SDP Assistant Secretary-General John Tan will represent the party at the inauguration of Philippines' President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino. Mr Aquino of the Liberal Party (LP) won the presidential elections held last month and will be sworn in this Wednesday.
The SDP has been invited to the swearing-in ceremony of Mr Aquino as part of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) of which the party and LP are member parties.
The SDP delegation will also attend the inauguration ball scheduled to take place on Wednesday evening.
Mr Aquino is the son of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and Corazon Aquino. Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in 1983 when he returned from exile in the US. His murder resulted in an outpouring of grief. His wife Cory Aquino took up the mantle and challenged Ferdinand Marcos in the ensuing presidential elections.
When Marcos lost but refused to relinquish power, a popular revolt took place which saw the dictator evicted from Malacanang Palace.
Mr John Tan is currently participating in a conference entitled "Asian Liberal Parties in Power: Getting There, Remaining There” (see photo above). He is accompanied by Young Democrat Muhd Khalis. President-elect Nonynoy Aquino will deliver the keynote address today.
Following the swearing-in ceremony, the SDP assistant secretary-general will travel to Krakow, Poland to attend the Community of Democracies High Level Meeting from 2-4 Jul 10. Mr Tan will represent Dr Chee Soon Juan at the event.
Dr Chee was prohibited from attending the conference when the Official Assignee rejected his travel application because of his bankruptcy status. He is a member of the International Steering Committee, the governing body of a group set up to engage the Community of Democracies during the ministerial meetings.
The Community of Democracies is an international organisation of democratic countries which meets biennially to explore ways of promoting democracy worldwide. Singapore government has not been invited to any of the meetings.
Tue 29 Jun 2010 9:46 AM
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Eddie - Papies too late; catching up...
During the funeral of the late President Aquino, no papies garhmen officials were in attendance as the garhmen never expected or anticipated that her son would become President! What I always wanted to highlight most of the time in the past was that the papies always say that Spore oppositions do not have talented or 'scholars' to lead the garhmen; but the truth of the matter is; given a chance anyone in the democratic world can be a leader! The late President Aquino was a housewife; and she rosed to the occasion when called upon by the people's power and ruled a much larger country without those papies scholastic and high and mighty arrogant ruling party! Basically down to earth and connect with the people is more important! The point here is that; anyone, remember the actor the late Ronald Reagan could also lead the gigantic USA!
Now that the son of the late Cory is assuming the role of the Presidency the papies scramble to 'sa ka or three legged' by sending BG Yeo to attend the inauguration! Maybe thru your good connections via CALD you may highlight the foregoing points to the counter party there with the view that your representative may be sitting side-by-side BG Yeo or more prominently than BG Yeo to 'lou gui' the papies garhmen! Ha! Ha! this is karma!
Now that the son of the late Cory is assuming the role of the Presidency the papies scramble to 'sa ka or three legged' by sending BG Yeo to attend the inauguration! Maybe thru your good connections via CALD you may highlight the foregoing points to the counter party there with the view that your representative may be sitting side-by-side BG Yeo or more prominently than BG Yeo to 'lou gui' the papies garhmen! Ha! Ha! this is karma!