Goh Meng Seng defends opposition coalition after backlash, still invites Tan Cheng Bock to join

After the backlash that followed the announcement of an opposition coalition last Friday (Jan 3), Goh Meng Seng, Secretary-General of the People’s Power Party (PPP) took to social media explaining why with a coalition, the interests of the nation would be put before the interests of each party.

The four parties that had united in forming an opposition alliance were the Singaporeans First party (SingFirst), Reform Party (RP), People’s Power Party (PPP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and would be led by Tan Jee Say, the secretary-general of SingFirst.

While Singapore People’s Party (SPP) has so far been the only group to turn down the bid from the alliance to come together, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Secretary-General of Progress Singapore Party (PSP) is yet to give a reply as to whether the PSP will be joining the alliance.

In his Facebook post yesterday (Jan 7), Mr Goh wrote that he found it “strange” that there were people who felt the planned alliance caused what they considered more credible parties to lose votes. “It is even more strange when the very people would claim that the planned alliance is just too insignificant,” he added.

Explaining that previously, the messaging among opposition parties was disorganised and sometimes even contradictory, Mr Goh said that he felt the opposition parties as a whole have not “put up a coherent and convincing showcase of good economic policies and strategies since 1965”.

Pointing out the uncertainty that lay ahead and the impact on other opposition parties because of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council trial where the Workers’ Party stands to be affected, Mr Goh wrote: “The only thing we can do is to unite and present a coherent force with a common policy platform and Manifesto. The best option is to form a grand alliance which can put up a credible economic policy platform”.

Referring to previous attempts last year in July where the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) raised the possibility – during a working lunch yesterday – that former presidential candidate Dr Tan Cheng Bock lead efforts toward an opposition coalition, Mr Goh wrote that again, “We invited Dr Tan PSP to join the alliance and lead us. But no reply”.

“Thus, we decided to build the platform first and would still welcome others to join later”, he added.

“It is only when political players in Opposition start to change their extremely narrow mindset to think like a statesman, instead of thinking like a petty lot, then we can see some light in the development of opposition politics”, said Mr Goh concluding his post. -/TISG

Read related: Tan Cheng Bock to lead opposition coalition?