I WISH to correct Monday's report, 'SDA-Reform Party alliance:
On or off?'. What I said was that our members had given us the
go-ahead to enter into an alliance if negotiation reached that
stage.
That is not the same as saying a tie-up has been agreed, nor is
it asking us to push ahead with negotiation.
It is simply a vote of confidence in the secretary-general and
the central executive committee to take that decision should it
arise.
It would appear that the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) has
thrown out the baby with the bath water in deciding to treat the
summary of broad areas of agreement already reached by both parties
as a list of demands.
Normally, in a negotiation, it would be seen as a starting point
for entering serious and final negotiations.
We have written to the SDA informing it that it may contact us
about the possibility of continuing talks only after two conditions
have been met:
At our next central executive committee meeting, the Reform
Party will make a decision on what action to take should the SDA
satisfy both those conditions and come back to us. But it will not
be high on our list of priorities.
My respect and admiration for Mr Chiam See Tong remains
unblemished, and I sincerely hope that he is able to bring them to
their senses, although we will concentrate on our own candidates
now.
Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam
Secretary-General
The Reform Party