New Reform Party leaders - Straits Times

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By Kor Kian Beng & Jeremy Au Yong

THE opposition Reform Party unveiled a new central executive committee at a dinner on Friday night which marked the party's birth just over a year ago.

It also released its manifesto and outlined its plans to attract more members and to contest the next election which is due by early 2012.

The seven-member central executive committee is led by secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, 50. The hedge fund manager took over the reins in April.

He is the elder son of the late opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam who registered the party in April last year but died last September.

Other key office holders named at a press conference ahead of its first anniversary dinner were chairman Edmund Ng, 36, and treasurer James Teo, 50.

Mr Jeyaretnam told reporters that the 30-strong Reform Party aims to recruit 60 more over the next year. It plans to do this through twice-weekly open house meetings at its Chinatown office and by boosting its online presence through new media tools like social networking websites, he said.

The party is also awaiting approval from the Media Development Authority to publish a regular newsletter, added Mr Jeyaretnam.

The party, which also has plans for weekly walkabouts in constituencies islandwide, held its first one in Geylang Serai last weekend.

As for whether it is ready for the next election, he said: 'It's been only four months since I took over. We've recruited credible candidates.

'It is just a matter of focusing either on Group Representative Constituencies or single member constituencies.'