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Straits
Times wants opposition unity to defeat the PAP? Think again
[Revised version]
Singapore
Democrats
5 Mar 08
In his article "The partitioning of the opposition"
(ST, 29 Feb 08) Mr Peh Shing Huei wants Singaporeans to believe
that he desires a more united opposition to counter the PAP
"hegemon".
This coming from a journalist
writing for a newspaper owned by the PAP Government. So what is
Mr Peh's real agenda? Here are a few pointers:
Mr Peh
labels the Singapore Democrats as "radicals" for our
"brazen actions flouting the law." In the context of
his piece, this is a bad thing to be shunned by society.
What
Mr Peh doesn't point out is that it is not the Singapore
Democrats who are flouting laws but rather the PAP which is
making up and/or using unjust laws to deny citizens our
constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly, rights
essential to our well-being.
I have written countless
articles and even published a book to explain why civil
disobedience is the correct and necessary response to a
government that rules by whim.
A good example is the
recent banning of the planned SDP protest outside Parliament
House on 15 March 2008. In contrast CASE was allowed to hold a
similar event at the same venue in 2007 and will do so again on
16 March this year.
Yet the writer glibly ignores all
this, opting to portray SDP as a bunch of renegades out to wreak
havoc in Singapore.
In contrast, Mr Peh paints the
"moderates" as "limit[ing] their challenges to the
Government to constitutional means, contesting elections for
seats." How can such a democratic approach to politics be
criticised?
(Mr Peh's use of
the loaded terms "radicals" for the SDP and "moderates"
for the others is telling.)
What he doesn't tell readers
is that the PAP bribes and intimidates voters, fixes the
opposition, and makes up the rules as it goes along.
The
opposition has been playing the game under PAP rules for close to
half-a-century with disastrous results. The SDP is calling
attention to the fact that these rules must be reviewed and
reformed, and for elections to be run by a genuinely neutral
body. How radical is this?
Mr Peh further writes that
"moderates focus more on bread-and-butter issues...Not so
for the radicals."
A check of the
SDP's website shows this to be completely false. We have
consistently and repeatedly raised bread-and-butter issues like
the price hikes, HDB prices, withholding of CPF funds, etc.
It is the media
that censors our views. They then use this lack of coverage to
tell the people that the Singapore Democrats are not focused on
such matters.
Mr Peh also tries to give the impression
that it is Mr J B Jeyaretnam and I who are not interested in
opposition cooperation. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The SDP organized a
forum for election reform and invited all opposition parties to
participate. We will continue to urge opposition parties to come
together on this issue.
Past events also
show that the SDP has tried to work towards greater opposition
cooperation.
The columnist
points out that support for the Singapore Democrats in the
Internet has grown. This is because the SDP does not take our
support for granted. We work for it.
If
we make sense to the people instead of patronising them, we will
win their support.
In cyberspace, the PAP cannot censor
or distort our views, and because of this people can see the
truth for themselves and who is really worthy of their support.
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore
Democratic Party
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