I saw THIS POST that shared one very well-received speech by Mr Chiam See Tong in Parliament back in the days. In that one, he spoke of what he thought would make a good and patriotic opposition and he also spoke of how he’s saddened about who ran (and still runs) SDP. Chiam said,
To me, above all, in the Opposition, we must be good and patriotic Singaporeans. We must not go around the world denouncing Singapore…. (omitted)… Singapore has a viable system and I do not think that any Opposition should try to sing to the tune of people outside Singapore, whose intentions are in fact questionable in regard to the prosperity and success of Singapore.
Or watch part of the speech here.
I have three main beef with Chee Soon Juan. One is that I seriously doubt his patriotism. Two, I doubt his definition of loyalty. Three, he appears to be overly obsessed with the notion of freedom of expression and pursuit of human rights. Yea, THE WHOLE DEMOCRACY, FAIRIES AND TINKLEBELL BUSINESS.
Hehe, I can almost imagine Mr Lee Kuan Yew saying, ‘IS IT BANKABLE? CAN IT GIVE YOU FOOD?’
First things first, on patriotism. I’m totally with Chiam in that we don’t go overseas, take to the stage and give a speech badmouthing our own country and our own political leadership (which has been voted in via the usual democratic elections.) This is the guy who’s spent years and years badmouthing our nation and leaders to any foreigner who cares to listen.
And even when he could not travel, he would make recorded speeches and upload onto Youtube. I don’t want to drive traffic to him anymore than necessary, so you can go google yourself if you’re interested.
Not so long ago, he even made a recorded speech and appeal to Obama, the President of the United States of America. Ya, I know right *roll eyes*
So what exactly did he wanna fight for? Human rights, ya? Human rights as defined by whom? The Western ideologies and all, yea, yea, I get it, Chee was educated in the States. The whole notion of human rights and absolute freedom must be such a romantic thing. He’d spent a large part of his life fighting for ‘freedom and democracy’. Yes, the resilience is admirable. But take note, this man is fighting for something he personally believes in, which are essentially the Western ideals of a very open and very free society. I’m not convinced that’s the right model to import into our society in its full ‘glory’.
Anyway, my point is all these years, he’s fighting for his personal dream of democracy which is based off the Western ideology of freedom and civil liberties. He is NOT exactly fighting to serve the people or better your lives in the everyday Singaporean sense, you know, the more realistic and less romantic bread-and-butter issues.
So, yes, he had appealed to Obama to step in and interfere in OUR nation’s affairs, despite knowing that our two countries share rather close ties. And hey, what about this thing called soverignity? I personally see that as an important thing, even if we’re like a sneeze of an island in the big blue sea.
And what was he fighting for, again?
Oh, here. Let’s see, the right to speak our minds, to choose our leaders, and to be treated with respect and dignity.
Strange. We both live in the small little red dot, and yet in two separate bubbles. I say we have the right to speak our minds RESPONSIBLY. In my mind, we don’t necessarily have to adopt the Western idea and ideal of what freedom of speech entails. We’re an Asian country with different value systems, different cultural nuances, different everything.
So like what PM LEE has said before,
‘I agree with Minister Yaacob Ibrahim that freedom of speech does not come free from the need to be responsible for what one says, either online or offline. This is a tough problem to solve, but we need to develop our own ways to keep online conduct civil and constructive.’
Oh, read these interesting opinion pieces on freedom of speech too, one by learned and renowned academic and writer CHERIAN GEORGE and one by a younger person writing from OFFBEAT PERSPECTIVES.)
What else? Chee wanted President Obama to come fight for us for our right to choose our leaders??!! *incredulous* Is Chee saying that our elections are not clean? Or that we’ve been deprived of the choice to vote? I think we have a clean, honest polling system, yo.
Or perhaps he’s talking about the high(?) barriers to entry? And really, what can the President of the United States of America do huh? Like apply trade sanctions or something on us so that our government will yield to pressure? Is he trying to work with a foreign country to undermine Singapore’s sovereignty? Like I said, I have a big hairy issue with that. Anyway, the barriers are there for a reason, to deter unqualified or unsuitable candidates, and also to ensure that people take it seriously and not ‘anyhowly’ sign up to run for election.
Or is he trying to say that opposition parties don’t get the same platforms to reach out to the public? Maybe in the past, definitely less so these days. Not in this day and age of Internet and social media. There’re plenty of alternative media sites and other online publication that would be more than willing to carry Chee’s stories, I’m sure. And please, of course, the incumbent has more RESOURCES, but the opportunities are open for all parties to sell their snake-oil to the residents and voters. Yes, including OPPOSITION PARTIES.
And what’s the next one, that we’re human beings and oughta be treated with respect and dignity? Really? Chee, you really think this is such a big problem here in Singapore that you have to complain all the way to the US? Like really really?
I’m very sure you don’t speak for ALL of us, so don’t you go play hero and run to Uncle Sam.
A ‘freedom fighter’ point?
I get a little worried whenever I read stuff about people warming up to Chee, ‘HUMANISING’ CHEE, claiming Chee is a changed man, or worse, Chee is THE man.
The number of people buying CHEE’s BOOKS (Is it true? I heard that someone had offered $10,000 to buy his book??), the LONG SNAKING LINES for his autograph, the fan-articles, the fan-vids… Scary. At the risk of being described as scare-mongering, I am of the opinion that the man’s the same, just that he’s learnt to package and repackage. With his formal training and some gift of the gab, Chee is potentially a ‘dangerous’ man. Don’t play with the voters’ minds, please.
Perhaps the younger generation doesn’t remember his antics. Antics spanning some or over two decades. But the older ones amongst us probably remember. I know I do. He is the comeback kid alright, and with better showmanship too.
Looks like Pat Law remembers too.
She’d said,
I understand if one’s showmanship is valued more in today’s world of Kardashians.
But if you are a grown man, and you betrayed the same mentor who groomed you, and stabbed him in the back so hard, it says a lot about the darkness of your heart.
Call me old fashioned but guess what? I prefer one who wears Loyalty on his sleeves, then Charisma as a jacket, and Excuses for cufflinks.
You forced your mentor out of the party he founded. Let’s not forget that.
You want to talk about compassion and forgiveness? Dude, you were 30 years of age when you stabbed your mentor. What did you suffer from? Massive growth deficiency?
I wish the younger generation witnessed the evilness of this man then. Maybe they would see the bullshit I see now.
This blogger HERE remembers too.
Hee, wanna know how the blogger’s friend replied to the blogger about whether Chee Soon Juan has a real chance at the Holland Bukit Timah GRC? Check HERE.
Yes, Chiam had founded the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), and Chee had been his protege at one point in time. Later, IT WAS CHEE WHO HAD OUSTED CHIAM FROM THE VERY PARTY HE HAD FOUNDED. Click HERE for another account of what Mrs Chiam had said.
To me, betraying someone is a biggie, tells a lot about the person’s character. And to betray the very hand that fed you, and to drive someone out from his own ‘home’, that’s on a totally different dimension. Way too serious to just wave off. Call me a conservative prude or whatever, I don’t really care and I probably am, but I think this is too big a deal to just forget.
Sure, we all make mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance. But in this case, I’m purporting that we don’t forget even if we forgive. When assessing someone for office or when voting someone into Parliament, the candidate’s character is important, isn’t it? All I’m suggesting is that we take the bad with the all the new-good that you see. Take the betrayal incident into consideration when the residents of the Holland-Bukit-Timah GRC weight in for Polling Day tomorrow.
If you’re unsure of what Chee has done in the past, you can read up on the earlier part of his political/activist career HERE, and you can click HERE for some of the more recent happenings.
And that’s not the worst. Check THIS out.
He often goes around saying he’s been jailed and all, but remember to ask, Why?
If it’s been proven beyond reasonable doubt that Chee had broken the law, then why should he not be charged? If he’s been warned against not doing something or if he knows jolly well a certain deed is illegal but chooses to do it anyway, why should he not be charged?
Yes, he had called LKY and PM Lee murderers, robbers, child molesters and rapists. And he had called them those names in court. You don’t think it’s serious enough? I do. And surely the Court would take him to task, no?
So when he talks about being jailed, you should find out ‘Why‘.
He might play the gentleman onstage now, but I guess I just cannot forget the gangsterly way he had heckled ESM Goh Chok Tong back in 2001.
Don’t think I’m just saying it. The facts show it all.
Even Jeremy Chen, someone who had worked very closely with the SDP leadership and even on some of the POLICY PAPERS SDP has presented to the public (but he didn’t get no credit, sobsss), had come out and said this of Chee,
Lots more dirt where this came from, click HERE for more.
In a more recent blogpost in July, Jeremy Chen said SDP lacks integrity, called Chee a liar and even urged voters not to vote for SDP. He gave a couple of examples, read HERE.
In case you’re wondering, Jeremy has RESIGNED FROM SDP.
Chen has also taken to Facebook to share his view that SDP will be totally incapable of managing a town council *shudders if they win*
Apparently someone has asked Jeremy Chen why he had such a big axe to grind against SDP and he has replied HERE. Of course, I’ve no way of knowing whether Jeremy Chen’s accounts were true, but hey, they’re all online and publicly available. If he ain’t telling the truth, then I say this guy has guts and ain’t afraid of Dr Chee or the party going after him.
Now Jeremy Chen ain’t the only ex-SDP member who doesn’t have nice things to say about Chee. There’s another Jarrod Luo, also ex-SDP, who is also quite open about his disdain towards Chee. Here’s one.
Say or think what you will. But there are just too many anecdotes and too many ill feels from people who actually know. Of course some people would be more forgiving and magnanimous than me and think Chee deserves a chance to be sent into Parliament. Especially since he’s been fighting for our ‘freedom’ for so long. But harlow, lots of us work and fight very hard for what we believe in too. We don’t always get what we want. Such is life.
Don’t get me wrong, like I’d said, I really am also all for second chances. I think Chee should be given all the fair chances in the world and even on planet Mars too to find a job and contribute to the society and buy some ice-cream for the family, even when it’s not on offer. But to have him represent the people in Parliament is quite another matter. Then candidates from all sides will have to be assessed. If PAP gives you a good candidate who is likely to do well, should you then deprive this candidate of a chance to serve the people because you think Chee has waited long enough? I say be fair, and be fair to the PAP candidates too. They are people too, you know.
So now, let’s consider things from a more objective view. Someone (John Low, an ex-educator) has studied SDP’s policy papers on education. And here’s what he said (post has gone quite far, over 2000 shares),
Here’s a follow-up post John published in response to some of the comments and questions raised in the first post.
John also commented on SDP’s proposal to cut our defence budget to fund HEALTHCARE POLICIES
HERE’s another blogpost from a young Singaporean girl (Econs student to boot) sharing her thoughts on SDP’s proposed policies as a Holland-Bukit Timah GRC resident.
In the spirit of celebrating diversity and all, will also include links to SUDHIR THOMAS VADAKETH’s POST and YEOH LAM KEONG’s VIEWS on SDP’s proposed policies.
I’ve blogged here about how I have issues with his (lack of) patriotism and loyalty. The third one’s about how I don’t think he is a realistic and practical man at all. We’re a super duper teeny weeny island of a country with no natural resources. We have to STAY PRACTICAL, STAY ‘PROFITABLE’ and keep that iron in us. I’ve blogged more about the third part HERE
Still want to vote for them? Please think twice.
The Chosen Media News 
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