Singapore Democratic Alliance drops 11 terms laid
down by new Reform Party
By S Ramesh | Posted: 08 May 2010 1117 hrs
SINGAPORE: A list of 11 conditions laid down by the newly formed
Reform Party for the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) to consider
before the Reform Party joins the alliance has been abandoned after a
meeting of the SDA's central executive committee on Friday night.
This was confirmed to MediaCorp by the SDA Secretary General, Desmond
Lim.
Among the conditions laid down by the Reform Party, led by Kenneth
Jeyaretnam, include selected GRCs which the party wants the SDA Chief
Chiam See Tong to contest in and the allocation of key posts in the
alliance to leaders of the Reform Party.
Mr Lim adds that he has been appointed by the SDA to be the spokesperson
on discussions to re-look at the conditions for a possible alliance.
He has proposed that both the SDA and the Reform Party meet again on the
15th of this month.
Mr Lim however adds that in an email reply received today, the Reform
Party has indicated that it would be able to meet again only after its
central executive committee convenes a meeting and that is scheduled to
take place only next month.
Meanwhile, the Reform Party will be having its news conference today and
is scheduled to introduce its batch of candidates for the coming
General Election.
There is no confirmation if opposition MP Chiam See Tong will attend the
Reform Party's news conference, something which Mr Kenneth had hoped
will happen today.
- CNA/jy
By Kor Kian Beng & Jeremy Au Yong
THE fate of a prospective alliance between an opposition veteran and a rookie with a pedigree name to fight in the next general election hangs in the balance.
By press time last night, 12 leaders of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), chaired by Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong, had yet to decide on whether or not to admit the Reform Party into the opposition grouping.
At the heart of the impasse was a list of 11 conditions for joining made by the Reform Party, which is led by Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, its secretary-general.
Maybe in the end, they will contest in different places, but will not form a strategic alliance.
Originally posted by Junyang700:Maybe in the end, they will contest in different places, but will not form a strategic alliance.
cos no pt having 2 opposition vs a powerful PAP.
I am sure they wont have a 3 way fight, it will only benefit PAP.
Reform Party-SDA alliance off for now, says Reform Party's Kenneth
Jeyaretnam
By Hetty Musfirah | Posted: 08 May 2010 1117 hrs
SINGAPORE: The much-touted alliance between the opposition Reform
Party and the Singapore Democratic Alliance is off for now.
Reform Party leader, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, said this in an interview with
MediaCorp, after the party's first annual conference on Saturday
evening.
The Singapore Democratic Alliance's central executive committee led by
Chiam See Tong held a meeting on Friday evening.
They reportedly discussed what's said to be 11 conditions laid down by
the Reform Party before it joined the alliance with SDA.
And on Saturday, the Reform Party's members gave their in-principle
approval to push ahead with negotiations.
But it seems talks will now be put on hold after the SDA said it was
abandoning the list of 11 conditions.
This was confirmed by the Secretary General of the Singapore Democratic
Alliance, Desmond Lim.
On this, Mr Jeyaretnam said he was completely mystified as to what has
happened.
He claims the 11 points had actually been agreed with the SDA and its
leader Chiam See Tong.
He said: "I can only conclude that Mr Chiam did not have the agreement
of the SDA when he entered into negotiations with me. We won't be
conducting any further negotiations with the SDA because we're not
entering into negotiations with an organisation that leaks confidential
documents to the press."
But Mr Jeyeratnam said such an alliance is still “possible” though “not
very likely”.
And that without the alliance, the Reform Party can stand on its own.
The Reform Party also unveiled its first batch of candidates for the
next General Election due by February 2012.
Most were fresh faces except for 53-year-old Abdul Rahim Osman, who has
contested in two elections under different parties.
He's also the sole non-graduate among the group which consists of two
former civil servants Tony Tan and Hazel Poa.
The others are Alec Tok, artistic director for a New York-based theatre
company, and Jeisilan Sivalingam, a process improvement manager.
The party said it's targeting to contest in two Group Representation
Constituencies and two Single Member Constituency.
Among those on its primary list are West Coast GRC, Hong Kah GRC and Toa
Payoh-Bishan GRC.
The party said it will wait for the election boundaries report before
making a clear decision in which wards to contest. - CNA/vm
wish they could iron out the differences.
I WISH to correct Monday's report, 'SDA-Reform Party alliance: On or off?'. What I said was that our members had given us the go-ahead to enter into an alliance if negotiation reached that stage.
That is not the same as saying a tie-up has been agreed, nor is it asking us to push ahead with negotiation.
It is simply a vote of confidence in the secretary-general and the central executive committee to take that decision should it arise.
It would appear that the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) has thrown out the baby with the bath water in deciding to treat the summary of broad areas of agreement already reached by both parties as a list of demands.
Normally, in a negotiation, it would be seen as a starting point for entering serious and final negotiations.
We have written to the SDA informing it that it may contact us about the possibility of continuing talks only after two conditions have been met:
At our next central executive committee meeting, the Reform Party will make a decision on what action to take should the SDA satisfy both those conditions and come back to us. But it will not be high on our list of priorities.
My respect and admiration for Mr Chiam See Tong remains unblemished, and I sincerely hope that he is able to bring them to their senses, although we will concentrate on our own candidates now.
Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam
Secretary-General
The
Reform Party
as much as i detest the MIW, the opposition parties show that they are their own worse enemies, which drive a lot of people to the MIW..
which reinforces the fact that the douchebaggery of the MIW doesn't excuse the douchebaggery of the opposition
These mindless bickerings will only bring down themselves.
Haiz....