The following is an excerpt from an article published on The Online Citizen GE 2011
Andrew Loh /
“It’s over. We move on from here,” Mr Desmond Lim says. He is referring to the events in recent weeks which were played out in the media.
The long drawn out saga between the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Mr Chiam See Tong, MP for Potong Pasir and then Chairman of the alliance, resulted in not only Mr Chiam resigning from his position but also the withdrawal of the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) from the grouping.
Speaking to The Online Citizen (TOC) in an exclusive interview, Mr Lim, who was recently appointed secretary general of the SDA, says the matter has been resolved and that he is looking ahead to the General Election.
When asked how he felt about the whole saga and Mr Chiam himself, Mr Lim said, “Personally, we have no problems. No personal grudges.” He says it was unfortunate that he was singled out as the person responsible for scuttling the membership application of the Reform Party (RP), which had applied to join the SDA in 2010 and which Mr Chiam had facilitated. This, he said, led to perceptions that he was the one solely responsible for the decision taken by the SDA. This is not true, Mr Lim explains. “Whatever decision that was made, it was a collective decision,” he says, referring to the SDA CEC.
Mr Lim says his friendship with Mr Jeyaretnam, the secretary general of the RP, is good and that the two have been in contact. “We just had lunch together on Saturday,” he says. “Whatever that has happened, it’s not personal. It was just a matter of principle.”
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