Reform Party Apologises & Explains Why They’ve Missed the Constituency Political Broadcast for Radin Mas SMC

If you’ve been watching the political broadcasts of the candidates for various constituencies the past few days, you would have noticed that there were a few occasions where candidates of the Reform Party (RP) were missing from the broadcasts.

If you didn’t know, well, now you do. 

And if you’re wondering why they have been missing, RP has just spoken up about it and explained why they missed the broadcasts.

Radin Mas SMC

Mr Kumar Appavoo, a 51-year-old contesting candidate for Radin Mas SMC, did not attend the constituency political broadcast on Tuesday, 7 July, and thus failed to address the Radin Mas SMC voters.

He is contesting against People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Mr Melvin Yong.

RP’s chairman, Mr Andy Zhu, came out and explained in a statement that it was an “unfortunate event that has happened under unforeseen circumstances which resulted in us missing the recording”.

Mr Zhu apologised and said, “We, therefore, hope for your kind understanding.”

In an attempt to make up for it, Mr Appavoo will be appearing in front of the public to address them on his social media platforms instead. So do keep a lookout especially if you’re a resident of Radin Mas.

And by the way, Mr Appavoo is the fourth RP candidate to have missed the constituency political broadcasts. Do you know who the other three candidates are?

Ang Mo Kio GRC

Last Friday, instead of all five candidates turning up for the Ang Mo Kio GRC constituency political broadcast, only two showed up – 30-year-old Mr Charles Yeo and 52-year-old Ms Noraini Yunus.

The remaining three, 61-year-old RP secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, 37-year-old Mr Zhu, and 52-year-old Mr Darren Soh, were not present.

But isn’t the broadcast of significant importance? Why did they miss it? 

Well, according to Mr Yeo who gave an explanation to The Straits Times, Mr Jeyaretnam was still serving a compulsory 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) after he just returned to Singapore from the United Kingdom on 25 June.

Unfortunately, Mr Soh wasn’t feeling well on Friday and Mr Zhu was not let into the recording studio despite “rushing from an earlier place”.

Previously, Mr Jeyaretnam claimed that RP was not given due notice for the recording schedule of the broadcast, but the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) subsequently issued a statement refuting his claims.

Mr Yeo commented, “The main point is we are very short-handed and limited on resources fighting this campaign.”

And on a side note, candidates have been talking about NCMP (Non-Constituency Member of Parliament) in recent days. So, what’s an NCMP? Do you know that it’s just like an MP but the allowance is much lower? Watch this video to find out more: