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ST published an article today (“NSP ‘dogged by factional splits’”, 22 Aug) revealing a clash of “cultures between the old guard and the newcomers” occurred inside NSP.
In addition, a “flawed power structure” that limits the role of the secretary-general has also contributed to the conflict.
Since 2011, NSP has lost 4 secretary-generals with 3 this year alone.
The latest to depart is acting secretary-general Hazel Poa, who quit the party on Wednesday (19 Aug) because she disagreed with the NSP’s decision to enter into a three-cornered fight with WP over MacPherson SMC.
Earlier, NSP had given up Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC to avoid 3-cornered fights with WP. At the same time, WP had offered to give up MacPherson if NSP did not contest Marine Parade. But it was reported that NSP rebuffed WP’s offer of MacPherson.
On Wednesday, NSP announced it would be fielding Steve Chia in MacPherson, rescinding its earlier decision not to enter MacPherson. This led to the resignation of Hazel Poa. Miss Poa believes in a united opposition cause for the good of Singapore and didn’t want to see NSP fighting with WP, especially when the general consensus from opposition supporters is that WP would stand a much better chance in MacPherson.
The NSP was started by businessmen in 1987 and old-timers like its former president Yip Yew Weng still form a majority within the Central Executive Committee (CEC), reported ST.
Incidentally, on Mr Yip’s Facebook page [Link], he said that he has worked in SPH.
ST also mentioned about NSP’s power structure as a reason for its current dismal state of affairs. ST cited Ms Poa, saying that “unlike in other political parties”, the NSP president is the party’s de facto leader, while the secretary-general performs the role of spokesman.
Another former NSP member said that unlike other parties, “power flows from the president” at NSP. “The fact is that the president is the one with overall control over the party, and the secretary-general basically performs some of the roles of the president by virtue of authority granted by him,” he said. He said that such power structure had its constraints on the secretary-general to decide on matters.
with regard to NSP’s decision to enter MacPherson, a former NSP CEC member revealed that Steve Chia was persuaded by certain party stalwarts to call a vote on whether the party should contest MacPherson, and that they would back him to be fielded there.
The current President of NSP, Sebastian Teo.
Teo Kway Huang aka Sebastian Teo, is currently the President of NSP.
He first contested at GE2001 under the SDA banner, which NSP was a component party of, in Tampines GRC. In 2006, he was fielded in Jalan Besar GRC, also under SDA.
In the 2011 general election, he contested a third time under NSP (NSP by then has already pulled out of SDA) together with Tony Tan Lay Thiam, Hazel Poa, Nor Lella Mardiiiah Mohamed and Jeisilan Sivalingam in Chua Chu Kang GRC against a PAP team led by Minister Gan Kim Yong. Mr Teo failed to make it into Parliament in all his three attempts.
After graduating from the Nantah, Mr Teo started his career as an executive officer in MINDEF. In those days, it was especially very difficult for Nantah graduates to get jobs, since many employers did not recognise Nantah degrees. Mr Teo must either have been very good or lucky to have gotten a job with the government then.
He then worked his way up to become the head of the purchasing department in MINDEF when he abruptly resigned in 1975 and started his own company.
Mr Teo was arrested by CPIB in September 1979. CPIB had found out that over a nine-month period from March to December 1975, he had taken money on 12 occasions from a vegetable supplier, in exchange for information on the name of the successful vegetable supply contractor and the price of vegetables contracted. The total amount involved was $60,200, a sizable amount in those days [Link]:
Subsequently Teo pleaded guilty and was convicted in court on two charges of corruption in November 1979, with ten other charges taken into consideration. He was fined $15,000, and ordered to pay a penalty $10,500 for the court proceedings [Link].
Subsequently, he was bankrupted twice in the 80s – one on 17 May 1985 (bankruptcy number 162/85) [Link] and another on 7 March 1986 (bankruptcy number 319/85) [Link].
However, the constitution of Singapore does allow a convict to become an MP if his conviction is more than 5 years old (see below) [Link]:
Disqualifications for membership of Parliament
45.—(1) Subject to this Article, a person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament who —
(e) has been convicted of an offence by a court of law in Singapore or Malaysia and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to a fine of not less than $2,000 and has not received a free pardon:
Provided that where the conviction is by a court of law in Malaysia, the person shall not be so disqualified unless the offence is also one which, had it been committed in Singapore, would have been punishable by a court of law in Singapore.
(2) The disqualification of a person under clause (1)(d) or (e) may be removed by the President and shall, if not so removed, cease at the end of 5 years beginning from the date on which the return mentioned in clause (1)(d) was required to be lodged or, as the case may be, the date on which the person convicted as mentioned in clause (1)(e) was released from custody or the date on which the fine mentioned in clause (1)(e) was imposed on such person; and a person shall not be disqualified under clause (1)(f) by reason only of anything done by him before he became a citizen of Singapore.
It has been noted that Mr Teo did not disclose any of his convictions or bankruptcies to the electorate, in the name of transparency, when he stood in previous elections.
For example, in 2011 GE, he introduced himself to the electorate as [Link]:
There was no mention of his previous convictions nor his bankruptcies. then and now.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/08/22/nsp-a-party-in-turmoil/
In addition, a “flawed power structure” that limits the role of the secretary-general has also contributed to the conflict.
Since 2011, NSP has lost 4 secretary-generals with 3 this year alone.
The latest to depart is acting secretary-general Hazel Poa, who quit the party on Wednesday (19 Aug) because she disagreed with the NSP’s decision to enter into a three-cornered fight with WP over MacPherson SMC.
Earlier, NSP had given up Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC to avoid 3-cornered fights with WP. At the same time, WP had offered to give up MacPherson if NSP did not contest Marine Parade. But it was reported that NSP rebuffed WP’s offer of MacPherson.
On Wednesday, NSP announced it would be fielding Steve Chia in MacPherson, rescinding its earlier decision not to enter MacPherson. This led to the resignation of Hazel Poa. Miss Poa believes in a united opposition cause for the good of Singapore and didn’t want to see NSP fighting with WP, especially when the general consensus from opposition supporters is that WP would stand a much better chance in MacPherson.
The NSP was started by businessmen in 1987 and old-timers like its former president Yip Yew Weng still form a majority within the Central Executive Committee (CEC), reported ST.
Incidentally, on Mr Yip’s Facebook page [Link], he said that he has worked in SPH.
ST also mentioned about NSP’s power structure as a reason for its current dismal state of affairs. ST cited Ms Poa, saying that “unlike in other political parties”, the NSP president is the party’s de facto leader, while the secretary-general performs the role of spokesman.
Another former NSP member said that unlike other parties, “power flows from the president” at NSP. “The fact is that the president is the one with overall control over the party, and the secretary-general basically performs some of the roles of the president by virtue of authority granted by him,” he said. He said that such power structure had its constraints on the secretary-general to decide on matters.
with regard to NSP’s decision to enter MacPherson, a former NSP CEC member revealed that Steve Chia was persuaded by certain party stalwarts to call a vote on whether the party should contest MacPherson, and that they would back him to be fielded there.
The current President of NSP, Sebastian Teo.
Teo Kway Huang aka Sebastian Teo, is currently the President of NSP.
He first contested at GE2001 under the SDA banner, which NSP was a component party of, in Tampines GRC. In 2006, he was fielded in Jalan Besar GRC, also under SDA.
In the 2011 general election, he contested a third time under NSP (NSP by then has already pulled out of SDA) together with Tony Tan Lay Thiam, Hazel Poa, Nor Lella Mardiiiah Mohamed and Jeisilan Sivalingam in Chua Chu Kang GRC against a PAP team led by Minister Gan Kim Yong. Mr Teo failed to make it into Parliament in all his three attempts.
After graduating from the Nantah, Mr Teo started his career as an executive officer in MINDEF. In those days, it was especially very difficult for Nantah graduates to get jobs, since many employers did not recognise Nantah degrees. Mr Teo must either have been very good or lucky to have gotten a job with the government then.
He then worked his way up to become the head of the purchasing department in MINDEF when he abruptly resigned in 1975 and started his own company.
Mr Teo was arrested by CPIB in September 1979. CPIB had found out that over a nine-month period from March to December 1975, he had taken money on 12 occasions from a vegetable supplier, in exchange for information on the name of the successful vegetable supply contractor and the price of vegetables contracted. The total amount involved was $60,200, a sizable amount in those days [Link]:
Subsequently Teo pleaded guilty and was convicted in court on two charges of corruption in November 1979, with ten other charges taken into consideration. He was fined $15,000, and ordered to pay a penalty $10,500 for the court proceedings [Link].
Subsequently, he was bankrupted twice in the 80s – one on 17 May 1985 (bankruptcy number 162/85) [Link] and another on 7 March 1986 (bankruptcy number 319/85) [Link].
However, the constitution of Singapore does allow a convict to become an MP if his conviction is more than 5 years old (see below) [Link]:
Disqualifications for membership of Parliament
45.—(1) Subject to this Article, a person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament who —
(e) has been convicted of an offence by a court of law in Singapore or Malaysia and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than one year or to a fine of not less than $2,000 and has not received a free pardon:
Provided that where the conviction is by a court of law in Malaysia, the person shall not be so disqualified unless the offence is also one which, had it been committed in Singapore, would have been punishable by a court of law in Singapore.
(2) The disqualification of a person under clause (1)(d) or (e) may be removed by the President and shall, if not so removed, cease at the end of 5 years beginning from the date on which the return mentioned in clause (1)(d) was required to be lodged or, as the case may be, the date on which the person convicted as mentioned in clause (1)(e) was released from custody or the date on which the fine mentioned in clause (1)(e) was imposed on such person; and a person shall not be disqualified under clause (1)(f) by reason only of anything done by him before he became a citizen of Singapore.
It has been noted that Mr Teo did not disclose any of his convictions or bankruptcies to the electorate, in the name of transparency, when he stood in previous elections.
For example, in 2011 GE, he introduced himself to the electorate as [Link]:
There was no mention of his previous convictions nor his bankruptcies. then and now.
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/08/22/nsp-a-party-in-turmoil/
