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Tag: Workers Party

  • WP, NSP In Heated Wrangle Over 3 Constituencies

    WP, NSP In Heated Wrangle Over 3 Constituencies

    A day after opposition leaders emerged all smiles from a three-hour meeting and declared that most potential multi-cornered fights had been resolved, it emerged yesterday that discussions were dominated by a heated tussle 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-seat ward.

    At one point, an NSP representative even threatened to send a team to contest in Aljunied GRC — which is held by the WP — if the WP refused to back down, sources who attended the closed-door meeting at the NSP’s Jalan Besar headquarters told TODAY.

    The sources, who declined to be identified as the parties had agreed on keeping the discussions confidential, said the WP stood firm on its decision to send a team to contest Marine Parade GRC, where the NSP had lost in the 2011 General Election despite garnering 43.4 per cent of the votes.

    The NSP had asked for the WP to withdraw its interest in Jalan Besar GRC, in return for the NSP to give up contesting Marine Parade GRC. The WP said no. There was also no room for negotiation on MacPherson Single-Member Constituency (SMC), which the NSP is also eyeing, the sources added. They said the WP maintained that it will not budge on the five GRCs (Aljunied, East Coast, Marine Parade, Nee Soon, Jalan Besar) and five SMCs (Hougang, Punggol East, Fengshan, MacPherson and Sengkang West) which it had declared its interest in, following the release of the electoral boundaries report last month.

    Yesterday, both the WP and NSP conducted house visits in Serangoon Central — which falls under Marine Parade GRC — with the two entourages only hundreds of metres away from each other.

    WP Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, who is likely to lead the WP’s team in Marine Parade GRC, told TODAY that his party’s position on the GRC is “firm”. The NSP declined comment, referring to the ongoing discussions that will resume tomorrow.

    In the 2011 GE, Mr Yee had contested and lost narrowly in Joo Chiat SMC, which has been absorbed into Marine Parade GRC for the coming elections. Mr Yee said that apart from continuing to walk the ground in Joo Chiat after the GE, he had also started outreach efforts in the rest of the Marine Parade GRC area since “more than a year ago”.

    Apart from Mr Yee, WP potential candidate Terence Tan, 44, was also spotted at the party’s house visits in Serangoon Central.

    Mr Tan, who was one of the speakers at a WP rally in the Punggol East by-election in 2013, is a lawyer. He is on the legal team representing the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East (AHPETC) Town Council in the ongoing court case against the Ministry of National Development. The ministry is appealing against a High Court’s refusal to appoint independent accountants to oversee government grants to the AHPETC.

    For the NSP, central executive committee members Steve Chia and Spencer Ng were among party members and supporters canvassing support in Serangoon Central, several blocks of flats away from the WP group.

    Political analyst Eugene Tan noted the guiding principle among some in the opposition circles that a party that had contested in a ward would have “the first right to contest there”. “The WP, however, has never explicitly agreed to that,” said the Singapore Management University law don.

    While the WP could be seen by the NSP as butting into Marine Parade GRC, “voters may not necessarily see the WP as a bully if it were to contest in both MacPherson and Marine Parade”, said Associate Professor Tan. “They are likely to subscribe (to the belief) that voters should be able to vote for the best candidates from the opposition, rather than having opposition candidates foisted on them as a result of a political compromise.”

    Assoc Prof Tan noted the absence of WP leaders Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim from the horse-trading talks on Monday. On the WP’s firm stance on where it would be contesting, he said: “It’s effectively saying that other opposition parties going into a multi-cornered electoral contest with it (and the People’s Action Party) are doing so at their own risk.”

    National University of Singapore political scientist Bilveer Singh felt that the NSP has “strong grounds” to contest in Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC. “What happens when two rationalities clash? In politics you give and take, something the Opposition is not good at in Singapore so far,” he said.

    He felt that opposition parties such as WP and NSP have “already put the cart before the horse and that is going to make horse trading next to impossible”. “Whenever the (opposition) parties clash among themselves, simple logic tells you that it will benefit the incumbent, the PAP in this case. The key to the game is reaching a consensus on where each party should contest.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • People Of The Workers’ Party: Mohamed Fairoz Shariff

    People Of The Workers’ Party: Mohamed Fairoz Shariff

    Why did you join WP?

    I joined WP because of the 2001 elections. It was supposed to be my first opportunity to vote, but I couldn’t because the GRC I was living in was won by the PAP through a walkover.

    Furthermore, the WP team in Aljunied GRC had been disqualified that year.

    That was when I became politically conscious.

    I felt that there was a real need for a strong opposition that could give Singaporeans a genuine choice.

    How do you think you can contribute to that?

    I hope to encourage more like-minded Singaporeans to step forward.

    Singaporeans who want to see change should contribute in any way they can to bringing that change.

     

    Source: http://wpyouth.sg

  • Workers’ Party Visits East Coast GRC And Fengshan SMC

    Workers’ Party Visits East Coast GRC And Fengshan SMC

    The likely Workers’ Party (WP) candidates for East Coast GRC and Fengshan SMC made their first public appearance together yesterday, visiting major markets there to meet stallholders and residents.

    Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Gerald Giam, 37, who was part of the WP’s East Coast team, which garnered 45.2 per cent of the vote in the 2011 General Election, is almost certain to enter the fray once again in the constituency.

    He was joined yesterday by other potential candidates: National University of Singapore associate professor and sociologist Daniel Goh, 42; law firm partner Dennis Tan, 44; research and consultancy firm chief executive and former civil servant Leon Perera, 44; and librarian Mohamed Fairoz Shariff, 36.

    East Coast GRC was a five-MP constituency at the last general election, but will be a four-MP constituency at the next one. This means three of the four new faces could be Mr Giam’s running mates, while one might go it alone in Fengshan SMC.

    Also at the walkabout were WP chief Low Thia Khiang, 58, Aljunied GRC MPs Sylvia Lim, 50, Chen Show Mao, 54, and Faisal Abdul Manap, 40, and Hougang MP Png Eng Huat, 53.

    Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, 50, who is expected to lead the WP team in Marine Parade GRC, was there too, with potential candidate Terence Tan, 43, a lawyer who has been doing house visits.

    The GRC will absorb Joo Chiat SMC, where Mr Yee stood in 2011 and lost by 388 votes to Mr Charles Chong of the People’s Action Party.

    The WP has been walking the ground daily in recent weeks, with the elections expected next month.

    It said it has not finalised its candidates or where they will stand.

    Speaking to reporters after yesterday’s walkabout, WP chairman Sylvia Lim said the party will formally introduce its candidates after National Day.

    The party said it will also contest Jalan Besar and Nee Soon GRCs, as well as Sengkang West and MacPherson SMCs.

    Last night, the WP held a Hari Raya dinner in Aljunied GRC’s Kaki Bukit ward, attended by party leaders – and the man who stepped down last week from his post as chairman of the PAP branch in the ward, Mr Kahar Hassan, 45.

    Mr Kahar said Mr Faisal had invited him to the dinner “some time back”, and he was there in his personal capacity.

    When asked by reporters if he had joined the WP, Mr Kahar said: “That will never happen – I’ve been a (PAP) member for 20 years. I was invited to this dinner a long time ago.”

    Mr Faisal told reporters that he invited Mr Kahar to the dinner because they both serve residents in the area.

    “We have a working relationship… sometimes I refer residents to him, and sometimes he refers residents to me,” he said.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Court Of Appeal Reserves Judgment On MND’s Appeal On AHPETC Ruling

    Court Of Appeal Reserves Judgment On MND’s Appeal On AHPETC Ruling

    The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment for the Ministry of National Development’s (MND) appeal against a High Court decision not to appoint independent accountants to the town council run by the Workers’ Party (WP).

    The MND’s lawyer argued that the court’s ambit should extend to its request for it to appoint independent accountants to the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), but AHPETC’s lawyer disagreed.

    The crux of the hearing on Monday was to determine whether to uphold High Court Justice Quentin Loh’s finding in May, that there was no legal basis for the MND to ask the court to appoint the independent accountants.

    In his decision, Justice Loh had criticised AHPETC over its lapses, but said that the law only has provisions for the HDB or residents – and not the ministry – to take legal action against a town council that fails to perform its duties.

    He also said that the National Development Minister has powers to appoint the accountants as a condition for disbursing grants to town councils, and does not have to go through the court.

    In appealing the ruling, the MND cited the High Court’s grim view of AHPETC’s actions: “The Judge found that AHPETC had breached and continues to be in breach of its duties and obligations in law, and that there are critical questions about the state of its finances. The Government cannot disburse public funds to AHPETC in the current circumstances, given the very serious findings by the AGO and the High Court.”

    Justice Loh had harsh words for AHPETC, describing it as a “travesty” that it ignored its duties and obligations.

    He was critical of the state of the town council’s accounts, and questioned the validity and propriety of payments previously made to related parties – a reference to AHPETC’s managing agent firms that are owned by the town council’s key officials.

    The MND had said that given the High Court’s findings, it could not immediately disburse about $14 million in grants, over two financial years, to AHPETC without independent accountants safeguarding the monies.

    The MND withheld the sum from AHPETC owing to financial lapses uncovered by the Auditor-General’s Office during a special audit.

    In March, the MND applied to the High Court to appoint independent accountants to AHPETC to oversee the grants, co-sign payments above $20,000, examine past payments, and recover any losses.

    MND’s June 22 application to add the HDB as a co-plaintiff was in anticipation of two possible developments: the Court of Appeal agreeing that HDB, and not MND, is entitled to seek the court order; and the Court of Appeal finding that the sole reason for not appointing accountants is that the MND is not the right party to initiate such action.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Will WP Redeploy A-Team?

    Will WP Redeploy A-Team?

    While there is a possibility that the Workers’ Party (WP) may shuffle its lineup of current members of Parliament (MPs) at the next General Election (GE), analysts believe such a move would not be taken lightly because of the political risks involved.

    The party has said it will contest 28 seats in the next GE, up from 23 in 2011. Analysts said a key issue for the party will be whether to redeploy some of its MPs from Aljunied to improve its chances in other constituencies or to keep that winning team intact to try to ensure it retains the Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

    Dr Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, said WP faced a similar dilemma in 2011. “In GE 2011, the WP also had a very large slate of candidates. In spite of that, what they chose to do was to place what we called their A-Team in Aljunied.”

    “It’ll be interesting if they will keep it that way, or they feel that they have spent enough time on the ground, such that the other members of the GRC are now trusted to carry that whole GRC.”

    Political scientist Alan Chong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies said moving high-profile Aljunied MPs to strengthen teams in other constituencies is a possible strategy. “It’s like a chess game,” he said.

    “If they are to move players from the existing Aljunied GRC, or even from Punggol East, which I doubt, or Hougang, it’s a matter of moving your heavyweights, just to make sure that certain targets would fall to you. On that basis, they might move one or two key players out of Aljunied. They might do that.”

    But he also pointed out the risks of such a move. “The downside of it is, if you as a heavyweight stand in one of these constituencies where because of the pre-existing level of support which the PAP has consolidated over the years, you might actually lose.”

    “And if that happens, then you’re momentarily out of politics,” he said.

    Dr Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University, believes that the Aljunied team is unlikely to change. “Simply because when we look at Aljunied GRC, it is their ‘crown jewel’, which they won only in 2011,” he said.

    “And I think for them to disband what I’d describe as their A-Team, their Dream Team, may not go down well with their voters in Aljunied.”

    However, some residents in Aljunied GRC did not seem to feel that way. An 80-year-old male resident, who did not want to be named, said: “With limited resources, they may have to move around their better-knowledged, better-experienced MPs from Aljunied. That is a constructive way to further advance their political progress.”

    With clear advantages and disadvantages to moving sitting MPs to other constituencies, the analysts said the WP’s approach would become apparent only when the election date is confirmed.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com