Translated by Donaldson Tan
This is a non-verbatim translation of a Lianhe Zaobao report 《詹时中在民联内斗中失势 可能带领人民党脱离民联》 dated 03 Nov 2010 by journalist Yew Lun Tian.
An uphill battle for Opposition Unity for Opposition Stelwart Mr Chiam See Tong
Last night, the Supreme Executive Council (SEC) of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) convened for a meeting in the absence of Mr Chiam See Tong and his supporters. Mr Chiam is the Chairman of the SDA.
During the Press Conference, Mr Lim showed journalists a SMS from Mdm Luo Wenli (or Mrs Chiam) that was sent to him at 1pm earlier. The SMS read “Not attending, Chiam See Tong, SDA Chairman.”
The SEC not only rejected Mr Chiam’s motion to replace Mr Desmond Lim with aide Mr Mohd Hamim as the SDA Secretary General, the SEC also removed Mr Chiam’s privilege as Chairman to speak and negotiate on the behalf of the SDA.
The SEC also decreed that Mr Desmond Lim would be allowed to serve the full 2-year term as the Secretary General of the SDA. Mr Lim’s term expires in the first quarter of 2010. The Secretary-General is now the sole person who can speak and negotiate on the behalf of the SDA.
The SEC outcome suggests that Mr Chiam’s influence within the alliance is waning. While Mr Chiam was able to contain the leadership challenge within the Singapore People’s Party (SPP), he was unable to do so within the SDA despite leading the SDA since December 1996.
Consequently, Mr Chiam is no longer able to complete the negotiation with Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam (Secretary General of the Reform Party) on the Reform Party’s entry into the SDA, which started discreetly a year ago.
The SEC outcome also signals a victory for the SDA faction that opposes Reform Party’s terms for joining the SDA. During the Press Conference, Mr Lim emphasised that the SDA does not oppose any opposition political party joining the SDA. “But every interested political party has to abide by our constitution,” he said.
For Mr Lim who lost his party office as the SPP Assistant Secretary General, the score between him and the Chiams has certainly even out. However, Mr Chiam would not give up so easily. According to sources, Mr Chiam’s SDA faction has started consolidating opinion pertaining to the similarity between the SDA and SPP logo. This move may be part of SDA’s exit strategy which also serves to reduce the credibility of the SDA.
11 out of 15 SEC members turned up for the meeting last night. According to the Constitution of the SDA, a SEC meeting can be convened in the absence of its Chairman as long as the quorum equivalent to half the SEC membership is fulfilled and there is a Vice-Chairman chairing in place of the Chairman. The SDA has 3 component parties and each component party is represented by 5 SEC members.
Among the 11 SEC members were Mr Desmond Lim and Mr Yen Kim Khooi from the SPP, all 5 representatives from the PKMS which includes Mr Ali Asjadi (Vice Chairman of the SDA) and 4 representatives from the Singapore Justice Party (SJP). The 5th SJP representative was unable to attend the SEC meeting as he was overseas.
Zaobao managed to contact Mr Sin Kek Tong (Chairman of the SPP). He said he was unable to attend the SEC meeting because he was busy. Mr Sin also added, “I don’t intend to get into further involvement with the SDA. I prefer to concentrate on SPP’s preparatory work for the next General Election (GE). The way the SDA continues to handle matters is surely not the way to secure electoral victory. If we continue to lose at the next GE, how are we going to be accountable to the electorate?”
On whether Mr Chiam may leave the SDA and continue negotiation for cooperation during GE with the Reform Party as the Secretary General of the SPP, Mr Sin said, “I will support whatever decision Mr Chiam makes.”
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Below is the original Mandarain script from Zaobao.
詹时中在民联内斗中失势 可能带领人民党脱离民联
● 游润恬 报道
新加坡民主联盟主席詹时中通知中委昨晚召开会议，本人和追随者却集体缺席，如同抵制会议，结果非但本身所提出的替换秘书长人选及允许革新党加盟的动议被出席的反对派中委一致决议推翻，就连代表民联对外发言和同其他政党谈判加盟的权力也被剥夺。
詹时中虽在民联成员党新加坡人民党最近的党争中胜出，民联中委会昨晚的决议却意味着他在进入白热化的民联内部斗争中失势。
民联中委会也在会上决定让詹时中原本决定提名亲信取代的林睦荃，得以继续担任民联秘书长，直到两年任期于明年第一季结束为止。
随着民联中委会同时授权林睦荃为唯一能代表民联同其他政党谈判加盟的中委，也意味着一年前开始悄悄同革新党秘书长肯尼思谈判加盟民联的詹时中，现在已无权代表民联继续跟革新党谈判。
民联中委会决定委任林睦荃为唯一有权代表民联对外发言的中委，也意味着自1996年12月领导民联至今的詹时中，已丧失代表民联发言的权力。
因反对让革新党根据它所开出的条件加入民联，而和詹时中闹翻的民联反对派在昨晚的中委会议上所通过的决议，显示他们已挫败詹时中。对于因受詹时中夫妇排挤而失去人民党秘书长职位的林睦荃来说，总算是扳回一局。
然而，詹时中肯定也不会轻易放弃。据说他那一方已针对保留同人民党相近的民联党徽一事，开始征询各方意见，此举显示他有意玩金蝉脱壳这一招，带领人民党脱离民联，以削弱它的实力。
林睦荃昨晚在民联中委会议结束后同其他成员党的领导人一起召开的记者会上，拿出手机展示詹时中的妻子罗文丽昨天下午一时许发给他的简信——“不出席，民联主席詹时中”。
根据民联章程，只有主席可以召开会议，主席如在会议召开时缺席，副主席可以代主席身份主持会议。只要有半数中委在场，会议就能召开。昨晚出席会议的有11人，足够召开有效会议。
民联中委会共有15名成员，三个成员党各有五名代表。昨晚出席中委会议的人民党代表只有林睦荃和支持他的袁金奎，两名支持詹时中的人民党代表都缺席。马来民族机构（PKMS）的全体五名代表都出席，包括担任民联副主席的阿里阿斯贾迪（Ali Asjadi）。新加坡正义党（Singapore Justice Party）除了一名目前人在国外的代表，其他四名代表都出席。
本报联络上人民党主席沈克栋，他称个人是因事忙而无法出席昨晚的会议。
他说：“我不打算去理民联了，只要专心照顾人民党的竞选筹备工作就好。民联做事很乱，这么下去赢不了大选。如果大选一次、两次都以零收获收场，怎么向选民交代？”
他这番话是否在暗示詹时中可能会脱离民联，以人民党领导人身份跟革新党谈判合作竞选？对此，沈克栋说：“无论詹时中做任何决定，我都会支持。”
林睦荃在记者会上强调民联并不反对其他反对党加盟。
“但是，任何有意加盟的政党，都必须遵守民联的章程。”
Reform Party withdraws application to join SDA
4 November 2010
Opposition Reform Party or RP said today that it has withdrawn its application to join the Singapore Democratic Alliance or SDA.
In a statement, RP says it will continue to explore other ways to collaborate with veteran MP Chiam See Tong and the Singapore People’s Party or SPP.
The statement comes in the wake of the fallout between Mr Chiam and his former close aide, Desmond Lim.
Both men had disagreed over whether to let RP join the SDA.
This led to a feud over whether Mr Lim is still the Secretary General of the SDA, as both camps seek to oust the other from power.
The incident is reminiscent of the spat between Mr Chiam and his ex-protégé, Chee Soon Juan, which led to Mr Chiam leaving the Singapore Democratic Party.
RP’s Secretary General Kenneth Jeyaretnam says his party is still working on forming a “dream team” with Mr Chiam in the upcoming general elections.
This, he says, could come in the form of a new alliance, in place of SDA.
When asked if he would welcome Mr Chiam into RP, Mr Jeyaretnam says he’s open to the suggestion.
“We’d certainly welcome Mr Chiam, coming into the Reform Party. Whether he would wish to do so or not, that’s another matter. But we would certainly offer him a very senior position in our Central Executive Committee were he to come in”
Singapore’s next General Election must be called by February 2012.
Source: http://www.938live.sg/News/Singapore/EDC101104-0000252/Reform_Party_withdraws_application_to_join_SDA