NSP faces tough talent search in crowded political landscape
National Solidarity Party members at a Chinese New Year celebration. The NSP has been in the news recently with the resignations of several high-profile members. Photo: NSP
SINGAPORE — With the opposition landscape getting more crowded, it is becoming more challenging to get quality candidates even though people are still joining the party, said National Solidarity Party (NSP) president Sebastian Teo yesterday, following the latest round of departures from the NSP.
“At the present moment, we cannot deny the fact that there are not many (candidates) you can really tap on in the market,” he told TODAY.
Noting that there is now a “contest ... for talent”, NSP secretary-general Tan Lam Siong said: “People have more choices with more political parties coming into the arena.”
Since the last General Election in 2011 — when the NSP fielded the largest slate of candidates after the People’s Action Party — the opposition scene has seen the emergence of the new Singaporeans First party (SingFirst) and the revival of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Mr Teo said while he felt the increase in the number of parties would lead to a fragmented political landscape, it would also provide voters with more choices.
Asked if there is a need for consolidation among opposition parties, he said there had been such efforts in the past, but it was “very difficult technically” due to differing party ideologies, among other things.
However, he does not rule out working with other parties to share resources, adding that the NSP believes in avoiding three-cornered fights.
The NSP has been in the news recently with the resignations of several high-profile members. Among those who left last month is former secretary-general Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, who took along three of the party’s ex-council members to join opposition veteran Chiam See Tong’s Singapore People’s Party.
Ms Nicole Seah, who shot to prominence during the 2011 polls, left the NSP in August last year after moving to Thailand to work in its advertising industry.
Mr Teo clarified that former high-flying civil servants Hazel Poa and her husband Tony Tan, who were previously in the party’s central executive committee (CEC) and had been touted among the Opposition’s star catches, are still in the party.
Ms Poa, who relinquished her secretary-general post in 2013 due to health reasons, is now a CEC council member after party polls in January.
With the next General Election due by January 2017, the NSP is in the midst of recruiting potential candidates and is in talks with about 15 individuals from varied backgrounds, Mr Tan said.
The party is planning to contest in the Marine Parade, Tampines and Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituencies, three of the four GRCs it contested in during the 2011 polls.
It is also considering three out of four single-member wards — Mountbatten, Radin Mas, Pioneer and Whampoa — in which the party had fielded candidates then.
The final line-up will be decided when the CEC meets later this month, said Mr Tan, adding that the party’s focus is on quality and not to be stretched beyond its means.
Mr Teo yesterday also responded to Mrs Chong-Aruldoss’ comments to TODAY that she had left the NSP because she did not have the “comfort level” to introduce “some innovative ways of reaching out to people”.
He said the party has always given its members a free hand to innovate and allowed new members to play bigger roles.
