NOTE: THIS NEWS IS NOT REAL. IT IS AN APRIL FOOL’S DAY JOKE.Â
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The Singapore Demoncratic Party (SDP) and the Singapore Progressive Party (SPP) in an exclusive interview to The Independent Singapore said that the two political parties intended to merge ahead of the by-election in Bukit Batok single member constituency.
Speaking about the merger SDP’s secretary-general, Dr Chee Suan Juan said, “at the last General Election the voters sent a clear message to the opposition parties to not only form convenient alliances ahead of an election, but to collaboratively work together to unseat the PAP.”
Speaking about Mr Chiam See Long, Dr Chee elatedly said, “he is the founder of SDP and there has always been a place here for him. We know how to recognise him as an elder statesman.”
Mrs Rina Chiam the Chairman of SPP said, “Mr Chiam played a pivotal role not just in SPP and SDP, but also in National Socialist Party (NSP), Democratic People’s Party (DPP) and Socialist Democratic Alliance (SDA). We must put aside all our petty, personal differences and come together for the common good of all of Singapore.”
“The merger between SDP and SPP will be first and it will set the pace for our negotiations with all the other opposition political parties,” Mrs Chiam added.
The core members of both political parties expressed how glad they were about the merger. Dr Paul Thambiraja of SDP said, “with Mr Chiam not only standing next to Dr Chee, but also lifting his hand up, we are sure to win the public opinion and the coming election.”
Commenting on the merger, Mrs Janet Chong-Arokiadoss of SPP said, “it (the merger) must be welcomed because it will rejuvenate opposition politics.”
Members of NSP were unavailable for comment, but secretary-general of DPP, Mr Benjamin Swee said that he had not expected such a merger.
“If Mrs Chiam wanted a merger, she should have held a three-way talk between SPP, SDP and DPP. That would have been a bigger news,” Benjamin said.
He however emphasised that he supported the merger and was not averse to disbanding DPP to merge with SDP, as long as there was a role for him in the merger.
“We had done it in the last election. Several of our members resigned to join SPP and it was only because we had the interest of the people in our hearts,” Benjamin said.
The news of the merger was a bigger bombshell for People’s Association Party (PAP). A PAP insider admitted that they were caught with their pants down.
“We had informants in the inner circles of both the political party who worked against such developments,” he said.
“We probably can kiss goodbye to Bukit Batok now,” he added.
