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30 April 2006 1942 hrs
The curious case of Gomez and the missing certificate
By News Desk, TODAY
At first he insisted that he had submitted his minority
certificate. The Elections Department says he warned its staff of
"consequences" when the document could not be traced.
Asked about the missing document by reporters, Mr James Gomez, a
Workers' Party (WP) candidate for the Aljunied GRC, merely said he
did not wish to discuss his election administration with the
media.
The Elections Department felt that by brushing aside the issue, Mr
Gomez had planted a doubt on whether the officials had been
straight in dealing with him. So, on Friday, it released the
transcript of a taped phone conversation and footage from a
closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera to show exactly what
happened on Monday, when Mr Gomez claimed he had submitted his
certificate.
In the phone conversation on Wednesday, Mr Gomez is heard
reiterating that he did, indeed, hand in the document.
The CCTV footage, on the other hand, shows him putting the
certificate in his own bag and walking away without submitting
it.
Technically, the issue did not turn out to be serious as the WP had
other candidates with minority certificates to slot into its GRC
slates. It could, however, have influenced Mr Gomez's choice of
constituency.
In fact, if not for the fiasco, Mr Gomez could have stood in Ang Mo
Kio, which required an Indian candidate, instead of Aljunied GRC
which did not, said Foreign Minister George Yeo on Friday night in
a Party Branch at Hougang Avenue 1, after the People's Action
Party's (PAP) maiden rally was cancelled due to thunder and
lightning.
But the clear proof that Mr Gomez had wrongly claimed he had
submitted his certificate and did not take the chance to clear
the air has already given the ruling party some ready
ammunition.
Referring to the WP's recently-stated plan to campaign on three
issues including that of accountability, Mr Yeo said Mr Gomez's
run-in with the Elections Department showed that while "it's easy
to say these things ... carrying them out, walking the talk is not
so easy".
The Elections Department said it was releasing the transcript and
the recording to remove all doubt about the integrity of the
electoral process.
Mr Gomez had visited the Elections Department on Wednesday, telling
its officials to look for his certificate and asking them to call
him back. Around 1pm that day, when Ms Florence Tan from the
department phoned and asked him to describe what happened, Mr Gomez
gave a vivid narration of how had had submitted the certificate two
days earlier.
"I submitted this with my colleague ... so my colleague was
with me all the time," Mr Gomez told Ms Tan in a conversation that
she taped. "I've checked with (the colleague) and she confirmed
also that the form was submitted and was accepted."
The CCTV footage, on the other hand, shows a female colleague
walking up to Mr Gomez's side only after he had put the document in
his bag.
After he had given his version, Ms Tan told Mr
Gomez: "We have reviewed the CCTV footage ... After you filled (the
certificate) in, you actually kept it in your bag and ... you
didn't take it out any more."
On hearing this, Mr Gomez "abruptly changed tone", said Mr
Yeo.
"Oh, I see. I am very happy to hear your version of the story. I
will just go and check my bag because I'm outside now," Mr Gomez
had said according to the transcript.
Mr Yeo said he found it "very odd" that Mr Gomez never thought to
check his bag for a "big envelope" containing his application form
from Monday to Wednesday, especially since it was during an anxious
time in the run-up to Nomination Day.
With the evidence out, Mr Yeo said WP chief Low Thia Khiang owed an
explanation to Aljunied voters for fielding Mr Gomez to contest the
GRC.
"Beyond that, he (Mr Low) owes it to all Singaporeans to tell us
the full story of what had happened," said Mr Yeo, adding that it
might take some time for the country to have a "First World
Opposition".
The Elections Department said that Mr Gomez had not contacted it
since either to confirm that he had found the certificate in his
bag or to confirm whether his colleague still maintained that he
had submitted the form. - TODAY/fz
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