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Tag: PPP

  • Opposition Party Chiefs Slam Half-Truths Leaked From Meeting

    Opposition Party Chiefs Slam Half-Truths Leaked From Meeting

    Some Opposition party chiefs expressed unhappiness over a perceived breach of confidentiality following a meeting on Monday (Aug 3) attended by representatives of 11 parties, calling it an attempt to “destroy Opposition unity”.

    The aim of the first round of horse-trading talks was to discuss the possibility of avoiding multi-corner fights at the upcoming General Election.

    On Wednesday, People’s Power Party (PPP) chief Goh Meng Seng shared a TODAY report on his Facebook page, calling the purported leak a “despicable underhand tactic”.

    According to the report, sources who attended the meeting said that there was a “heated” disagreement between the Workers’ Party (WP) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP) over Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Jalan Besar GRC and the MacPherson Single Member Constituency (SMC).

    The sources declined to be identified as the parties had agreed on keeping the discussions confidential, according to the TODAY report.

    “As a participant of the meeting, I openly condemn such leaks of half-truths (as) a deliberate way of smearing NSP,” said Mr Goh. “This is not helpful for achieving opposition unity at all. This is a despicable underhand tactic that we should not condone.”

    Mr Goh is the former Secretary-General of the NSP, having run for elections under the party banner in 2011.

    Later on Wednesday, the NSP’s official Facebook page shared a screenshot of Mr Goh’s post and echoed his sentiments.

    “The ‘source’ who leaked these ‘half-truths’ is not doing anybody good and aims to split Opposition unity,” said the party, which urged the public to not “jump into conclusions yet, based on hear-say and rumours” until after the second round of discussions on Thursday.

    A day earlier, Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam also took to Facebook to slam anonymous sources in a Straits Times article, who raised similar allegations of conflict between the WP and NSP.

    “What was the point of us all agreeing to keep the meeting’s discussions confidential when someone has leaked the whole caboodle to the press?” he asked.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Goh Meng Seng: Possible For Two Opposition Parties To Join Forces

    Goh Meng Seng: Possible For Two Opposition Parties To Join Forces

    Members of various Opposition parties gathered at the home of Singaporeans First (SingFirst) secretary-general Tan Jee Say on Saturday evening (Aug 1) for an informal discussion on how they could “work together” in the upcoming General Election.

    Veteran Opposition politician Goh Meng Seng, chief of the recently formed People’s Power Party (PPP), told reporters after the gathering that having two Opposition parties join forces to contest constituencies is a “possibility”.

    He also alluded to Opposition parties’ interest in constituencies in the West. “Personally, I think the West is a good ground. In the past, it has been very receptive. It has been neglected for about 10 to 20 years,” he said, adding that the western part of Singapore was an Opposition “hotbed” in the 80s and 90s.

    Mr Goh said the meet-up had been planned before the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report had been released. He described the discussion as “just a sharing of ideas” and said no consensus was reached.

    Prior to Saturday’s gathering, the head of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Benjamin Pwee told the TODAY newspaper that six Opposition parties would be represented there – SingFirst, Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), Singapore People’s Party, NSP, PPP and DPP. However, SDA clarified on Facebook that it was “not aware of the meeting” and would not be attending. NSP also said in a Facebook post that its party president and secretary-general would not be at the gathering.

    Mr Goh said some of the Opposition party leaders were not present, but that party activists were, while Mr Tan said “more than half” of the Opposition parties were represented.

    DPP adviser Seow Khee Leng who was at the meeting said the parties discussed contesting in Ang Mo Kio, West Coast and Jurong GRCs. He echoed Mr Goh’s comment that Opposition parties could join forces to contest in the coming General Election. When pressed for details, Mr Seow said this would be fleshed out in Monday’s horse-trading meeting.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Goh Meng Seng: Entry Of People’s Power Party Will Not Divide Opposition Support

    Goh Meng Seng: Entry Of People’s Power Party Will Not Divide Opposition Support

    Many people show concerns about “multi-corner” fights among Opposition with this formation of new party, People’s Power Party. But let me put it this way, most of the people who are involved in this PPP are not new faces but experienced activists. For those slated as candidates under PPP, either they stand under PPP or other political party. The net number of people participating in the next GE will not be more or less!

    Thus, as I have said, don’t worry too much about multi-corner fights even with this new party. This new party will not field too many candidates and most importantly, these are known faces.

    Those WP people and supporters somehow have this apprehension about PPP because they think that I will definitely go into 3 corner fights with WP! Some even think that I may just go and contest in Aljunied GRC since WP is now facing confidence crisis over there. I can safely tell you guys that I am not someone who will rob the victims when there is a fire.

    But I can foresee that WP may go into a lot of multi-corner fights because of its expansion plan. i.e. if they increase their number of candidates, it may just be inevitable that they will clash with other opposition parties. I sincerely hope not but apparently, this is unavoidable. I hope PPP will not be involved in such contests.

    PPP is formed basically because we do not want to DISRUPT other existing party’s management. Most of us have been through the difficult times of integration when different groups of people come into one party. We do not want to waste energy and time on such matters again.

    Secondly, we have to agree with PAP Minister Masagos that all political parties in Singapore do not have strong philosophical and political ideological grounding. PPP will not disappoint him in that sense.

    Last but not least, we are seeing worrying signs which are working against opposition as a whole. The tightening of internet and new media space, with the never ending Town Council saga eroding voters’ confidence in opposition as a whole. We hope to re-establish the lost confidence by doing our part in making sure that our selection of candidates are worthy ones.

    I hope the above will address some of the unwarranted concerns that most opposition supporters have.

     

    Source: Goh Meng Seng

  • Goh Meng Seng Registers The People’s Power Party

    Goh Meng Seng Registers The People’s Power Party

    Former National Solidarity Party secretary-general and opposition politician Goh Meng Seng has registered a new political party named the “People’s Power Party” (PPP) yesterday with an eye on participating in the next general election.

    Goh Meng Seng said during an interview with the media that he was disappointed with the current policies implemented by the government, and feels that the government should not always have the final say on public policy in Singapore.

    He also said that the PPP would champion a form of democracy based on revolutionary Chinese leader Sun Yat Sen’s theory of democratic government. In Sun’s theory of democracy, government would be divided into five separate branches: the executive, legislative, judicial, the censorate, and the civil service system. The latter two branches primarily functioned as a check on the first three, which are the more familiar branches of government. They are also traditional branches of the Chinese government and functioned independently. The civil service had been around since the Han period and the censorate was created by the Hong Wu emperor at the beginning of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

    According to Goh, Singaporeans will live better lives only when principles of democracy are upheld in Singapore. He says that the current system which centers political power into the hands of a few key persons is unsustainable.

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com