<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Ex-chairman lashes out at Reform chief
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Kor Kian Beng
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A MAN in a hurry for power - that was how Reform Party's ousted chairman Ng Teck Siong described Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, who took over as the party's secretary-general on Monday.
'He's in a hurry for power, so I'll just leave it to him. He has been saying he wants to be the secretary-general. What can I say? Let time prove it,' Mr Ng said last night.
Last Monday, the Reform Party announced the appointment of Mr Jeyaretnam as secretary-general, Mr Edmund Ng as interim chairman and Mr James Teo Kian Chye as interim treasurer.
In a statement, it also said that Mr Ng, 68, resigned as chairman after a no-confidence vote against him at a central executive committee (CEC) meeting on Sunday.
Opposition sources said that Mr Ng - a long-time ally of Mr Jeyaretnam's late father and Reform Party founder J.B. Jeyaretnam - fell out with the new leaders as he was slow in appointing a new secretary-general.
The post was held by the elder Mr Jeyaretnam before he died of heart failure last September aged 82.
Asked if he was ousted because of his slowness in growing the party membership, Mr Ng said: 'In seven months, the party had been getting new people. So how could I not be doing things right?'
But he confirmed that he quit the party due to differences with its new leaders. He said that three other CEC members had also quit. And at least one other party member - blogger Ng E-Jay, 32, who joined just last month - has also resigned.
On his immediate plans, Mr Ng said he may join another party, form a new one, or stand as an independent candidate at the next elections due by 2012. He has also been invited to join other parties, he said, but declined to name them. Mr Jeyaretnam, 50, a hedge fund manager, could not be reached yesterday. But when contacted on Monday about leadership changes, he said the CEC 'just felt that they needed somebody of higher profile to take the party forward'.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Kor Kian Beng
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A MAN in a hurry for power - that was how Reform Party's ousted chairman Ng Teck Siong described Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, who took over as the party's secretary-general on Monday.
'He's in a hurry for power, so I'll just leave it to him. He has been saying he wants to be the secretary-general. What can I say? Let time prove it,' Mr Ng said last night.
Last Monday, the Reform Party announced the appointment of Mr Jeyaretnam as secretary-general, Mr Edmund Ng as interim chairman and Mr James Teo Kian Chye as interim treasurer.
In a statement, it also said that Mr Ng, 68, resigned as chairman after a no-confidence vote against him at a central executive committee (CEC) meeting on Sunday.
Opposition sources said that Mr Ng - a long-time ally of Mr Jeyaretnam's late father and Reform Party founder J.B. Jeyaretnam - fell out with the new leaders as he was slow in appointing a new secretary-general.
The post was held by the elder Mr Jeyaretnam before he died of heart failure last September aged 82.
Asked if he was ousted because of his slowness in growing the party membership, Mr Ng said: 'In seven months, the party had been getting new people. So how could I not be doing things right?'
But he confirmed that he quit the party due to differences with its new leaders. He said that three other CEC members had also quit. And at least one other party member - blogger Ng E-Jay, 32, who joined just last month - has also resigned.
On his immediate plans, Mr Ng said he may join another party, form a new one, or stand as an independent candidate at the next elections due by 2012. He has also been invited to join other parties, he said, but declined to name them. Mr Jeyaretnam, 50, a hedge fund manager, could not be reached yesterday. But when contacted on Monday about leadership changes, he said the CEC 'just felt that they needed somebody of higher profile to take the party forward'.
