Streats: Former directors join Workers' Party

FORMER Think Centre directors James Gomez and Yaw Shin Leong have joined the Workers' Party (WP).

The party, gearing up for elections, is trying to inject new blood into the party.

Mr Gomez, 36, and Mr Yaw, 25, are two of the many new names in the 15-member party central executive council set up last month.

They will work closely with new WP secretary-general and Hougang MP Low Thia Kiang to seek voter support, said party chairman Dr Tan Bin Seng.

They will also help revive the party's newsletter, The Hammer, which was suspended for defamation in 1995.

Mr Gomez, a Bangkok-based researcher at German Friedrich Naumann Foundation, wants the opposition to provide a viable alternative to the People's Action Party in the long run.

Mr Yaw is an arts graduate of the National University of Singapore and a former Democratic Socialist Club president.

He said yesterday that he supports the WP's stand on issues such as freedom, democratic socialism and democracy.