>There are two issues I have with the current SDP, led by Dr Chee, which I am not comfortable with. They are.
- Chiam’s ouster as Sec Gen.
- SDP’s obsession with Human Rights (which includes support from foreigners).
Now, I believe that every party has a right to explain. So where can I find answers to my above concerns? Yes, from SDP themselves.
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/truth-about/faqs
Why did Dr Chee kick Mr Chiam See Tong out of the SDP?
He didn’t. It was Mr Chiam who resigned as secretary-general of the SDP.
Following the election in 1993, Dr Chee was sacked by the National University of Singapore where he was a Lecturer. Dr Chee went on a hunger strike as a mark of protest. Mr Chiam first supported Dr Chee’s action but later changed his mind and called for the Party to censure his the assistant secretary-general (Dr Chee was elected to the post in February 1993).
None of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) members supported Mr Chiam’s motion whereupon the Party leader tended his resignation, citing that he had lost the confidence of his colleagues.
A few of the CEC members, including Dr Chee, tried to persuade Mr Chiam to remain as secretary-general. However, Mr Chiam stated that he would do so only if he could be granted the power to appoint and dismiss the Party’s cadre members. He also wanted the removal of Mr Wong Hong Toy as vice-chairman.
Under the Party’s constitution a simple majority of the CEC was needed to appoint cadre members, not any one individual leader. The CEC did not have the constitutional power to accede to Mr Chiam’s demands.
A few weeks later, Mr Chiam gave a speech at the Singapore Press Club attacking the Party’s leadership in a vicious manner. Ironically, it was he who forbade leaders from criticising the party after they left it by making them sign oaths.
It was only after his speech at the Singapore Press Clubs, which is always looking for an opportunity to run down the opposition, that the CEC voted to expel Mr Chiam.
(The Press Club had extended a similar invitation to Dr Chee to counter Mr Chiam. Knowing that the PAP-controlled media had every intention to fan the flames Dr Chee declined the invitation. But when he subsequently informed the organizers that he would speak but on the Party’s alternative policy ideas instead of the altercation with Mr Chiam, the Press Club withdrew the invitation.)
Despite all this Dr Chee approached Mr Chiam a few months later to invite him to join an SDP delegation that was going to visit the Australian Parliament in Canberra. Mr Chiam declined.
The PAP has seized on this matter and deliberately portrayed the falsehood that Dr Chee ousted Mr Chiam from the SDP.
My response -
That is what SDP claims. However, as the saying goes, what is unsaid speaks louder than what is said. My points to SDP are:
1. Why was there a need for Chee to take over as Sec Gen so soon? If Chee was sincere, he would have kept that post vacant. There was NO HURRY to fill that vacancy, unless there was no intention to get Chiam back to that position.
2. Why was there a need to expel Chiam? After all, he was no longer an office-holder. Didn’t Chee anticipate that the press would take the opportunity to taint SDP with internal conflicts? If he did not anticipate, it means Chee is not fit to be a politician because he has shown he lacks political skills. If he did anticipate, that’s worse. It means that in spite of the bad publicity that would come, he still very much truly wanted Chiam out.
Why does the Singapore Democrats focus on human rights issues and not bread-and-butter issues?
This is not true. The SDP has repeatedly brought up pocket-book issues such as cost of living, withholding of our CPF funds, jobs for Singaporeans, minimum wage, ministers’ pay and so on.
Our newspaper, The New Democrat, regularly focuses on these issues as we are aware that these are matters that Singaporeans are concerned about. Our flyers and speeches during the elections discuss nothing but such issues.
Our Campaign Against Repression and Exploitation of Singaporeans 2008 (CARES ’08) as well as the People Against Poverty (PAP) campaign in 2002 testify to our intense interest in such issues.
The SDP has even published an Economic Report in 1995 specifically on matters related to bread-and-butter issues. SDP also fought the Government on healthcare costs in Parliament in a Select Committee hearing.
Dr Chee’s books such as Dare to Change; Your Future, My faith, Our Freedom; and A Nation Cheated regularly focus on economic issues
In fact, Dr Chee has been repeatedly prosecuted and jailed because he insists on talking to Singaporeans about cost-of-living issues.
So it is patently untrue to say that SDP does not bring up kitchen-table issues. The reason why Singaporeans don’t think that the SDP is talking enough about these topics is because the mainstream press refuses to report on such matters whenever the SDP raises them.
Having said this, issues about the people’s civil and political rights are just as important. Without these rights Singaporeans cannot pressure the PAP Government to listen to them. this allows the PAP to continue to raise the GST, introduce price hikes, increasing the salaries of the ministers even as the poor continue to see their wages shrink.
elections are controlled by the PAP to the extent that there is little or no chance for the opposition candidates to be elected in enough numbers to make any difference in parliament. One way to resolve this problem is to pressure the PAP to reform the election system to make it free and fair.
Ironically to do this, we need to first claim back our political rights of freedom of speech and assembly.
So it is crucially important for the opposition to talk about bread-and-butter issues while at the same time emphasize on the need for the people’s civil and political rights.
My response – My god! What a non-answer! Where is that part they explain their incessant need to fight for Human Rights?
None! Zilch! Zero! Looks like they are behaving like the very PAP they are trying to replace.
My View on why getting Foreign Involvement is Playing with Fire – It appears that why SDP likes to play up this Human Rights stuff is because it gets outsiders to fund their cause. Now, I am not against external funding itself, but that comes with a price. You see, there is no such thing as a free lunch. The moment you get outside help, they expect you to do what they want you to do.
But this is Singapore, and Singaporeans should decide what is best for us, not foreigners. So what’s with this Human Rights stuff, which has such a strong bond with foreign parties?
Now before you think I am paranoid about foreign influence, let me remind you that SDP has of late, turned very, very pro-gay. And that’s due to foreign influence, isn’t it? Because they fund Chee, SDP is now beholden to them. Here is evidence that SDP is now not only very obsessed with Human Rights Stuff, but also with Gay Issues as can be seen here – SDP’s Gay Agenda.
And of course, it is no surprise then that prominent Gay Activist Alex Au, tries to explain away SDP’s involvement with foreign parties -
Foreign funding a necessary antidote in authoritarian states
I remain unconvinced Chee and SDP are sincere in helping Singaporeans.
