Chiam is selling out party: Ex-protege
Scathing attack threatens future of opposition alliance
By Kor Kian Beng & Tessa Wong
CRACKS have deepened in Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong's political party and its alliance with two others, as his one-time protege launched a scathing attack on the opposition politician.
Mr Desmond Lim is accusing Mr Chiam of 'selling out' the Singapore People's Party (SPP) and the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) to the Reform Party.
In a media statement released on Wednesday night, Mr Lim claimed Mr Chiam did not consult or get any go-ahead from SPP and SDA leaders when he agreed to a set of 11 conditions the Reform Party laid down for it to join the SDA.
Said Mr Lim: 'I believe I am not being alarmist nor exaggerating the issue when I say this. One only needs to read the points themselves to understand the conditions that the Reform Party was trying to impose.'
He added that he is not against 'opposition unity', claiming he had previously invited other opposition parties, including the Reform Party, to join the SDA.
His only condition to them: It must agree to join with no conditions attached.
When approached at the Potong Pasir Meet-the-People session last night, Mr Chiam declined to comment.
Merger talks between Mr Chiam and Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam have been on-going since June last year. Both have gone on joint walkabouts in the Bishan-Toa Payoh and Hong Kah GRCs they are eyeing.
The current proposal is for the Reform Party to join the SDA chaired by Mr Chiam.
Set up in 2001 for opposition parties to pool resources and contest elections as a united force, the SDA comprises the SPP, the Singapore Malay National Organisation, or PKMS, and the Singapore Justice Party (SJP).
A document containing 11 points of agreement reached between Mr Chiam, 75, and Mr Jeyaretnam, 51, was leaked to the media in May.
One of the points was to task Mr Jeyaretnam to write and present the SDA's televised political broadcast at the next general election due by February 2012.
The leak led to merger talks being put on hold and a rift between Mr Lim, and Mr Chiam and his wife Lina Chiam, who blamed Mr Lim for the failed merger.
The Straits Times understands that talks between Mr Chiam and Mr Jeyaretnam resumed in July and a revised proposal of five conditions has been given to the SDA leaders for approval.
Mr Lim's salvo on his former mentor follows a decision Mr Chiam had made at a party meeting earlier this month to replace him as the SDA secretary-general with SPP's central executive council member Mohamad Hamim Aliyas. Mr Chiam had cited Mr Lim's refusal to let the Reform Party join the SDA as a key reason, but it is disputed within the SDA whether his decision requires the alliance's approval.
Said Mr Aminuddin Ami, the SJP's secretary-general and SDA's honorary auditor: 'Any removal must be discussed and approved at the SDA council.'
Mr Lim, 42, an engineer, who had signed his media statement as the SDA's secretary-general, is also disputing Mr Chiam's decision.
The growing SDA split poses questions on the future and influence of the alliance, which has been weakened by internal problems and conflicts of late. In 2007, the National Solidarity Party, which fielded 12 out of the 20 SDA candidates in the 2006 polls, quit the alliance. It cited the need for 'more space to develop' while insisting it was not driven away by Mr Chiam's leadership.
PKMS has also been plagued by infighting, with some of its leaders fined last week for disturbing the public peace, following a fight with a rival faction last year. The SJP is largely moribund.
Scathing attack threatens future of opposition alliance
By Kor Kian Beng & Tessa Wong
CRACKS have deepened in Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong's political party and its alliance with two others, as his one-time protege launched a scathing attack on the opposition politician.
Mr Desmond Lim is accusing Mr Chiam of 'selling out' the Singapore People's Party (SPP) and the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) to the Reform Party.
In a media statement released on Wednesday night, Mr Lim claimed Mr Chiam did not consult or get any go-ahead from SPP and SDA leaders when he agreed to a set of 11 conditions the Reform Party laid down for it to join the SDA.
Said Mr Lim: 'I believe I am not being alarmist nor exaggerating the issue when I say this. One only needs to read the points themselves to understand the conditions that the Reform Party was trying to impose.'
He added that he is not against 'opposition unity', claiming he had previously invited other opposition parties, including the Reform Party, to join the SDA.
His only condition to them: It must agree to join with no conditions attached.
When approached at the Potong Pasir Meet-the-People session last night, Mr Chiam declined to comment.
Merger talks between Mr Chiam and Reform Party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam have been on-going since June last year. Both have gone on joint walkabouts in the Bishan-Toa Payoh and Hong Kah GRCs they are eyeing.
The current proposal is for the Reform Party to join the SDA chaired by Mr Chiam.
Set up in 2001 for opposition parties to pool resources and contest elections as a united force, the SDA comprises the SPP, the Singapore Malay National Organisation, or PKMS, and the Singapore Justice Party (SJP).
A document containing 11 points of agreement reached between Mr Chiam, 75, and Mr Jeyaretnam, 51, was leaked to the media in May.
One of the points was to task Mr Jeyaretnam to write and present the SDA's televised political broadcast at the next general election due by February 2012.
The leak led to merger talks being put on hold and a rift between Mr Lim, and Mr Chiam and his wife Lina Chiam, who blamed Mr Lim for the failed merger.
The Straits Times understands that talks between Mr Chiam and Mr Jeyaretnam resumed in July and a revised proposal of five conditions has been given to the SDA leaders for approval.
Mr Lim's salvo on his former mentor follows a decision Mr Chiam had made at a party meeting earlier this month to replace him as the SDA secretary-general with SPP's central executive council member Mohamad Hamim Aliyas. Mr Chiam had cited Mr Lim's refusal to let the Reform Party join the SDA as a key reason, but it is disputed within the SDA whether his decision requires the alliance's approval.
Said Mr Aminuddin Ami, the SJP's secretary-general and SDA's honorary auditor: 'Any removal must be discussed and approved at the SDA council.'
Mr Lim, 42, an engineer, who had signed his media statement as the SDA's secretary-general, is also disputing Mr Chiam's decision.
The growing SDA split poses questions on the future and influence of the alliance, which has been weakened by internal problems and conflicts of late. In 2007, the National Solidarity Party, which fielded 12 out of the 20 SDA candidates in the 2006 polls, quit the alliance. It cited the need for 'more space to develop' while insisting it was not driven away by Mr Chiam's leadership.
PKMS has also been plagued by infighting, with some of its leaders fined last week for disturbing the public peace, following a fight with a rival faction last year. The SJP is largely moribund.
