Finally, a member from the Alternative Political Party that dare
to speak the truth to debunk the LKY propaganda that is listened
with silent awe .
"In 2006 the PAP were able to gain 37 seats on Nomination
Day without having to contest them, because candidates could not be
found to stand in these constituencies.
This is a travesty of how the democratic process is supposed
to work… So not only do we need you to vote, we also need those
among you with the necessary abilities and determination and, that
share our vision and beliefs to come forward and join the
Party…"
‘Wake Up! Stand Up! Sign Up!’
Written by Administrator
Mr J B Jeyaretnam, in his inaugural speech of the Reform Party
said,
“Cast off the slumber into which you have been led for the last
50 years, wake up to your rights as a human being, to your proper
role as citizens of this country.”
Philip Jeyaretnam - Walkabout
Recently we were given a history lesson in Parliament, by our
Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew, no less. We were told that in the US, despite the phrase
from the Declaration of Independence that “all men were created
equal”, it took till 1964 for the Voting Rights Act to be passed.
This Act prevented the former slave-owning states in the US using a
number of subterfuges to prevent black Americans from voting. It
was then remarked that it took nearly another fifty years for
America to elect its first Black President.
I suppose that this was
to illustrate that Singaporeans could not expect dramatic changes
to the way they were governed when after all such reforms had taken
200 odd years in the US. The
Analogy is in the first place bogus. If the lesson is
that we are not to be impatient, that we are to be content with the
system we have, that it is not unreasonable to wait another 50
years for change then that analogy must be followed to its logical
conclusion. Our senior ministers should at this
very time be saying to us “don’t worry that you are still
travelling by Bullock Cart. Progress takes time. Even in America it
took 150 years to invent the car.”
But of course No-one in Parliament says any such thing. As any
smart young nation would, we leapfrogged the technology bypassing
the Penny Farthing and went straight to the MRT and LRT stages.
We can make the same leaps
with democratic processes.
In any case, don’t be fooled. The lesson to be learnt from America
is not the length of time it took for this to happen (even in 2007
who would have thought that a Black man with a Muslim name would
become the next occupant of the White House) The
lesson to be learnt is that this momentous event did not happen by
magic. Instead there was a rising trend of
registering Black voters resulting in increased Black participation
in American political society and an increasing number of Blacks
elected to both Federal and State legislatures and as Governors and
Mayors. This culminated in record numbers of Black voters turning
out in the presidential election of 2008, so that southern states
that since at least the 1960s had always voted for a Republican
candidate, suddenly turning Democrat and voted for Obama.
So, Singaporeans, it won’t
happen by magic. There is a process involved. If you
desire a government that has at its heart a commitment to improve
the lives of ordinary Singaporeans then you are the only people who
can bring about those changes that put in place a chain of events
that culminated in 2008 in the US with the election of Obama or
this year in Japan with the victory of the Democratic Party, ending
a virtually unbroken 55 year rule of the LDP. And it starts with
Waking up! And then Signing up!
As in America that process will begin with one person, then 10 then
100. Communism in Eastern Europe was finally put to rest when that
first person climbed on the Berlin wall and started chipping away
at it. I‘m not advocating mass disobedience, I’m reminding you that ultimately power resides
in the people but if you are not prepared to climb on the wall in
your mind and start chipping away at it then you will remain
powerless.
But it will not be easy. From every avenue The Government will tell
you that there is no need to vote for the Opposition. In fact the
Opposition is just a distraction. They have generously given us the
NCMP and NMP schemes. Well let me tell you -The NMP scheme
is a fundamental subversion of democratic principles that
would be laughed at in any properly democratic country. Let me hear
no more of NMP’s and their so called voices.
Secondly it is ludicrous to equate NCMPs with NMPs when under our
current GRC system 33% of
those able to vote in the 2006 elections voted for Opposition
candidates and yet the Opposition only won 2 out of
the 84 seats in Parliament, which equates to 2.4% of the
total. Let’s get that right- 33% of the
votes resulting in 2.4 % of the seats. Enough of waiting 50 years!
We need a government that will abolish the GRC system and go back
to SMCs or move to a system of proportional representation where
NCMPs would have the same powers as directly elected MPs.
And what of the argument, often used by the Government in past
elections and too often repeated unquestioningly by Singaporeans,
that any constituency which votes for the Opposition will find
itself moved to the back of the queue for HDB upgrading and other
goodies. Firstly, the
money does not belong to the Government; it belongs to you, the
taxpayers. You earned it, you gave it to them for
safekeeping and you should determine how it’s spent. I would stand
the argument on its head and say to you, the people of Singapore,
if you don’t vote for the Opposition then you will remain powerless
to get the changes you desire, need and deserve - not just for your
HDB estates but for your country and your lives.
But how can you vote for a representative if there isn’t one to be
found? It is compulsory to vote in Singapore, unlike in the US and
yet for too many of you voting is a meaningless exercise. You are
effectively disenfranchised because the Opposition has been unable
to find sufficient candidates and financial resources to contest
more than half of the constituencies. In 2006 the PAP were able to
gain 37 seats on Nomination Day without having to contest them,
because candidates could not be found to stand in these
constituencies. This is a travesty of how the democratic process is
supposed to work and for those of you living in those
constituencies you might as well be living in North Korea or China,
for all the ability you have to choose your representative.
So not only do we need you to vote, we also need those among you
with the necessary abilities and determination to come forward and
become candidates.
So I am upping the ante. And adding Stand Up!
to Wake Up! and Sign up!
Finally, getting back to that History lesson and The US election
campaign, I’d like to remind you of something Obama said frequently
during his campaign taking a quote from the poet June Jordan by way
of Alice Walker:
“Change will not happen if we wait
for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve
been waiting for.”
If you want to see policies that put the welfare of ordinary
Singaporeans first, then come out and support us The Reform Party,
or another Opposition party.
Because I will say this to all of you today: “You are the ones I am
waiting for.”
So Wake Up! Sign Up! Stand Up! ... or at the very least buy a
T-shirt!
Thank you again for supporting us here and we look forward to
growing numbers of you coming forward to join us as we contest our
first elections.
(This is an extract of the speech made by Kenneth Jeyaretnam in
Reform Party first anniversary dinner)