The fly in the ointment just had to go. [Ecclesiastes 10:1 NIV]

NTB2DO wrote:

cherry6 (15Feb2012) wrote:

Topic: Expulsion of Yaw Shin Leong from Party Membership
Clarificn:
Ordinary member of party =/= member of CEC.
CEC is central exec. committee, they make decisions for party, who to allow in n who to kick out, as just ordinary memb (non-CEC), U just suck thumb n await orders wan.
YSL should have seen it coming, or maybe LTK didn't ask him to admit nicely enough,whatever the case, Singaporeans will have a 3rd election in less than a year to enjoy (some vote, the rest just watch/ make some noise). I do hope that they vote wisely at that however.

But wasn't that precisely what I was trying to point out: That prior to his expulsion, WP had already taken action against him by removing him from CEC post and demoting him to be just an ordinary member?
Just that despite having done that, critics are still not happy, forcing WP to make even more drastic move ie expulsion from party.

Oei, the report says that YSL himself QUIT the CEC, so your comment that "WP had already taken action against him by removing him from CEC" is false. Ref: [8Feb: Yaw Shin Leong quits Workers' Party leadership] "The Workers' Party wishes to inform the public that at the monthly meeting of the Executive Council on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, the Council accepted the resignation of Yaw Shin Leong from the party leadership."

Technically YSL was also not demoted to become an ordinary member since membership to the CEC is an extension of party membership; YSL just QUIT his CEC post without opting to remain in the WP CEC in some other post etc (e.g. member of WP CEC). One must distinguish CEC membership from ordinary party membership. Many PAP MPs are only ordinary PAP members and NOT CEC members who make party policy decisions: they just receive emails instructions from the CEC before parliamentary sessions, and if the whip is not raised, just vote according to the email instructions as the case may be (or in some approximate way)(AFAIK).

I guess LTK just did whatever was necessary to maintain party integrity and YSL's affair and subsequent persistent silence just remained the irksome fly in the ointment that just had to be removed as politics in Singapore goes, or is supposed to go (even by opposition party standards). The best that YSL should have done would have been to clarify but it seems he refused to; so as a good Christian, YSL shouldn't be too unfamiliar with the following bible verse: "As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. " [Ecclesiastes 10:1 NIV] I do hope that YSL learns from this experience, perhaps one day, we might once again hear his voice in parliament.

Only time will tell.

"If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest." [Ecclesiastes 10:4]

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15Feb2012: Expulsion of Yaw Shin Leong from Party Membership