By Eugene Yeo
In a previous article, I wrote about how the Singapore’s media
had the uncanny ability to sugarcoat the truth to make bad news
sound good. Now let me showcase another classic example of the
unique “Asian spectacles” of Mediacorp to distort reality and
perpetuate an outright blatant lie in order to serve the partisan
interests of the PAP.
TODAY published an article by Loh Chee Kong entitled “A
politician who hates politics” in which the gist of it is to
provoke disgust and repungance against the “betrayal” of his mentor
Mr Chiam by Dr Chee:
“Fresh from leading the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) to
three parliamentary seats in the 1991 General Election,
Mr Chiam soon found himself ousted from the very party he had
founded in 1980.
The long-drawn saga — set in motion after Mr Chiam brought his one-time protege Dr
Chee Soon Juan into the party — had obviously scarred
him. Said his wife Lina: “He would
have nightmares and wake up suddenly … he doesn’t talk about it but
it’s hurting him inside.” (Read full article here)
An
unsuspecting reader who do not know the full
facts behind this episode will have the misperception
that Mr Chiam has been traumatized by his “ouster” from SDP which
was “engineered” by Dr Chee. Nothing can be further from the
truth. Chiam was never “ousted” by Dr Chee. He resigned on his own
accord.
For over 15 years, the PAP and the state media have been
propagating the myth of Mr Chiam See Tong’s “ouster” from SDP by Dr
Chee Soon Juan to drive a wedge between the two and to smear the
character of Dr Chee.
They are well aware of the fact that Mr Chiam is an established
opposition icon who has won the respect and love of many
Singaporeans even from those not living in Potong Pasir. By
spinning a tale on how the popular Chiam is forced out of SDP by
his protege Dr Chee, it would deal a mortal blow to the image and
standing of the latter.
For those of you who are aware of the truth, what exactly
transpired between Mr Chiam and Dr Chee in 1993 was elucidated
clearly on the SDP website here.
In summary, Chiam was not “ousted” by Dr Chee. He first resigned
as SDP’s Secretary-General after failing to obtain the CEC’s
support to censure Dr Chee for his hungry strike. In fact, Dr Chee
had tried in vain to persuade Mr Chiam to stay on. Mr Chiam
subsequently resigned from SDP and form the Singapore’s People
Party in 1997.
It is not for us to judge who is in the right or wrong. The
pertinent question to ask is: why is TODAY dredging out the saga
now again after so many years ? After all, it has already achieved
its insidious motive of misleading the majority of Singaporeans
about Dr Chee’s moral character.
What does this irrelevant article serve really when we have more
pressing concerns such as the investment losses incurred by our
SWFs ? Mas Selamat Kasteri is still missing after a year and there
is no mention of it.
It is likely
that the PAP internet brigade has detected an increase in support
for SDP and Dr Chee amongst young IT-savvy Singaporeans who may not
know about the saga in 1993 and therefore TODAY find it timely to
drag the “dirt” out again to smear Dr Chee.
Loh Chee Kong of TODAY even has the temerity to write to Dr Chee
asking for his response to Mr Chiam See Tong’s criticisms about the
SDP. He said that he had interviewed Mr Chiam on Wednesday in
which Mr Chiam said that the Singapore Democrats had engaged in
“conspiratorial and destructive politics.” (Read Dr Chee’s reply to
him here)
It is so obvious that Loh is trying to sow discord between the
two men and to stir a hornet’s nest. A journalist is supposed to be
neutral, balanced and objective in his reporting. What is Loh
trying to do ? Why didn’t he include SDP’s explanation of the saga
to allow readers to judge for themselves ?
Mr Chiam See Tong had asked the Today newspaper to stop
publication on his interview. Mr Chiam told Today’s senior
reporter, Mr Loh Chee Kong, that his remarks about the SDP were
“off the cuff”. Mr Chiam had told Mr Loh —
twice — not to publish anything he said about Dr Chee Soon Juan and
the Singapore Democrats.
Yet, the
reporter emailed Dr Chee and quoted Mr Chiam’s remarks, wanting a
response from the SDP secretary-general. Dr Chee replied to Mr Loh
and refused to respond, saying that the intended report is a PAP
ploy to put SDP in a bad light. As expected, Loh
went ahead and publish the interview anyway though he did not quote
directly from Mr Chiam, his intention was clear.
I would
suggest Mr Loh spend his time more productively on other important
issues such as finding out the extent of losses incurred by Temasek
and GIC NOW instead of regurgitating a stale grandmother story that
few Singaporeans are interested about. Or if he is really so keen
to write up on the “dark” side of politics, perhaps he should
interview the old associates of Lim Chin Siong to find out how
he was fixed by his own trusted comrade in
1963.
Also read Mr Ng E Jay’s commentary on this matter here
http://wayangparty.com/?p=5704
