On the evening of 16 October, the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) held its Ordinary Party Conference (OPC) at the Party’s headquarters.
At the OPC, the cadre members of the party had the opportunity to elect the new Central Executive Committee (CEC) for the party. The CEC elections saw 4 new faces elected into the CEC. Mr Chiam See Tong, the veteran opposition leader, did not contest in the CEC elections, bringing a storied 40-year political career to an end. Mr Chiam See Tong was the leader of the SPP from 1994 to 2019 and he served as the Member of Parliament for Potong Pasir from 1984 to 2011.
The following members were elected into the CEC for SPP at the OPC last evening:-
- Mrs Lina Chiam;
- Mr Jose Raymond;
- Mr Steve Chia;
- Mr Ariffin Sha;
- Mr Eman Lim;
- Mr Williiamson Lee;
- Ms Kathleen Cheong;
- Mr Ong Ming Hui;
- Mr Yong Seng Fatt;
- Mr Shahir Shahfie;
- Mr Ng Theng Lim; and
- Mr Jalil Wari.
Mr Jose Raymond, Mr Ariffin Sha, Mr Eman Lim and Mr Jalil Wari were the four new faces who were elected into the CEC.
Mr Eman Lim, 39 is the CEO of SingaSports Academy and the director of corporate development at By Definition Pte Ltd.
Mr Jose Raymond, 47, runs a communications firm, Spin Worldwide, and was formerly the Executive Director of the Singapore Environment Council and also served as press secretary to Minister Vivian Balakrishnan previously.
Mr Jalil Wari is a party veteran and has been helping Mr Chiam See Tong for more than two decades.
Mr Ariffin Sha is a 22-year old law undergraduate.
Mr Fazli Bin Talip, a former Workers’ Party candidate who contested in East Coast GRC in 2011 and garnered 45.2% of the votes, was amongst those who failed to make the cut at the CEC elections. Mr Fazli had served on the CEC of the SPP for close to 30 months prior to the elections last evening.
TOC understands that Mr Fazli and Mr Jose were tied for the last position in the CEC. Cadre members then had to revote to break the tie between Mr Jose Raymond and Mr Fazli. Mr Jose Raymond won the revote with 12 votes to Fazli’s 4 with the rest of the cadre members opting to abstain from the vote.
Following the OPC, Mr Fazli posted on his Facebook that he harbourned “no hard feelings” and he hinted at “a new beginning” for himself and stated that it is the “end of politics” for him. Other members who left the CEC include Mr Chiam See Tong and Mr Yen Kim Khooi, a former opposition candidate for Mountbatten SMC.
The Singapore People’s Party released a statement where it paid tribute to Mr Chiam See Tong and expressed confidence in the new CEC by stating that “they will uphold the Party motto of service before self and always have the best interests of Singapore and Singaporeans at heart”. The individual appointments within the CEC will be decided by the CEC at its first meeting which is to be held about a month from now.
