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2010 a defining year for the Democrats
Monday, 27 December 2010
Singapore Democrats
The year 2010 will go down in history as the SDP’s defining moment, not just because it marked our 30
years in Singapore’s politics but it signaled a time of tremendous
change for our party – a renaissance of sorts, if we may be so
bold.
But rather than just tell you about it, we’ll take you through
the past twelve months and let you judge for yourselves if you have
witnessed a new party emerge ready to assume its rightful place in
Singapore’s political scene.
It started soberly enough when the secretary-general challenged
Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong that Singapore practiced the rule of
law after the CJ had defended the system here in a speech to the
New York City Bar Association.
As if to undermine its own case, the Judiciary continued to
convict SDP leaders for activities like
walking down Orchard Road in a protest and for distributing flyers
demonstrating our opposition to the Government. Gandhi Ambalam,
Chee Soon Juan and Chee Siok Chin served several jail terms
throughout the year starting in January.
That same month Dr Chee, speaking in Chinese, delivered the
party’s Lunar New Year Message. We also saw Young Democrat Muhd
Shamin off to the European Parliament for a 3-month internship.
One of the biggest events for the year must surely be our 30th
anniversary dinner. Dazzle with the Democrats was one celebration
where we poured our heart and soul into and, according to many who
were present, one that will go down as a historical benchmark in
the annals of Singapore’s political opposition.
It didn’t end there. We also published a landmark commemorative
magazine that to this day continue to get glowing feedback. “I
never thought the opposition can come up with something so
attractive” is the common refrain that we hear.
We continued our Let’s Talk series with Mr Michael Fernandez, Mr
Ng Yi-Sheng and Dr James Gomez.
In March, we launched our online alternative economic programme
at a public forum where we focused on the minimum wage and how to
improve economic productivity.
Our worst fears about Sheng Siong came true. The company had
raised the rent of its tenants by 30 percent after it bought over
the market over.
We tried to engage Bukit Panjang MP Dr Teo Ho Pin to get him to
intervene on behalf of the people but he refused, citing some
mumbo-jumbo about the free market.
April was dominated by a series of articles we published
documenting Mr Chiam See Tong’s departure from the SDP. This was in response to an unprovoked attack by Mrs
Lina Chiam who had continued to propagate the untruth that Dr Chee
had ousted Mr Chiam from the party. This was the first time that Dr
Chee had written extensively about episode to set the record
straight once and for all.
Dr Chee also invited NUS political
scientist Bilveer Singh for a meeting to correct the falsehood
published in his book that Dr Chee had usurped Mr Chiam’s position
in the SDP. Dr Singh avoided returning Dr
Chee’s numerous emails and calls.
In May, the Singapore Democrats facilitated a meeting of the
opposition parties with visiting officials from the Liberal
International and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats. We
repeated our call for greater opposition coorperation but none of
the parties took up the offer.
Throughout the year, we continued our campaign of walkabouts and
house visiits at the Bukit Panjang SMC and
Bishan-Toa Payog GRC. We wrote a letter to
the Prime Minister’s Office, calling on the Governent to leave
Bukit Panjang as a single-seat constituency so that we can contest
Dr Teo Ho Pin there.
The Young Democrats helped to organise a youth workshop in
Singapore with the Young Liberals and emocrats in Asia (YLDA) to
train youth leaders in management skils.
In June, the heavens opened up and the rains lashed the
PAP’s hubris that floods in Singapore are a
rare occurence because of the great infrastructure put in place.
Each downpour brought new embarassment for the Government as areas
all over the isalnd became flooded. The Democrats called for
accountability from the Environment Minister.
In July we continued with our community care service and visited
an old folks’ home in the Western part of Singapore. That same
month, Assistant Secretary-General John Tan attended President
Noynoy Aquino’s inauguration after his landlside victory in the
Philippines’ polls.
That same month, the party found a new home as we moved to a new
office to step up preparation for GE. The new premises was
organised to help sharpen our organisation for the elections.
Information Minister Lui Tuck Yew inexplicably held up the
renewal of our newspaper licence for three months. He relented only
when we posted the information on this website.
In August, we published a 3-part series in which we kept on
course with our promise to build a party that is Competent.
Constructive. Compassionate.
For much of October the Democrats spoke up repeatedly on the
incompetence of Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan with his inept
handling of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. The budget was
blown out of the water and for which we received almost zero
attention from the international community.
Dr Chee Soon Juan continued with the record-breaking video
series with his response to PM Lee Hsien Loong’s ND Rally speech.
He took Mr Lee to task over the Government’s immigration policy of
indiscriminately letting foreigners into Singapore en masse.
The party continued with its message to warn Singaporeans of the
PAP’s intention of forcing our population up
to 6.5 million.
September was a momentous time for us as we achieved another
political first in Singapore by staging our pre-election rally at
Hong Lim Park. Mr Vincent Cheng, Dr Vincent Wijeysingha and Mr Tan
Kin Lian attracted much attention as speakers.
The SDP also held a dry run for the
general elections. Exercise Lightning Block was held in conjunction
with the pre-election rally to test the capability of the party to
take on the organisational tests during the elections.
October saw the pasing away of Mrs Kwa Geok Choo. Dr Chee wrote
a letter to Mr Lee Kuan Yew that went viral on the Internet. In it,
he commiserated with the MM and at the same time called for him to
stop his autocratic ways.
That same month Danny the Democracy Bear burst onto the poltical
scene and attracted much attention both on the ground as well as in
the media.
We held a second pre-election rally in November which we called
It’s About You. The rally demonstrated the strength and depth of
the party’s organising ability. We also launched our alternative
economic plan which we also titled It’s About You.
November continued to be a busy month as we announced our
intention to contest in the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. We had been working in the area for the past year
and had been assessing the situation in the constituency for quite
a while.
Dr Vincent Wijeysingha introduced himself with a powerful piece
titled I will not be threatened while Dr Chee repeated his calls to
the Judiciary to protect the freedoms of speech and assembly of
Singaporeans during his appeals in the High Court.
And that, dear friends, sums up 2010 for the Singapore
Democrats. We hope it was as thrilling a year for us as it was for
you. Our biggest gratification was that we had many people telling
us that we had shown what an opposition is capable of. It was an
indication that the SDP was not just in
opposition but also a party capable of effective
administration.
2010 will go down as a defining year for the SDP. To all our friends and supporters, we thank you for
your faith in us and your support all these years. Now for
2011…