Straits Times: WP names young duo as webmasters
BY KEN KWEK
TWO young members of the Workers' Party (WP) leadership have been tasked to take charge of the party's website, following the recent resignation of two senior members, including its former webmaster Goh Meng Seng.
Mr Brandon Siow, 31, who stood as a candidate in East Coast GRC in the last General Election, is now the party's webmaster.
Miss Glenda Han, 30, secretary of the party's youth wing, has been appointed deputy webmaster, taking over from Mr Siow.
The new appointments, which were announced on the party's website, came after Mr Goh resigned from the WP last month.
The reason he gave was that he had given the party a "bad image" in a disagreement he had with WP critics on an online forum.
Earlier this month, lawyer Chia Ti Lik, who was deputy organising secretary and member of the party's central executive council (CEC), also quit the party. He said he was unhappy with the rules the party imposed on CEC members when using the Internet.
IT consultant Yaw Shin Leong, 30, the party's organising secretary told The Straits Times yesterday that there were no immediate plans to replace Mr Chia.
"The department is running well, so we're keeping that position vacant at the moment," he said.
After the two resignations, party chief Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim said the WP's leadership had issued a set of Internet guidelines disallowing CEC members from participating in online forums using their real names.
This was to keep the forums non-partisan, they explained.
Yesterday, Miss Han, a WP candidate in Ang Mo Kio GRC during the May elections, said she and Mr Siow would be in charge of updating information on the party's website.
But they would not be monitoring the Internet to ensure party members adhered to the new guidelines, she added.
"I think the new rule preventing CEC members from joining Internet forums in their real name is not unreasonable. The party must have a unified stand without contradicting statements from individuals," she said.
"But that is distinct from my new role as deputy webmaster, which is technical, not regulatory," she said.
