Failed Reform Party candidate Alex Tan, who is most well known for his association with the States Times Review and Singapore Herald websites, has announced that he is the self-appointed “strategy leader” for all the opposition parties in Singapore.
Tan, who describes himself as a “Singaporean independent opposition politician,” wrote on his blog: “I will be self-appointing myself the position of Strategy Leader for all opposition parties in this year’s General Election. All opposition parties will be under my lead with the primary purpose of overthrowing the PAP dictatorship.”
Under his self-proclaimed leadership, Tan said that he will “ensure there will be no three-corner fights and it will be a straight contest between the ruling party PAP and the public’s preferred opposition party. Opposition parties that has (sic) been endorsed by the public will get my support buffs, while those who insist on contesting will get my debuffs.”
He also claims that he will somehow “ensure that Opposition Parties who refuse to withdraw from a 3-corner fight will lose their electoral deposit.”
It is doubtful that the opposition parties in Singapore will accept Tan as their “strategy leader”.
The heavyweight opposition parties like the Workers’ Party, the Singapore Democratic Party, Chiam See Tong’s Singapore People’s Party and the new Progress Singapore Party led by Dr Tan Cheng Bock will no doubt already have their own strategists in the run-up to the election.
Tan also irritated many of the smaller opposition parties after he called several of these parties and politicians “opportunists” who are “unfit for office” in a post on his website, The States Times Review, in October last year.
In the article on his blatantly anti-PAP website, Tan asserted that while the Lee Hsien Loong administration has been “incompetent,” he thinks voting for the opposition is “unpalatable to most people, including myself, as many are substandard and no more worthy than a PAP MP.”
He then proceeded to identify what he believes are “clown parties” and a few““opposition veterans” who appear every election but absolutely unfit for office” in the post. He included his former party, the Reform Party, as one of these “clown parties”.
Goh Meng Seng, the leader of the People’s Power Party (PPP) and a veteran opposition figure who has served in opposition politics for more than a decade, lashed out at Tan in a subsequent statement.
Calling Tan a “fraudster” who leeches off hardcore opposition supporters by whipping up sensational anti-PAP rhetoric, Goh revealed his personal experience with Tan whom he encountered on the election trail in 2011:
“When Alex Tan first met up with me while I was still the SG of NSP, he wanted to contest in GE2011 under NSP. He was and still is full of anger and throwing all sorts of assertions, even running WP LTK and SL. He presented himself, arrogantly as someone who is smarter, a modern day ZhuGeLiang!
“I was of course bemused but to me, I would still give this young chap a chance. However, in the end, he joined RP under KJ and contested in AMK GRC against the Prime Minster, thinking that he could do better than the WP AMK Team in GE2006. But of course his big ego was instantly deflated by the result.
“I find him to be more like a psychopathic with a huge ego which is definitely a mismatch with his mental and intellectual capability.”
Criticising Tan for his lack of principles and for his “POISONOUS” work that “basically promotes senseless idiocy of blind hate,” Goh added:
“Look at what he had done so far for the Opposition cause. He is only clever enough to leech on the anti PAP sentiments on each and every instances. Did he provide any refreshing or potent new public discourse against PAP and its policies? Nope. Most of the postings are just a copy cat piece of work with insertion of sensational rhetorics. Such methodology is POISONOUS to Opposition Cause as it basically promote senseless idiocy of blind hate. But in return, thanks to all your readership, he earns money by attracting you to his website!
“The most ironic thing is, such boneless leech has no principles at all! At one time, he was bombarding and criticising WP LTK and Sylvia Lim (most probably rejected him outright in 2010) but now, for the purpose of leeching and sucking more money, he sensationally support them in this court case!
“Serious politicians will come up with their own public discourse and our priority is our political work is different among ourselves.
“He claims that Opposition parties and individual leaders are “not working the ground”. But what’s REAL political work has he done beside leeching on the Opposition cause?”
Noting that opposition politicians are not “paid agents like Tan,” Goh praised several of his peers as dedicated individuals who work tirelessly to provide Singaporeans with an alternative to the PAP, before blasting Tan as a “poisonous leech” who is “far from qualified” to condemn the opposition:
“As far as I know, different opposition leaders are exploring and doing different things. We are not paid agents or leeches like Alex Tan who get money out of Opposition cause. We have to balance our normal professional careers vs opposition engagements. Nobody owes us a living!
“As far as I know, despite our very busy schedules, Opposition leaders are doing their best in different ways to contribute towards the opposition cause.
“SDA Desmond Lim has been flying around quite often but still, he manages and kicks start a series of free lunch box projects and other charity programs.
“KJ has written quite a number of articles raising concerns about economic issues as well as our SWF.
“As for me, you see me daily on my FB promoting critical thinking, not reckless, mindless, irrational barking like a leeching dog to analyse all different issues, looking at them from different alternative perspectives. And I dare say, my major contribution to Opposition Public Discourse is on the HDB Asset Enhancement Scam.
“All these work, take lots of time and effort as well as brain juice and unlike leeches like Alex Tan, we do not earn anything from our work! It is basically public service to enhance public political education which is very much lacking in Singapore, no thanks to poisonous leeches like Alex Tan.
“That’s why I told those people who show me his article attacking us that he is far from qualified to condemn us. He is not just a low life psychopathic despicable leech but also a poisonous one.”
https://theindependent.sg.sg/low-life-psychopathic-despicable-leech-veteran-politician-slams-failed-rp-candidate-who-called-opposition-candidates-opportunists/