More alliances between Singapore opposition parties?
It seems so if according to reports by local media, where the Potong Pasir MP was seen having a walkabout in Bishan with Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
The word is Chiam See Tong’s Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) is joining forces with Reform Party.
The Reform Party is the late lawyer and politician JB Jeyaretnam party’s, now headed by his son Kenneth.
Via Straits Times
POTONG Pasir MP Chiam See Tong yesterday moved a step closer to getting the Reform Party to join the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) he heads, after a combined walkabout in Bishan- Toa Payoh GRC.
Mr Chiam and Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam, along with party members and supporters, spent two hours with residents and shopkeepers in Block 152, Bishan Street 11.
The walkabout was to gauge public support for a joint SDA-Reform team to contest the ward in the next general election, due by February 2012.
Mr Chiam, who first expressed interest in leaving Potong Pasir to head a GRC team more than a year ago, said: ‘We cannot be like little ants running all over the place. We should show unity and come as a solid fighting force.’
Reform’s entry into the SDA would beef up the alliance, which has been weakened in recent years by internal problems and differences.
Set up in 2001, it initially comprised Mr Chiam’s Singapore People’s Party, the National Solidarity Party (NSP), the Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS) and the Singapore Justice Party (SJP).
The news is that Chiam wants to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, which has been uncontested since 1998 under Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.
While he wants to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC in GE 2012, his Potong Pasir GRC will be headed by his wife Ms Lina Loh, set to replace him.
Is Chiam taking a cue from Malaysian Opposition Party, where alliances of the various segregated smaller parties, are now a real threat to the Malaysian ruling coalition Barisan.
If the 75-year-old is wise, he would focus on issues that’s close to the heart of Singaporeans, jobs, properties, foreigners and immigration.
We the citizens of Singapore, are now treated as ‘second-class’ citizens are getting more disillusioned.
There’s a need for a ‘real’ voice on the topic at hand, as we all know our current gahmen ain’t doing squat about it.
