I refer to the article “Tan Cheng Bock “uninvited” from LNY party due to outdated invite list” (Channel NewsAsia, Feb 7).
It states that “The use of an outdated invite list resulted in former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock being invited to an upcoming Lunar New Year party at the Istana, and then told by the organisers later that the invitation had been sent by mistake.
Dr Tan, a former Member of Parliament for Ayer Rajah Single Member Constituency, wrote on his Facebook page on Friday morning that he was “uninvited” last month from the party.
He said this happened after he had accepted the invitation to the party, which will be held on Sunday.
He said People’s Association (PA) deputy chairman Lim Swee Say had called and emailed him to explain that there was a change in policy to “invite only those ex-advisers to grassroots organisations, from the immediate past General Election (2011)”.”
I have also been disinvited before. But not to such an esteemed event as at the Istana.
After I had given my RSVP, I also similarly received a telephone call explaining that the invitation had been sent in error, followed by an email apology for the error.
As to “Dr Tan did not fit into this category as he stood down in 2006.
Responding to media queries, Mr Lim said: “We review and refresh the (invite) list periodically to enable a wider base of invitees to attend the reception.
“The most recent review was conducted a few months ago. Instead of inviting all ex-advisers to grassroots organisations repeatedly for 20, 30 years or even longer, we decided to limit the list to only ex-advisers who stood down in the immediate past General Election”
– when was the last review which was done prior to the subject one conducted a few months ago?
With regard to “”It is most unfortunate that PA made the mistake of using the old list instead of the updated list.”
He added that he had phoned Dr Tan and the other affected invitees personally to explain the mistake, and “followed up with personal emails to apologise again””
– the Minister must be “very free” to personally call the “wrongly” invited invitees to explain the error.
Since the error had already been made, why not just let the “wrong” list be – rather than to trouble the honourable Minister to call personally?
Is it really so important and significant that the Minister had to go through the trouble – not to mention the embarassment – for this one event?
Isn’t it arguably, kind of “disrespectful” to disinvite someone who has contributed to Singapore for so long?
Hasn’t the Minister got better things to do?
In respect of “Mr Lim said that Dr Tan had graciously accepted the explanation.
“So I am surprised that he now brings this up publicly as an issue,” Mr Lim added”
– I wonder how many of the “wrong” invitees did not graciously accept the explanation?
By the way, how many “wrong” invitees were there?
If it is “Instead of inviting all ex-advisers to grassroots organisations repeatedly for 20, 30 years or even longer” – there may be quite a lot of people.
Finally, is it not rather ironic to have a landmark event to announce how we will honour the pioneer generation for their contribution to Singapore – and yet “wrongly disinvite” all those who have contributed as ex-advisers to grassroots organisations prior to the last general election in 2011?
Leong Sze Hian
