Singaporeans push back against PPP chief Goh Meng Seng’s condemnation of Pritam Singh

SINGAPORE: People’s Power Party (PPP) chief Goh Meng Seng weighed in on the vote on the Workers’ Party (WP) leadership at the special conference of party cadres scheduled for June 28.

It was announced last week that WP members are expected to vote on whether Secretary-General Pritam Singh should remain in the party’s top post if he declines to step down voluntarily.

After Mr Goh made his feelings about the matter very clear in a lengthy Facebook post on June 5, many commenters pushed back, disagreeing with the points he raised.

The PPP leader said that he had spoken to a few WP cadres recently, discussing the upcoming meeting. According to Mr Goh, “most of the veterans” are against Mr Singh, though some had expressed support for him.

After Mr Goh asked them if they wanted “to see a peaceful transition of power from PAP to WP,” they allegedly kept quiet.

“I say WP can only become the ruling party in future elections if and only if the Middle Ground voters support them. It has absolutely nothing to do with their own emotional pro or against Pritam, but everyone is watching very closely how WP is dealing with the issue of Integrity Deficits!

Whether we like it or not. Priam has been CONDEMNED as a Convicted Liar, and this label will stick on him forever,” he wrote.

Noting that even the WP’s disciplinary committee had concluded that there had been a contravention of the party’s constitution in Mr Singh’s case, he wrote, “The remaining question is, how would WP deal with errand (sic) members with integrity problems!”

 For him, therefore, the vote in the upcoming meeting is “about the future potential of WP as the serious contender of power.”

What Singaporeans are saying

After Mr Goh’s post gained traction among netizens, commenters pushed back, with one saying that Mr Singh had already paid the price for his actions.

Former Singapore Democratic Party chair Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood wrote, “Looking at the entire scenario, I do not really blame Pritam. I fully understand why he made the mistake of trying to defend the person who is the cause of all these problems. Apart from this mistake of his – YES I CALL IT A MISTAKE – which somehow has an effect on his reputation, he shouldn’t be judged solely by this particular mistake. Overall, I find that he is an honest person.”

“As members of the opposition, we don’t do things like what GMS is now doing, because it only benefits the PAP. So I hope GMS will stop publicly airing his frustrations. As members of parties alternative to the PAP, we should not do what GMS is doing,” the former WP member added.

Others expressed the belief that the WP cadres will continue to support Mr Singh, with whom they credited for taking the party as far as it has gone.

Some questioned Mr Goh’s temerity in commenting on the matter.

“People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” one wrote. 

“I can only say, an empty vessel always makes the most noise,” another added.

A Facebook user advised Mr Goh, “If you keep posting hate posts instead of alternative solutions for real-world problems, your next election will get less than 1% vote. WP, SDP, and even the independent party recognised this pattern from Singaporeans, but you still haven’t after so many years in politics… In Sg, where most of us are fairly educated, we value constructive feedback rather than hate speech. So good luck to you if you think hate speech gonna win you votes.” /TISG

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