The New Paper published a report masquerading as a factual analysis of the dynamics at this year's Organising Members Conference held at the Workers' Party HQ on 27 July 2014. The article was mischievous and misleading. But more importantly, errors were aplenty. The following are my brief comments.
1. A binary between veterans and younger members who hold degrees was constructed. Supposed "facts" were thrown into this binary framework to create a seamless understanding of what has transpired and to provide analysis of and/ or an account of the situation.
In the article, John Yam and Somasundaram are conveniently labelled as part of the "old guard". In that case, it appears that both of them were labelled as such due to their physical age in relative to the previous council members who were voted out, such as Ng Swee Bee and Koh Choong Yong who are in their 30s and early 40s respectively, rather than their experience in the Party. If the journalist had done his research, he would have realised that John Yam and Somasundaram joined the Party in 2009 and 2006 respectively. They are in no way "veterans" alluded to by the journalist as being "around for more than 15 years." In fact, Swee Bee has been in the Party for the last 10 years, longer than John Yam and Somasundaram.
In listing down the reasons for the unhappiness of the "veterans", he cited that "newer and younger members who hold degrees are preferred over veterans. In that case, the two "older members" who were elected does not in any way fit this caricature. Dr. John Yam holds a PhD and Mr. Somasundaram holds a Masters degree. Swee Bee on the other hand, for the longest time since she joined the Party in 2004 did not have a university degree, but she has been holding the position of Organising Secretary for many years.
The journalist also pointed out that former members, "Mr. Mohamed Fazli Talip and Sajeev Kamalasanan" were veterans of the Party. They were not. Fazli joined the Party in and around 2009/ 2010 and Sajeev joined the Party in 2006. To put it into perspective, Swee Bee and Choong Yong joined the Party in 2004 and 2006 respectively. This binary of "veterans"/ "old guard" vis-a-vis the younger and educated members is clearly misleading and in his attempts to construct an "Other" in the Party, does more harm than good in helping readers of The New Paper understand what had transpired at 216G, Syed Alwi Road on 27 July 2014 and more importantly, the implications/ significance of the new Council in the lead up to the next General Election.
The fundamental point is this. The journalist contradicted himself with the use of the terms "old guard" and "veterans" to mean the same group of people or to construct a faction within the Party from thin air. As he writes on, even he became confused.
2. The journalist displays his lack of understanding of the operations and functions of the Workers' Party. He did not bother to do his research and check his facts.
The Workers' Party do not and would not parachute in their candidates. In the article, it was pointed out "candidates are parachuted in, despite not having walked the ground." Anyone with a basic understanding of the Workers' Party knows that this is not true at all. The journalist would also be interested to note that the Workers' Party fielded an ITE graduate at the 2006 elections.
The reasons for Dr. Poh Lee Guan's sacking, Mr. Eric Tan's resignation (why Mr. Gerald Giam was made NCMP ahead of Mr. Eric Tan) and the earlier resignations of Mr. Fazli Talip and Mr. Sajeev were made clear to members, cadres and non-cadres at the annual members seminar of the Party. In particular, Mr. Low had explained to the entire membership the reasons as to why candidates were not guaranteed a cadreship. This point was consistently explained to the membership whenever it was brought at internal meetings. For the case of Dr. Poh Lee Guan, Mr. Low had made the reasons clear in his interview with the press after the nomination of Mr. Png Eng Huat during the 2012 Hougang by-elections.
Thus, the journalist was simply mischievous in attempting to illustrate a lineage of discontent and dissatisfaction in the Party. He accepted the comments of these former members at face-value, without trying to better understand the respective motivations/ intentions of these former members. Not too sure whether this is journalism or gossip.
3. "How bad was it?" / "Is there a split?"
In situating his piece in the context of an election drama and an internal party split, the journalist tried his utmost to fit his analysis with the gossip and rumours he picked up with members at the coffeeshop under the party's headquarters. He had no intention to put up an accurate report.
4. The journalist do not understand the historical context behind Sylvia Lim's statement.
Sylvia Lim told the cadres that the "WP could not afford to have internal problems or disunity." Any responsible political party with an understanding of the period in Singapore's political history (1991 - 1997, Singapore Democratic Party) would make a similar appeal to its members. A quick search would also find Lee Hsien Loong emphasising party unity to his members.
If a political party was nothing but a monolith, with the entire membership parroting the leadership, then I guess something is really wrong. It probably would be inherently broken. As a member of the Party, I am glad to say that this is not the case. The Workers' Party is growing, its membership is growing and with that will come more competitive internal party elections. Different individuals with different views, ideological inclinations and backgrounds and experiences join the Party at different junctures in their lives. This can only be good for the long term development of a Party. As the case of Mr. Yaw Shin Leong and Dr. Poh Lee Guan had clearly shown, no one is above the institutions and standing orders laid down in the Workers' Party. WP is a professional organisation and a well-oiled political machinery.
By the way, I attended the conference last Sunday. There were more cadres than the physical space at HQ would allow. It was packed, very packed. No wonder WP needs a new HQ for its continued growth and development. I like to think that this is not very newsworthy for The New Paper.
The original misleading article published by The New Paper can be found here: https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd....5_10203609539492240_1678384102518011115_n.jpg
(The reporter and editor also forgot that the last GE was in 2011 and not 2012)
Bernard Chen
*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152215760966625&id=530146624
