- Joined
- Jan 5, 2010
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Cheryl Chan
This week, Ho Soak Harn became the latest member to resign from the Reform Party, joining an exodus that began approximately one year ago. The other RP members who quit included scholarship holders Tony Tan and Hazel Poa, lawyer Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss and promising political rookies Alec Tok and Nicole Seah. Almost all the RP defectors said that they left because of their inability to work with party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
In just one year, Mr Jeyaretnam has gone from being one of the most promising names in local opposition politics to being a laughing stock. He burst onto the scene shortly after the death of his father, the opposition veteran J B Jeyaretnam, and immediately captured headlines due to not only his last name but his sterling credentials. A holder of two first class honours degrees from Cambridge, he also enjoyed an impressive career as a hedge fund manager in London before returning to Singapore. Mr Jeyaretnam quickly became the golden boy of the opposition, and droves of highly-qualified professionals flocked to join the ranks of the RP.
His problems, however, begun when three successive party chairmen quit on him, including Ng Teck Siong, a long-time supporter and follower of the elder Mr Jeyaretnam. Soon after, a faction led by Mr Tan and Ms Poa quit the party en masse, amidst a highly heated and controversial series of incidents which involved accusations of corruption and bribery at a party CEC meeting. Ms Seah, a party youth leader who would later become the poster girl of the new-age opposition during the 2011 general election campaign, was part of this group.
In the lead-up to the election, Mr Jeyaretnam became embroiled in a dispute with the National Solidarity Party – even calling it the “National Spoiler Party” – over the right to contest in several constituencies. He insisted that the NSP should give way to the RP in the constituencies of Radin Mas, Pioneer and Chua Chu Kang, and it was widely thought at the time that he himself was eyeing the seat of Radin Mas because of its historical links with his father’s old seat of Anson.
Later, he assigned Radin Mas to Mr Tok, while declaring his intent to contest in Pioneer – but angrily withdrew from the contest because he wanted to avoid a three-cornered fight with the NSP’s Steve Chia. Coupled with Mr Tok’s defection to the Singapore Democratic Party not long after, the RP soon became crippled, and was forced to confine itself to only West Coast GRC before hastily forming a team (with candidates on loan from other parties) to contest in the Prime Minister’s constituency of Ang Mo Kio GRC as well.
During the election campaign, Mr Jeyaretnam received flak from many detractors – including opposition supporters – for his monotonous delivery, lack of charisma and insistence on invoking the name of his father at every opportunity.
While supporters turned up in droves at rallies organised by the Workers’ Party, NSP and SDP, the RP was unable to attract more than a few hundred spectators – with less than 1,000 turning up on the Polling Day to support the party at the Clementi Stadium. Predictably, Mr Jeyaretnam himself was soundly defeated in West Coast, and blamed his loss on the fact that Singaporeans were not accustomed to the idea of democracy and believed it to be “new” and “terrifying”.
Mr Jeyaretnam would be best served if he were to take a step back and critically evaluate the reasons behind the RP’s poor showing, and more importantly, the reasons why his party has not been able to hold on to its talent.
Many have criticised Mr Jeyaretnam’s lack of flexibility, poor people skills and poor understanding of Singaporean issues (he even got the words of the Pledge wrong when reciting it at his final election rally).
In addition, if he wants to establish himself as a serious politician, he needs to go beyond just invoking the deeds of his father. Yes, JBJ was a formidable champion of democracy, but he attained the peak of his powers in the early-to-mid 1980s. Many of today’s voters are not old enough to remember his contributions more than three decades ago.
Political succession within families may be commonplace in Asia, but being JBJ’s son alone is not going to win Kenneth Jeyaretnam a seat in Parliament. Even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has managed to carve out his own niche, and hardly anyone has heard him utter a single word about being the son of Lee Kuan Yew.
The results of the 2011 general election means that the opposition parties, especially the WP, are likely to grow stronger. But as this happens, the Reform Party will only grow weaker, thanks to the difficulty it will have in attracting new members vis-a-vis the other parties. If Mr Jeyaretnam wants to advance the cause of the opposition in Singapore, perhaps the best thing he can do is to wind up his party and quit politics altogether. He risks damaging the legacy of his father by becoming a marginal, irrelevant political figure.
.
Cheryl Chan
.
* The author has a degree in political science from the National University of Singapore. She works as an analyst in a leading multinational research firm. She is a political correspondent at Satay Club
This week, Ho Soak Harn became the latest member to resign from the Reform Party, joining an exodus that began approximately one year ago. The other RP members who quit included scholarship holders Tony Tan and Hazel Poa, lawyer Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss and promising political rookies Alec Tok and Nicole Seah. Almost all the RP defectors said that they left because of their inability to work with party leader Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
In just one year, Mr Jeyaretnam has gone from being one of the most promising names in local opposition politics to being a laughing stock. He burst onto the scene shortly after the death of his father, the opposition veteran J B Jeyaretnam, and immediately captured headlines due to not only his last name but his sterling credentials. A holder of two first class honours degrees from Cambridge, he also enjoyed an impressive career as a hedge fund manager in London before returning to Singapore. Mr Jeyaretnam quickly became the golden boy of the opposition, and droves of highly-qualified professionals flocked to join the ranks of the RP.
His problems, however, begun when three successive party chairmen quit on him, including Ng Teck Siong, a long-time supporter and follower of the elder Mr Jeyaretnam. Soon after, a faction led by Mr Tan and Ms Poa quit the party en masse, amidst a highly heated and controversial series of incidents which involved accusations of corruption and bribery at a party CEC meeting. Ms Seah, a party youth leader who would later become the poster girl of the new-age opposition during the 2011 general election campaign, was part of this group.
In the lead-up to the election, Mr Jeyaretnam became embroiled in a dispute with the National Solidarity Party – even calling it the “National Spoiler Party” – over the right to contest in several constituencies. He insisted that the NSP should give way to the RP in the constituencies of Radin Mas, Pioneer and Chua Chu Kang, and it was widely thought at the time that he himself was eyeing the seat of Radin Mas because of its historical links with his father’s old seat of Anson.
Later, he assigned Radin Mas to Mr Tok, while declaring his intent to contest in Pioneer – but angrily withdrew from the contest because he wanted to avoid a three-cornered fight with the NSP’s Steve Chia. Coupled with Mr Tok’s defection to the Singapore Democratic Party not long after, the RP soon became crippled, and was forced to confine itself to only West Coast GRC before hastily forming a team (with candidates on loan from other parties) to contest in the Prime Minister’s constituency of Ang Mo Kio GRC as well.
During the election campaign, Mr Jeyaretnam received flak from many detractors – including opposition supporters – for his monotonous delivery, lack of charisma and insistence on invoking the name of his father at every opportunity.
While supporters turned up in droves at rallies organised by the Workers’ Party, NSP and SDP, the RP was unable to attract more than a few hundred spectators – with less than 1,000 turning up on the Polling Day to support the party at the Clementi Stadium. Predictably, Mr Jeyaretnam himself was soundly defeated in West Coast, and blamed his loss on the fact that Singaporeans were not accustomed to the idea of democracy and believed it to be “new” and “terrifying”.
Mr Jeyaretnam would be best served if he were to take a step back and critically evaluate the reasons behind the RP’s poor showing, and more importantly, the reasons why his party has not been able to hold on to its talent.
Many have criticised Mr Jeyaretnam’s lack of flexibility, poor people skills and poor understanding of Singaporean issues (he even got the words of the Pledge wrong when reciting it at his final election rally).
In addition, if he wants to establish himself as a serious politician, he needs to go beyond just invoking the deeds of his father. Yes, JBJ was a formidable champion of democracy, but he attained the peak of his powers in the early-to-mid 1980s. Many of today’s voters are not old enough to remember his contributions more than three decades ago.
Political succession within families may be commonplace in Asia, but being JBJ’s son alone is not going to win Kenneth Jeyaretnam a seat in Parliament. Even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has managed to carve out his own niche, and hardly anyone has heard him utter a single word about being the son of Lee Kuan Yew.
The results of the 2011 general election means that the opposition parties, especially the WP, are likely to grow stronger. But as this happens, the Reform Party will only grow weaker, thanks to the difficulty it will have in attracting new members vis-a-vis the other parties. If Mr Jeyaretnam wants to advance the cause of the opposition in Singapore, perhaps the best thing he can do is to wind up his party and quit politics altogether. He risks damaging the legacy of his father by becoming a marginal, irrelevant political figure.
.
Cheryl Chan
.
* The author has a degree in political science from the National University of Singapore. She works as an analyst in a leading multinational research firm. She is a political correspondent at Satay Club
