Reform Party attacked again over its “internal politics” in Straits Times

The fledging Reform Party which has made headlines in recent weeks with a few high-profile recruits and frequent walkabouts, has come under an orchestrated attack yet again in the state media.

Last week, a Straits Times article tried to play up a purported feud between its Secretary-General Kenneth Jeyaretnam and its former Chairman Ng Teck Siong.

Today, another letter was published criticizing its “internal squabbles”. Its writer is none other than the well-known PAP supporter Lionel De Souza.

Mr Lionel wrote about the extradition of Reform Party’s co-founder Balldev Naidu Ragavan to the United States to face charges of conspiring to provide arms and financial support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as well as the latest “squabble” between Mr Jeyaretnam and Mr Ng which was given extensive publicity in the press.

“Internal party conflicts certainly do not augur well for any political party if it wants to be taken seriously by the voters. Any form of internal conflict is usually the root cause of voters’ disillusionment, for the simple reason that if there is no unity of purpose and vision within a party, there will be division and plenty of infighting,” Mr Lionel wrote.

Being a retired police officer, Mr Lionel should be aware of the fact that politics are part and parcel of life. There is internal politics, squabbling and in-fighting in every organization including the Singapore Police Force.

There are internal conflicts between PAP leaders too, just that they were never reported in the media doesn’t mean they don’t exists.

Mr Lionel extrapolated Reform Party’s situation to insinuate that the party leaders will be “preoccupied” in planning and executing attacks on their rivals that “they will not be able to honour the promises they made in their election manifesto presented to the electorate during the hustings.”

It is strange that the Straits Times allows such a wild and baseless accusations to be hurled against the Reform Party. Both Mr Balldev and Mr Ng had since left the party which is strengthened by newcomers such as former government scholars Mr Tony Tan and Ms Hazel Poa.

In fact, the Reform Party has held a series of seminars this year to discuss important national issues with Singaporeans. The party has also put up a comprehensive counter-proposal of the Finance Minister’s Budget 2010 on its website. None of these were ever reported in the press.

This type of selective reporting as practised by the state media over the years has helped to create an erroneous public impression that the PAP is “infallible” and the opposition is constantly wrecked by internal politics and infighting.

Acting Minister for Communication, Information and Arts Lui Tuck Yew once praised the Singapore media as a “trustworthy” source of news in Singapore.

International media watchdog Reporters without Borders ranked the Singapore media a pathetic 133th position among 187 countries in terms of press freedom in 2009, an embarrassing result which was decried by Law Minister Shanmugan as “quite divorced for reality.”

http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/18/reform-party-attacked-again-over-its-internal-politics-in-straits-times/