“Bad Blood” was the first song to ring in the new year at MediaCorp countdown party, and it appears to have set the tone for the opposition camp barely a week into 2016 (what a suay song to ring in the new year).
All this, because of an article that was published on alternative website, The Independent Singapore.
The article, dubbed “The man to watch in the House – Workers’ Party NCMP Leon Perera”, touted the Workers’ Party’s NCMP Leon Perera as the next rising star of Singapore politics.
It drew sharp criticism from Reform Party Chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam, who condemned the article as “someone writing a fluff piece about himself.”
Perera is one of the men who founded The Independent Singapore.
Jeyaretnam also said that the article reminds him of incidents where organisations gave awards to the “PAP/Lee Family” because of their ties, adding that “it’s not as though WP doesn’t already have enough problems with cronyism.
People’s Party leader and former WP member Goh Meng Seng had commented that it’s better not to have “high hopes” in case of disappointment.
A follow-up article by The Independent Singapore, titled “Two opposition parties’ secretary-generals cast aspersions on WP NCMP” riled him up further.
He said:
“Maybe Independent do not expect anybody to express their disappointment and would treat any of such disappointment as “casting aspersions” on WP MPs!”
Goh added that the “PAP controlled SPH” are singing praises of PAP MPs and ministers all the time, and that “The Independent is doing exactly the same thing. Raising public expectation on Leon and this is DANGEROUS because if Leon failed to perform as expected again, it will be a double disappointment to opposition supporters and it will not help opposition, especially WP, at all.”
The Independent Singapore has defended its publication of the article, saying that Perera does not interfere with editorial decisions.
Alfred Dodwell, one of the founders of The Independent Singapore, said:
“Whatever story is run is decisions made by the editorial team in a fair and unbiased and independent manner.”
And during all this, Perera was busy getting his kids prepared for school.
