Today 7 March 2006
All smiles, but what happened?
S'pore Democratic Alliance keeps mum about meeting; Chiam See Tong absent
Loh Chee Kong
[email protected]IT WAS touted as a meeting to work out the avoidance of three-cornered fights, the addition of new members and a possible overall strategy for the Opposition.
.
But with Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) leader Chiam See Tong missing, yesterday's meeting of the parties that make up the SDA seemed to end rather quickly.
.
The meeting had originally been called by Mr Chiam, and had been scheduled for 7.30pm.
.
But as members of the SDA — which is made up of the Singapore People's Party (SPP), the National Solidarity Party (NSP), Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS) and the Singapore Justice Party (SJP) — gathered, there was no sight of the SPP secretary-general.
.
At 8.20pm, SPP's assistant secretary-general Desmond Lim received a call and subsequently told the awaiting media that Mr Chiam would not be coming.
.
On the missing Mr Chiam, Mr Lim later told Today that his party head could not attend the meeting due to "some important personal matters, which cropped up at the last minute".
.
Nevertheless, SDA members went ahead with the closed-door meeting, which was conducted by SDA's vice-chairman Muhamad Ali Aman, who is also PKMS' secretary-general.
.
Less than 45 minutes later, the 12 members — four each from NSP and SPP, three from PKMS and one from SJP — emerged from the room, smiling.
.
NSP's Steve Chia, a Non-constituency MP, then told reporters that the discussion had not included any matters that needed to be reported to the media. He refused to comment on whether the SDA was allowing three former Singapore Democratic Party members to join the alliance.
.
Mr Chia also said that the Opposition did not believe in the by-election strategy.
.
He said that he agreed with Mr Chiam that the PAP will be the dominant party in the Government and the Opposition would provide an alternative voice.
.
Said Mr Chia: "We will field as many candidates as we can but so far, it doesn't look very promising. Chances are it will be less than 42. The way I calculate, the whole Opposition may not be able to field 42 candidates. But I may be wrong."
.
As he made his way to the carpark, Mr Chia said: "Any self-respecting politician will hold his cards close to his chest."
S'pore Democratic Alliance keeps mum about meeting; Chiam See Tong absent
Loh Chee Kong
[email protected]IT WAS touted as a meeting to work out the avoidance of three-cornered fights, the addition of new members and a possible overall strategy for the Opposition.
.
But with Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) leader Chiam See Tong missing, yesterday's meeting of the parties that make up the SDA seemed to end rather quickly.
.
The meeting had originally been called by Mr Chiam, and had been scheduled for 7.30pm.
.
But as members of the SDA — which is made up of the Singapore People's Party (SPP), the National Solidarity Party (NSP), Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS) and the Singapore Justice Party (SJP) — gathered, there was no sight of the SPP secretary-general.
.
At 8.20pm, SPP's assistant secretary-general Desmond Lim received a call and subsequently told the awaiting media that Mr Chiam would not be coming.
.
On the missing Mr Chiam, Mr Lim later told Today that his party head could not attend the meeting due to "some important personal matters, which cropped up at the last minute".
.
Nevertheless, SDA members went ahead with the closed-door meeting, which was conducted by SDA's vice-chairman Muhamad Ali Aman, who is also PKMS' secretary-general.
.
Less than 45 minutes later, the 12 members — four each from NSP and SPP, three from PKMS and one from SJP — emerged from the room, smiling.
.
NSP's Steve Chia, a Non-constituency MP, then told reporters that the discussion had not included any matters that needed to be reported to the media. He refused to comment on whether the SDA was allowing three former Singapore Democratic Party members to join the alliance.
.
Mr Chia also said that the Opposition did not believe in the by-election strategy.
.
He said that he agreed with Mr Chiam that the PAP will be the dominant party in the Government and the Opposition would provide an alternative voice.
.
Said Mr Chia: "We will field as many candidates as we can but so far, it doesn't look very promising. Chances are it will be less than 42. The way I calculate, the whole Opposition may not be able to field 42 candidates. But I may be wrong."
.
As he made his way to the carpark, Mr Chia said: "Any