Reform Party in Support of Historic Proposal For Unity Cooperation Led By Dr Tan Cheng Bock

Published: 6th August 2018

Reform Party Chairman Andy Zhu and CEC Member Mahaboob Batscha attended a lunch today hosted by opposition colleagues SDP. Dr Tan Cheng Bok was the principal attendee. Also present at the lunch were Goh Meng Seng from PPP, Lim Tean from not yet registered Peoples’ Voice, as well as representatives from NSP, SFP and DPP.

At the lunch it was proposed that all the parties should adopt the tactics of the Malaysian Opposition in forming the Pakatan Harapan that led to their historic victory in the May GE. In Malaysia the Opposition force was led by former ruling regime PM, Dr Mahathir, who came out of retirement aged 93 and swapped sides to unite the opposition. In Singapore Dr Tan is the closest figure from political life that we have to Dr Mahathir and it makes sense for him to lead such a coalition. Cooperation and unity remains the best hope for an Opposition victory in the forthcoming GE.

Dr Tan was previously the MP for Ayer Rajah, which is now part of West Coast GRC, and Chairman of the Ayer Rajah-West Coast Town Council. Kenneth Jeyaretnam , currently Secretary General of the Reform Party, added:

“Since JBJ set up Reform Party in 2008, RP has contested West Coast GRC in two consecutive GEs. Should Dr Tan decide to return to his old constituency, we would be delighted to stand under his leadership.”

Mahaboob Batsha said “It was a very positive meeting and a great step forward in designating a platform for a coalition”

Andy Zhu, Party Chair said that RP will be holding further talks and will soon convene a CEC meeting specifically to explore the ideas brought up.

Two weeks ago the Reform Party attended an extremely productive conference on Good Governance and Leadership-the Singapore Experience in Yerevan, Armenia, hosted by a party in the ruling coalition there. Alongside our three delegates Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Noraini Yunus, and Mahaboob Batscha were Sylvia Lim, Pritam Singh, Faisal Manap, Daniel Tan, Leon Perera and Yee Jen Jong from Workers Party, Lina Chiam and Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss from SPP and Michael Heng of the PAP. This unique gathering demonstrates that the various parties in Singapore already enjoy good relations and can work together.

For the by-election in Bukit Batok in 2016 Reform Party dropped collective responsibility for its members urging them to go and help Dr Chee’s campaigning efforts. This was another demonstration of opposition unity. In fact tales of opposition disharmony are fake news put out by the ruling party and its media. We need to move forward now with a positive vision for Singapore’s future.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam
Secretary General