The four remaining GE2011 candidates from the SPP who are still in the party -- Sin Kek Tong, Mrs and Mr Chiam, and Jimmy Lee. (Yahoo! file photo)
(UPDATED on 1 Feb at 11.38pm, adding Chiam's personal statement)Singapore People’s Party (SPP) secretary-general Chiam See Tong has issued a personal statement to shed light on the “warped” claims “made in public against the party and himself.”
Addressing the media for the first time after the recent resignations from its Central Executive Committee (CEC), he confirmed that the party has received legal advice to refute claims over the unconstitutional Ordinary Party Conference (OPC) elections for new CEC members last Sunday.
Chiam wrote, “Those claims were made by the ex-members who were not present at the OPC, and thus may not have been aware of the proceedings that day.”
Refuting claims by key veterans in the party’s CEC, Chiam said, “I am aggressively building up the next batch of potential leaders and our talent pipeline is not affected.”
He has also highlighted that the “baton should only be passed when the right leaders are in place.”
“It has been levelled against me as secretary-general of the SPP that I am not interested in leadership renewal and succession, or in being consultative. Nothing can be further from the truth,” the 76-year-old said.
“I believe in the merits of a consultative, collective leadership. But the situation of a ‘lack of collective leadership’ which the party has been accused of was in fact a situation of ‘collective leadership’ exercised by those ex-CEC members in isolation from other CEC members,” he added.
“A key example of this was the setting up of their proposed community foundation under the banner of the SPP, which was privy only to them. The rest of the CEC was not consulted or involved in this setting up of this foundation,” he revealed in the statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, the party released a statement on its website and Facebook page, saying that it saw recent resignations from its CEC as “an opportune time for the party to renew and strengthen the team”.
The opposition party cited new applications for membership that it says it received, and maintained that it now turns to its three points of focus—namely building a sustainable pipeline of talents, maintaining continuity with the party’s work and keeping Potong Pasir, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Hong Kah North as their priority constituencies.
In a longer statement sent to the media, however, the party also addressed reports from Chinese media that former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say was a factor behind the resignation last week of six key members of its CEC, including first and second assistant secretary-generals Wilfred Leung and Benjamin Pwee.
“It was reported in several sources in the print and online media reported that the resignation of the CEC members was linked to former presidential candidate Mr Tan Jee Say. That rumour went that the possibility of Mr Tan joining the SPP was met with resistance from within the party. This is not true,” the party said in its statement.
“If Mr Tan decides to join the SPP, we will fully welcome him. The SPP is also supportive of opposition unity and initiatives towards this end,” the statement continued.
English versions of the Chinese tabloid reports that appeared online were also refuted by some of the six SPP members who resigned on Friday, who said outright that they were “completely fabricated and untrue”.
The SPP’s statement was the latest in a series of developments surrounding the party that unfolded over the past two weeks past. On Sunday, two days after being hit by the mass resignations, the party reportedly elected new members of its CEC, but their identities remain unconfirmed.
Former party chairman Sin Kek Tong, who according to some media reports was voted into the new CEC following Sunday’s Ordinary Party Conference (OPC), said earlier this week he knew nothing about it.
The only reference SPP made in its statement with regard to its new CEC was in its second sentence, which repeated what its former second vice-chairman and Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Lina Chiam had said on Sunday — that individual appointments will be subject to a vote within three weeks of last Sunday, and “will be announced in due course”.
*back into the abyss of death*
Addressing the media for the first time after the recent resignations from its Central Executive Committee (CEC), he confirmed that the party has received legal advice to refute claims over the unconstitutional Ordinary Party Conference (OPC) elections for new CEC members last Sunday.
Chiam wrote, “Those claims were made by the ex-members who were not present at the OPC, and thus may not have been aware of the proceedings that day.”
Refuting claims by key veterans in the party’s CEC, Chiam said, “I am aggressively building up the next batch of potential leaders and our talent pipeline is not affected.”
He has also highlighted that the “baton should only be passed when the right leaders are in place.”
“It has been levelled against me as secretary-general of the SPP that I am not interested in leadership renewal and succession, or in being consultative. Nothing can be further from the truth,” the 76-year-old said.
“I believe in the merits of a consultative, collective leadership. But the situation of a ‘lack of collective leadership’ which the party has been accused of was in fact a situation of ‘collective leadership’ exercised by those ex-CEC members in isolation from other CEC members,” he added.
“A key example of this was the setting up of their proposed community foundation under the banner of the SPP, which was privy only to them. The rest of the CEC was not consulted or involved in this setting up of this foundation,” he revealed in the statement.
Earlier on Tuesday, the party released a statement on its website and Facebook page, saying that it saw recent resignations from its CEC as “an opportune time for the party to renew and strengthen the team”.
The opposition party cited new applications for membership that it says it received, and maintained that it now turns to its three points of focus—namely building a sustainable pipeline of talents, maintaining continuity with the party’s work and keeping Potong Pasir, Bishan-Toa Payoh and Hong Kah North as their priority constituencies.
In a longer statement sent to the media, however, the party also addressed reports from Chinese media that former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say was a factor behind the resignation last week of six key members of its CEC, including first and second assistant secretary-generals Wilfred Leung and Benjamin Pwee.
“It was reported in several sources in the print and online media reported that the resignation of the CEC members was linked to former presidential candidate Mr Tan Jee Say. That rumour went that the possibility of Mr Tan joining the SPP was met with resistance from within the party. This is not true,” the party said in its statement.
“If Mr Tan decides to join the SPP, we will fully welcome him. The SPP is also supportive of opposition unity and initiatives towards this end,” the statement continued.
English versions of the Chinese tabloid reports that appeared online were also refuted by some of the six SPP members who resigned on Friday, who said outright that they were “completely fabricated and untrue”.
The SPP’s statement was the latest in a series of developments surrounding the party that unfolded over the past two weeks past. On Sunday, two days after being hit by the mass resignations, the party reportedly elected new members of its CEC, but their identities remain unconfirmed.
Former party chairman Sin Kek Tong, who according to some media reports was voted into the new CEC following Sunday’s Ordinary Party Conference (OPC), said earlier this week he knew nothing about it.
The only reference SPP made in its statement with regard to its new CEC was in its second sentence, which repeated what its former second vice-chairman and Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Lina Chiam had said on Sunday — that individual appointments will be subject to a vote within three weeks of last Sunday, and “will be announced in due course”.
*back into the abyss of death*
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