In the wake of a frantic few hours on Nomination Day, which saw three multi-cornered fights emerge in the General Election, the leaders of the National Solidarity Party came forward to say they were “the most active party promoting Opposition unity”.
NSP candidate Cheo Chai Chen will face a three-cornered fight in MacPherson SMC, where he will come up against the People’s Action Party’s Tin Pei Ling, 31 – the incumbent after the ward was carved out of Marine Parade GRC – and the Workers’ Party’s Bernard Chen, 29.
Said party Acting Secretary-General Lim Tean, at a press conference where the party’s Tampines GRC team was introduced: “I believe to a very large extent we have avoided multi-cornered fights but for MacPherson we had to do it. MacPherson used to be part of Marine Parade. We did very well in the last GE and we have already made a huge concession to WP there.”
An NSP team featuring Ms Nicole Seah took 43.36 per cent of the vote against the PAP in 2011.
“If WP wanted to avoid a three-cornered fight they should have allowed us to fight with PAP in MacPherson,” said Mr Lim.
“That decision to contest in MacPherson was made a few weeks ago, and we’ve never departed from that decision. NSP has been the most active party promoting Opposition unity. We initiated talks to avoid three-cornered fights.”
The decision to contest in the SMC led to fissures within the party, including the departure of then-Acting Secretary-General Hazel Poa. Mr Lim said that the lessons learnt over the past few weeks will make the party “stronger for the battle ahead”.
“We are a democratic party and in a democratic party run on democratic principles you’re going to have a difference in opinions. I think that’s healthy,” said Mr Lim.
“As for party members who have left, we cannot stop people from leaving – it’s their right to join any party they wish. And as for why we have been so quiet in the last couple of weeks, I think the media made a lot of the disunity and turmoil, so we decided that it’s best not to add to the frenzy, and instead regroup to prepare for the coming GE.”
NSP President Sebastian Teo – part of the party’s Tampines GRC team that includes Mr Lim, Ms Nor Lella Mardiiah Mohamed, 41, Mr Fong Chin Leong, 46, and Mr Choong Hon Heng, 45 – said that if elected, the party did not think think it would face any problems running a Town Council in Tampines.
Said Mr Teo: “It’s not that difficult to run a Town Council. I’m sure we have all that we need to put in place and to run a Town Council. It’s not difficult like the PAP say. You need capital, you need manpower. So I don’t understand – what’s so difficult about running a Town Council?”
The NSP will face a People’s Action Party team led by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat at the polls on Sep 11.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
