SINGAPORE — Four opposition parties – National Solidarity Party (NSP), Red Dot United (RDU), Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and Singapore United Party (SUP) – entered into a non-formal political partnership as they signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) on Saturday (Oct 28) at the Copthorne King’s Hotel.
Representing each of the four parties to sign the MOU were Ravi Philemon, RDU’s secretary-general; Steve Chia, SPP’s secretary-general; Mohd Ridzwan Mohammad, NSP’s vice-president; and Andy Zhu, SUP’s secretary-general. Also present at the MOU signing was Lina Chiam, from SPP and a former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament. “I am happy to see SPP being part of this Coalition, and I hope it will be a positive step forward for all parties involved. I discussed this with Mr Chiam (See Tong) and he gave his nod to this. We all look to a good working relation with all the parties in this Coalition,” shared Mrs Chiam with The Independent Singapore. The coalition saw each party still retaining their own political party identity and branding but contesting together in eight to 10 constituencies during the next General Election. During the press conference to introduce the coalition, the party leaders said that they are committed to avoiding three-corner fights, presenting a joint manifesto during the election, and exploring the feasibility of sharing candidates between the four parties in the Coalition. In the previous election, the RDU contested in Jurong GRC, while the SPP contested in Potong Pasir SMC and Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. The NSP contested in Sembawang GRC and Tampines GRC, while the SUP is a new political party formed in December 2020. The next General Election is due by Nov 2025.
SPP secretary-general Steve Chia explained why the four parties opted for an informal partnership instead of a formal alliance. The only formal political alliance in Singapore at the moment is the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), which comprises the Singapore Justice Party, and the Malay-based party PKMS. NSP and SPP used to be part of the SDA but have since left the alliance. “The parties are comfortable with each other. We feel comfortable with the principles and philosophy of each party and we decided to come together to form an agreement. We are not prepared to have a formal agreement as of now where we registered a party. That is why we came up with this non-formal memorandum of understanding, where we want to work together with the objectives towards the elections,” explained SPP secretary-general Chia, a former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament. RDU chief Ravi Philemon added that the coming together of the four parties in this non-formal partnership is not a ‘unity of branding’ but rather a ‘unity of purpose.’
“Allows the respective party to keep their individual identity and branding because we are all working in different constituencies and the needs of the constituencies may be different. But at the same time, we come together for the purpose of contesting elections which is for the benefits (sic) of Singapore and Singaporeans.” Earlier in June, Peoples Voice, the Reform Party, the People’s Power Party and the Democratic Progressive Party announced in a media release that they will be forming a new alliance called the People’s Alliance. They added that once registration of their proposed alliance is approved, they would call for a press conference. But to date, there has not been any update from any of the component parties on the People’s Alliance registration. “The success of the nation is our ability to collaborate across party lines. Respect is one of the guiding principles we have. So from here itself, we set aside diversity, and we have decided to come together. We trust that teamwork is important and therefore with our coalition we can be very productive,” mentioned SUP’s secretary-general during the press conference. While there is no dominant party or leader in the coalition, RDU has been appointed as the secretariat to perform the administrative role. The various leaders in the Coalition added that they remained open to dialogue and discussion with other opposition parties who may be keen to be part of the non-formal partnership. /TISG