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Election candidate quits reform party
OPPOSITION candidate Alec Tok (right) has resigned from the Reform Party (RP).
The 45-year-old said he had quit over a list of party protocols drawn up by party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
Mr Tok is one of two election candidates that RP has announced so far, the other being Mr Jeyaretnam, its secretary-general.
Speaking to the media at a hawker centre in Radin Mas - the ward in which he was supposed to contest - Mr Tok said he took issue with two clauses in the list.
One states that central executive committee (CEC) members are subject to a three-month probation, during which they can be asked to leave without any notice or reason being given.
Another clause states that any CEC member who resigns must agree to a three-month "gardening leave" period, which bars him or her from speaking to the media.
Mr Tok said that such clauses went against the party ideals of openness and transparency.
He also said he was not told about these conditions before he was asked to join the CEC.
Mr Jeyaretnam said RP has not accepted Mr Tok's resignation yet.
Meanwhile, the party's youth wing has three new leaders.
One of them is undergraduate Lim Zi Rui, 24, who sparked debate when he told Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong last year that he no longer knew what he was defending in Singapore, and blamed policy changes, including the influx of foreigners, for this.
The other two are financial adviser Gerald Yong, 25, and science management graduate Vigneswari Ramachandran, 29.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
OPPOSITION candidate Alec Tok (right) has resigned from the Reform Party (RP).
The 45-year-old said he had quit over a list of party protocols drawn up by party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
Mr Tok is one of two election candidates that RP has announced so far, the other being Mr Jeyaretnam, its secretary-general.
Speaking to the media at a hawker centre in Radin Mas - the ward in which he was supposed to contest - Mr Tok said he took issue with two clauses in the list.
One states that central executive committee (CEC) members are subject to a three-month probation, during which they can be asked to leave without any notice or reason being given.
Another clause states that any CEC member who resigns must agree to a three-month "gardening leave" period, which bars him or her from speaking to the media.
Mr Tok said that such clauses went against the party ideals of openness and transparency.
He also said he was not told about these conditions before he was asked to join the CEC.
Mr Jeyaretnam said RP has not accepted Mr Tok's resignation yet.
Meanwhile, the party's youth wing has three new leaders.
One of them is undergraduate Lim Zi Rui, 24, who sparked debate when he told Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong last year that he no longer knew what he was defending in Singapore, and blamed policy changes, including the influx of foreigners, for this.
The other two are financial adviser Gerald Yong, 25, and science management graduate Vigneswari Ramachandran, 29.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
