Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Reform Party Party's official beginning with Jeyaretnam's full return to politics and a clear
indication that it will work with Dr. Chee's
SDP is all very good news. The question now
is, what is the plan?
Lets look at Singapore now. Lee controls every possible organ of
power, the judiciary, the press, the media, everything. Therefore
regardless of whether Jeyaretnam wins a seat
at the next election or even the SDP winning
4 seats will make no difference at all. You know the pattern
already. If the opposition winners are of the calibre of Francis
Seow or Dr. Chee, they
will not be allowed to take their seats in Parliament. Before its
sitting, Lee would have organized a libel suit and the worthy
opponent would be worthy no more, by being kicked out of Parliament
through bankruptcy.
Jeyaretnam has been in politics for a long
time. With all due respect given to him; except for taking great
punishment at the hands of Lee, he has not managed to further
democracy in Singapore at all. If at all, Jeyaretnam had caused Lee to tighten the screws even
more. For instance, during his time, Privy Council appeals were
abolished and across the board, laws became harsher with increased
punishments.
And as long as Lee continues to have a majority of even one in
Parliament, he will continue to do whatever he wants, because all
the pillars of government that matter; the judiciary, the media,
the finance everything, remains under his absolute control.
Regardless of how much wisdom there is in their cause, or how many
speeches they make in Parliament, Lee can just ignore it and there
is nothing that Jeya or Dr. Chee can do, since the courts and everybody else are
beholden to Lee, not to Parliament or to the truth.
So if all what Jeya hopes to do is to stand
for elections, win one seat for himself, enter Parliament and make
his speeches for 5 years, I really don't think Lee would object at
all. In fact Lee may even facilitate Jeya's
victory this time, since there is nothing for them to lose. Lee can
give Jeya time to talk. And Lee will just
ignore it, for another 5 years! It would be the same if Dr.
Chee got into Parliament.
What we have to understand is; that the power in Singapore, lies
not in Parliamentary speeches; it lies in the pillars of power;
which so happens, all of them being beholden to Lee and Lee alone.
It lies in the newspaper. You have to convince the paper to be
impartial, which it is not. It lies in the judiciary. You have to
convince the judiciary to be impartial, which it is not. You have
to convince the police force that it is not the private security of
Lee Kuan Yew. Convince the civil service to
be fair. Convince the colleges to be fair. Convince the
HDB not to discriminate against the Malays
and Indians. Convince the Civil Service not to issue visas for
unlimited numbers of immigrants from China, because it is these
pillars where the power actually lies. The question is, how do you
do it?
It is impossible to make the aforementioned organizations impartial
by speeches in Parliament. They are not going to listen. So what do
you do?
The bigger and important task in bringing about democracy is to
instill a sense of fairness in these people. A realisation that
they are not beholden to Lee as they think. Without that
realization, no amount of speeches in Parliament can bring that
about. Change has to come by forcing these organizations to realize
that what they do is wrong. So I come back to where I started. The
answer lies in protests.
Protest outside the courts demanding justice and fairness. Protest
outside Straits Times demanding impartiality in reporting. Protest
outside the Civil Service demanding equal treatment. Protest
outside the HDB demanding an end to
discrimination against the Malays and Indians. Protest outside the
Official Assignee demanding a reversal of Dr.
Chee's bankruptcy. Protest outside the
Istana demanding a reduction in the million
dollar salaries of ministers.
And these protests must be sustained and not let up until your
demands are met. I have no doubt in my mind that every
civil servant, every judge, every clerk, everyone, every
Singaporean, deep in their hearts, is in fact very much on the side
of the opposition. If they act in a manner prejudicial and
unfair towards the opposition, it is because they fear Lee
Kuan Yew. Sustained protests demanding
justice, will I believe, have a redeeming and salving effect on
them and they will, in the end mend their ways and become honest
men and women.
In fact the opposition, by which I means the Singapore Democratic
Party and the Reform Party should concentrate firstly on these
sustained protests to bring these pillars of power to see reason.
This is the fundamental and first objective. Only the second
objective is entering Parliament.
The people of Singapore are confusing the Parliamentary system
there, which in fact it is not, to the parliamentary system in
countries such as the UK. In the UK, the courts newspapers and the
civil service are all independent. Moreover the power lies in the
people, who are fully aware of their rights. In Singapore,
everything is in the hands of Lee. And therefore Parliament means
very little or nothing.
My message to the opposition is this. Work on the institutions on
the ground first. Make them realise their duty to justice and
equality. While this work goes on, work on Parliament.
This has to be done by protest, first.
Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/04/