Tan Cheng Bock publicly raising retraction of PA party invite

[shierwin]

A simple mistake is not honoured!

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ex-preside...g-bock-uninvited-from-pa-party-033731215.html

 

[shierwin]

Screenshot of a quote documented during the Han Dynasty reign of Han Wudi is ever so true after 2000 years.
Especially the last 2 lines...

 

[Halfmoon]

You know how much pettiness there are by their action!

 

[ricohflex]

It is wrong to invite someone and get his acceptance to your invitation, then after that say sorry he is now not supposed to be invited.

The Istana is large enough for 1 extra person + his wife to be accommodated, if it is true that the principle behind the change is to allow for more invitees to attend.

May be due to awkwardness of Tony Tan meeting his challenger for post of elected President (who only lost by 0.35%). That may be what organisers wished to avoid.

As for TCB, it is time to let go of the past glories and the deference previously shown by almost everyone to him.
Very hard to do so, once a person gets used to it.

About the revelation of the cancellation of the invitation, it is not TCB being petty.
Though the media may want to paint it that way.
He has to reveal because others at the Istana Lunar New Year event will ask when they discover his absence.
So whether he tells them now or later makes no difference.

All in all, just a storm in a tea cup. Where face was not given.

The world has bigger problems than that.

 

[airfins]

TCB is considered an outsider once he took part in the Presidential Election, he had been signed off by them. He did not always stand by the party line when he was an MP good for us not good for them.

 

[Halfmoon]

TCB is considered an outsider once he took part in the Presidential Election, he had been signed off by them. He did not always stand by the party line when he was an MP good for us not good for them.

They want lap dogs... ONLY!

 

[Shizuma]

They want lap dogs... ONLY!

cats need not apply. specist if you ask me.

 

[Halfmoon]

cats need not apply. specist if you ask me.

Cats can take selfie....

 

[Halfmoon]

Why not... Catfie??

 

[Bukitimah]

I wonder if event is held at Istana, isn't that a government official office that would involved all office bearers and if past are involved all too?

If decision is to cut off past members of certain years, then announce publicly as this is an official event and not a private one. Right? Wrong? I am quite confused

 

[Sion]

To dearest Cheng Bock

[video=youtube;Jzncek4qewk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzncek4qewk[/video]

 

[Shizuma]

cat can only take selfie in the gym. ever seen a cat in the gym?

 

[Zeisser]

TCB is out spoken during his tenure as an MP so it's not surprising that
this has happened.

 

[ricohflex]

It is expected that the invitation list would be vetted over several ascending levels before final approval by very high authority.

And the new principle to invite less of old guard who stepped down much earlier beyond a certain cut-off date, in order to invite more of other people to the event - would be drafted, discussed, presented, debated and then finally approved. Again only at very high level. In other words, the new principle is not a sudden after thought.

Thus accidental sending of wrong invitation list is unusual. Since it happened and some one has received this clear signal, just move on and get on with other things in life. After all, it is only a lunar new year celebration party, which he has attended many times before. Let it go.

 

[Sion]

It is expected that the invitation list would be vetted over several ascending levels before final approval by very high authority.

And the new principle to invite less of old guard who stepped down much earlier beyond a certain cut-off date, in order to invite more of other people to the event - would be drafted, discussed, presented, debated and then finally approved. Again only at very high level. In other words, the new principle is not a sudden after thought.

Thus accidental sending of wrong invitation list is unusual. Since it happened and some one has received this clear signal, just move on and get on with other things in life. After all, it is only a lunar new year celebration party, which he has attended many times before. Let it go.

[video=youtube;rywPgwDk9vM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rywPgwDk9vM[/video]

 

[Kit]

Whether the invitation was sent out by mistake is secondary. To back track from an invitation shows a total lack of grace and magnanimity. Its a shameful disaster.

 

[Halfmoon]

Whether the invitation was sent out by mistake is secondary. To back track from an invitation shows a total lack of grace and magnanimity. Its a shameful disaster.

I wonder what is the meaning of an "Inclusive Society"?

 

[shierwin]

I wonder what is the meaning of an "Inclusive Society"?

Google "inclusive society" and found this paper

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2009/Ghana/inclusive-society.pdf

The concluding paragraph:

"The question now is how to make the concept of social inclusion operational, even in the face of
resistance to change. Indeed, in some cases, social exclusion is willfully pursued as it serves
vested interests. The challenge for policy makers and social scientists is, therefore, to find ways
to dissociate the concept of social inclusion from the utopian realm of a “perfectly inclusive”
world vision to redefining it as a practical tool used to promote an inspirational yet realistic set
of policy measures geared towards a “society for all.” This requires a paradigm shift so as to
recognize the dignity, value and importance of each person, not only as an ethical norm and
moral imperative, but also as a legal principle, a societal goal, and ultimately, practice. “No
human being should be condemned to endure a brief or miserable life as a result of his or her
class, country, religious affiliation, ethnic background or gender”9. To this end, social inclusion,
as an overarching goal as well as a multi-dimensional process can play a critical role in
promoting sustainable human development."

Are we there yet?

 

[Halfmoon]

Google "inclusive society" and found this paper

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/egms/docs/2009/Ghana/inclusive-society.pdf

The concluding paragraph:

"The question now is how to make the concept of social inclusion operational, even in the face of
resistance to change. Indeed, in some cases, social exclusion is willfully pursued as it serves
vested interests. The challenge for policy makers and social scientists is, therefore, to find ways
to dissociate the concept of social inclusion from the utopian realm of a “perfectly inclusive”
world vision to redefining it as a practical tool used to promote an inspirational yet realistic set
of policy measures geared towards a “society for all.” This requires a paradigm shift so as to
recognize the dignity, value and importance of each person, not only as an ethical norm and
moral imperative, but also as a legal principle, a societal goal, and ultimately, practice. “No
human being should be condemned to endure a brief or miserable life as a result of his or her
class, country, religious affiliation, ethnic background or gender”9. To this end, social inclusion,
as an overarching goal as well as a multi-dimensional process can play a critical role in
promoting sustainable human development."

Are we there yet?

We are reaching there soon... it is just a short distance between Neptune and Earth... :bsmilie:

 

[Halfmoon]

This is interesting....

Lim Swee Say 'surprised' by Tan Cheng Bock publicly raising retraction of PA party invite
By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo Newsroom – Fri, Feb 7, 2014

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ex-presidential-candidate-tan-cheng-bock-uninvited-from-pa-party-033731215.html

[UPDATE on Friday, 7 February, 4:50pm: Adding response from Lim Swee Say]

People's Association (PA) deputy chairman Lim Swee Say says he is "surprised" that former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock went public with the fact that he was uninvited from the PA Chinese New Year garden party at the Istana this weekend.

In a Facebook post on both his personal and public Facebook pages, Lim, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, said the PA conducted a review of its guest list a few months ago. Back then, they "decided to limit the list to only ex-advisers who stood down in the immediate past general election", in order to "enable a wider base of invitees to attend the reception".

"It is most unfortunate that PA made the mistake of using the old list instead of the updated list," he wrote. "We are sorry for the error and this is why I phoned (Dr.) Tan and the other affected invitees personally to explain the mistake and followed up with personal emails to apologise again."

While he said he was "heartened" that Dr Tan was very gracious about it, he said he was "surprised that he now brings this up publicly as an issue".

Dr Tan, a former longtime People’s Action Party (***) Member of Parliament, said in a Facebook post on Friday morning that he was “un-invited” after being told there was a change in “policy” for who should be at the garden party, which he noted he has attended every year with his wife since 1980.

“I shall miss meeting all these friends there again this Sunday,” Dr Tan wrote. He shared that he was initially invited to it by minister in the Prime Minister’s office Lim Swee Say on 27 December last year, adding that he had responded in the affirmative.

But on 8 January, Lim, who is also deputy chairman of the PA, contacted him by phone and email to inform him that it was “an error” that he was invited.

“There was a change in ‘policy’ to invite only those ex-advisors to grassroots organisations, from the immediate past (general election, held in 2011). I did not fit into this category as I stood down in 2006,” Dr Tan wrote.

He shared that he never missed the PA’s annual Chinese New Year party, because he got the opportunity to meet grassroots leaders and old colleagues to exchange New Year greetings.

“The warm reception usually given to me by those grassroots leaders at the function were overwhelming, more so after the Presidential election,” he wrote, adding that at last year’s party he had to be helped back into his car because the crowd present prevented him from moving toward it.

Dr Tan served as an MP to the then-Ayer Rajah Single Member Constituency from 1980 to 2006, getting re-elected five times and scoring the ***’s highest vote-share in 31 years in the 2001 election. He was also the first non-Cabinet minister to be elected to the party’s Central Executive Committee, serving there from 1987 to 1996.

When he stood in the presidential election in 2011, he lost to eventual winner Dr Tony Tan by a razor-thin 0.35 per cent margin of the valid vote.