Tan Cheng Bock uninvited from Istana CNY party
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PA used wrong list and invited Tan Cheng Bock by mistake: Lim Swee Say
The People's Association made a mistake and used an old invitation list instead of an updated one.
That is how it ended up inviting and then uninviting former People's Action Party Member of Parliament and presidential candidate Dr Tan Cheng Bock to a Chinese New Year garden party.
The party is an annual event for past and present grassroots leaders and this year's is taking place this Sunday evening at the Istana.
That was the explanation given by Mr Lim Swee Say, the deputy chairman of the PA and labour chief, in response to media queries on Friday hours after Dr Tan posted on his Facebook page a status update on being uninvited.
"It is most unfortunate that PA made the mistake of using the old list instead of the updated list. We are sorry for the error, and this is why I phoned Mr Tan and the other affected invitees personally to explain the mistake, and followed up with personal e-mails to apologise again," Mr Lim said.
He added that the list of invitees is reviewed and refreshed periodically to allow a wider base of people who serve the community to attend the yearly 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," he added.
Mr Lim did not say how many invitees were affected by this mistake, or who they are.
He added that he was "heartened that Mr Tan very graciously accepted my explanation over the phone" and is "surprised that he now brings this up publicly as an issue".
Dr Tan's post has gathered almost 2,000 likes and more than 800 shares since it was put online on Friday morning.
He told The Straits Times that he decided to write about in on Facebook because many grassroots leaders had asked if he would be attending the event.
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gian png.
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Ok.
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got budget
not enought tables for everyone
so gotta be "selective"
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which PA in the PA made this mistake?
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maybe is just a poor excuse for deciding change of plans internally
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Not the first time, won't be the last.
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This must be a very happening party that everybody wants to attend.
Maybe even better than zoukout.
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Mistake 1 - they used the wrong list.
Mistake 2 - to resolve mistake 1, they rescind their invitation.
Mistake 3 - Lim Swee Say tried to act surprise to make the mistakes sound less wrong.
He added that he was "heartened that Mr Tan very graciously accepted my explanation over the phone" and is "surprised that he now brings this up publicly as an issue".
It's not up to him to decide whether Mr Tan has accepted his explanation. Mr Tan probably knew Lim Swee Say was just acting as a mouthpiece to tell Mr Tan not to go.
Instead of putting on his facebook, did PAP, PA and Lim Swee Say expect Mr Tan to keep quiet and thus sweep this mistake under the carpet?
To think that these people can't even conduct a simple social grace, can they run a country?
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maybe later will just put the blame on some intern
now is make sure use the right list to send the "thanks for coming" note
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Originally posted by Honeybunz:
Mistake 1 - they used the wrong list.
Mistake 2 - to resolve mistake 1, they rescind their invitation.
Mistake 3 - Lim Swee Say tried to act surprise to make the mistakes sound less wrong.
It's not up to him to decide whether Mr Tan has accepted his explanation. Mr Tan probably knew Lim Swee Say was just acting as a mouthpiece to tell Mr Tan not to go.
Instead of putting on his facebook, did PAP, PA and Lim Swee Say expect Mr Tan to keep quiet and thus sweep this mistake under the carpet?
To think that these people can't even conduct a simple social grace, can they run a country?
Event organising ish not simpur even for 69 people.
Imagine 6.9 million people.
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I would like to see them doing the same when they give out PR and citizenships.
And then expect the foreigners not to be angry & post on facebook, but graciously accept the apology.
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"it was an honest mistake"
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Let's move on.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
gian png.
Haha heihei!