January 20, 2010
Two former
high-flying civil servants have joined the fledging Reform Party
led by economist Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the elder son of the late
opposition leader Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam.
39 year Ms Hazel Poa
was a former PSC scholar who worked for four years in the service
in the 1990s. Her last-held post was that of an assistant director
in the Finance Ministry.
Ms Poa graduated
from the University of Cambridge with 1st Class Honours in
Mathematics and is currently the Managing Director of an education
company with operations in Singapore and Indonesia.
She joined the
Reform Party last month, eight months after her husband, Mr Tony
Tan Lay Thiam. Mr. Tony Tan graduated from the University of
Cambridge with 1st Class Honours in Engineering after which he
joined the SAF as an Army Officer.
He is
currently the CEO of a Private Education Organisation and is a
member of the Central Executive Committee of the Reform
Party.
The Reform Party was
founded in 2008 by the highly regarded J.B. Jeyaretnam to
spear-head his lifelong dream of reforming Singapore’s archaic and
repressive political system. It was taken over by Mr Kenneth
Jeyaretnam after his demise in October 2008 from heart
failure.
Mr Kenneth
Jeyaretnam graduated with a double first class honors in Economics
at the prestigious Queens’ College, Cambridge
University.
A victim of the
autocratic ruling party himself, JBJ, as he is fondly remembered by
Singaporeans, was thrown into jail once and bankrupted several
times for by defamation lawsuits launched by the PAP leaders to
cripple his political career.
Singapore’s
octagenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew reportedly told former President
Devan Nair that he would make JBJ “went on his knees and beg for
mercy.”
In an interview with
Straits Times, the couple said they joined the Reform
Party because they wanted to help foster a more balanced
political landscape here.
“I felt they
needed more people to help. But of course, anyone joining the
opposition would do it because they wanted to see certain changes
in the way the Government is running the country,” said Ms
Poa.
Both would consider
standing in future elections, if the need arose.
“If you really
want to make a difference, you must be prepared to stand as a
candidate. As voters, we always hope to see more options and more
contest of ideas. But we cannot be waiting for somebody else to
take the lead,” Mr Tan added.
Besides them, Mr
Jeyaretnam revealed that there are two former government scholars
who are currently volunteering at party events and may consider
joining it as members.
The Reform Party
will be organizing a seminar on the Education system in
Singapore on 23 January 2010 at Berkshire School Pte Ltd. For more
information, please visit its website here
It is good to see
more Singaporeans stepping forward to join other political parties
in Singapore which will benefit the country in the long
run.
With the ruling
party losing support from the people due to its ill-conceived
policies, the Reform Party stands a good chance of making its mark
in the next general election due by 2011.