of the people where they themselves resign?
What will the pple think?
Very bad image.
i'll be surprised if the 9 fellas are not PAP moles to make opposition look bad...............
why don't leave earlier ?
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Looks like it's going to be more messy than CSJ and CST.
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this KJ...me thinks he could be a strong character. Then again, it's a great loss losing these two scholars though they could have been more active in the political scene.
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RP EXODUS – Opposition comments
Posted by theonlinecitizen on February 23, 2011
In the wake of an increasing number of members’ departure from the Reform Party, TOC contacted the opposition parties for comments pertaining to this situation.
Both the Socialist Front (SF) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP) said that they did not have knowledge of the nine members’ plans to leave beforehand. Both party leaders namely Mr Chia Ti Lik (SF) and Mr Goh Meng Seng (NSP) also confirmed that none of the nine members approached them before or after their departure from RP.
When queried if their parties are interested to invite the departed members over to their party now that they are not members of any political parties, they had this to say:
“As I told Straits Times, our NSP policy is that we provide a platform for the opposition movement. Our doors are always open for people to come and go. I believe that they are a group of people who are really interested in public service in the opposition, so I wish to see how we can accommodate them. I’ll be happy to hear what their needs are and find a way to work together.”
- Goh Meng Seng, NSP party leader
“I am open to anyone joining the Socialist Front as the party has principles which are established for the good of Singapore. My doors are open.”
- Chia Ti Lik, SF party leader
Dr Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) responded to TOC’s interview as such:
“It is not appropriate for us to comment on the matter at this point. We just want to encourage all oppositionists to concentrate on the contest against the PAP.”
TOC has also confirmed that Mr Gilbert Goh is now officially with NSP. He just joined the party this week.
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As they say - The plot thickens.
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Originally posted by Askingyouto:
As they say - The plot thickens.
going stale perhaps.
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Yeah, judging by the reactions by people on the Budget and Election, more people are already turned off or dozed off already. More of the same. Same pattern everytime.