On the 26th of April, 2009 there was supposed to be a Central Executive Committee meeting at 11 pm and on the Attendance List were ten names of CEC members.
They were Ng Teck Siong (Chairman), G Prabhakaran (Vice-Chairman), Jeremy Lim (member), Mohd Affendy B Abdul Rahim (member), Kenneth Jeyaretnam (member), Quek Teow Chuan (member), Balraj Naidu (member), Edmund Ng (member) and Abdul Rahim B. Osman Arbo (member).
Abdul Rahim B. Osman Arbo and Mohd. Affendy B Abdul Rahim were not present on that day. Only G Prabhakaran, Jeremy Lim, Balraj Naidu, Edmund Ng and I had signed the attendance list to register our presence for the CEC meeting. The rest including Kenneth Jeyaretnam, did not sign the list.
What is more important to note is that, even if you counted the CEC members who did not sign the attendance list, there were only 8 CEC members present on that day; five officially and three unofficially. But certainly not 9, as claimed by Kenneth.
At the meeting, two of the members who did not sign the attendance list, Kenneth and James Teo submitted their resignation to me.
But these letters were snatched from my hand by Balraj Naidu (the man who was later extradited to the United States of America on two terrorism related charges).
Those that did not sign the attendance list, misbehaved, refused to take their seats and banged the door before they left the meeting. They came back to the meeting a little later but left again soon after, but came back in again, each time speaking in raised voices.
At some point in this mayhem, James Teo who was only a member in the CEC called in a locksmith to change the locks to our office, without my information nor instruction.
Sensing that there is no way a proper CEC meeting can proceed under such circumstances, I exercised my rights as Chairman, subjected to the Party constitution and called off the CEC meeting.
The fact remains that I was still the chairman of the party on 26th April 2009 and that only the meeting I called will be effective on that day.
I resigned from the Party on the 27th of April, 2009, but was surprised when a minutes of the April 26, 2009 CEC meeting surfaced. My signature was conspicuously absent from it.
The truth remains that in the rush to take-over the Party’s helm, the CEC meeting where Kenneth was ‘elected’ as secretary-general was not held in accordance to the party constitution.
Is that the reason why Kenneth wanting the episodes of that day to come to a quick end, refused to answer any questions about it?
I am now forced to lay bare the happenings of that day as I have to defend not only my reputation and credibility, but also the credibility and honesty of the other members who left the Party with me.
And even if I do not bring it up now, truth of such nature will always be revealed.
I went through a painful process even writing that letter of resignation because I love the Party.
Mr J B Jeyaretnam (JBJ), G Prahbakaran and I were the three main pioneers of the Party. Since, the demise of JBJ, it became G Prahbakaran and my responsibility to ‘rope-in’ honest and capable people into the Party.
We wanted to groom these people as leaders and prepare them for the rigours of working the ground and the General Elections. With the right guidance, we felt they would one day even be able to form the next government – a government which is based on the rule of law and not on the rule of man.
We took exceptional care in searching and recruiting such men and women of calibre.
The unconstitutional coup within the Party unfortunately happened when these few good people we approached were seriously considering joining the Party.
By: Ng Teck Siong
