Originally posted by soul_rage:
I have read his comments on the pay hike, and I must say, his
points make good sense, and the passion he exudes is not much
lesser than Sylvia Lim's.
The only probable reason why he is so screwed up is coz he can't
control his emotions, and always tend to blabber off nonsense at
the most crucial moments, that the PAP will happily fire a lawsuit
at him.
Just see how WP avoided LKY when he challenged them during the
elections. Smart moves I must say. Why confront the lion if you
know you can't beat him? just divert your forces around the roaring
lion, since he is trapped in his own cage (ie his
constituency).
After his letter that I read, I must say my negative reactions to
CSJ is lesser now. But, I must still say, the fall of opposition
was caused by him, at a crucial time when Chiam See Tong was
building up a credible opposition.
CSJ is still a young and a
greenhorn in politics, and like anyone of us standing before a
large crowd, will tend to get soft in the knees - no matter how
many times you do the same presentation.
LKY was also emotional, and so was LHL with his 'fix the opposition' remarks, but how
many will even be prepared to fix both of them through the
judiciary process - knowing that it will hardly come out in the
favor of the plaintiffs in such a pursuit ?
Why blame CSJ for Chiam See Tong's downfall ?
Chiam had it coming from within his own SPD even before CSJ was
recruited into politics, when SDP was already seeing internal
division with one camp supporting CST, and the other camp
supporting the SDP Chairman - Ling Howe Doong.
Each had their own preferred approaches in confronting the Ruling
Party, and since CST was the only one being elected into
Parliament, he was seen to be too passive and ineffective, and less
confrontational towards the Ruling Party.
The wrongful and dubious accusation made against CSJ by his
University Faculty supervisor - Dr Vasoo - who was a known stalwart
and hatchetman in the Ruling Party - split the SDP wider when CST
attempted to censure CSJ in support of the dubious accusations
levelled by Dr Vasoo.
Following this very public disagreement about CSJ, the SDP
Executive Council passed a vote of no confidence to CST's
leadership, who subsequently gave a press conference; and which led
the SDP general membership to collectively vote him out of the
SDP.
How could this be attributed to CSJ's fault ?
If at all, the entire blame should be CST's inability to lead his
own SDP.
This event can be found in the following Wikipedia
site, which did not see any attempt by CST or the SDP to make any
amendments to the information given, so we could take it as some
truth to the events that transpired.
If we were to blame the Opposition in general for their collective
poor performance since the 1960s, we will have to blame the Barisan
Sosialist under the late Dr Lee Siew Choh.
We could not possibly blame J.B. Jeyaratnam, who became a one-man
show when the Ruling Party manouvred to cut his supporting legs
with the arrest of some Catholic Church social activists during the
early 1980s - some of whom were smart young lawyers giving the
administrative support to JBJ.
CSJ was similarly poorly supported in the administrative
background, with poor and inept researchers that provided him with
flawed data, which caused him to be slaughtered publicly by George
Yeo in the much anticipated televised confrontation about the Cost
of Living in Singapore.
The weakness of the Opposition cannot be entirely be due to the
fault of the Oppostion Parties, as the Ruling Party had
purposefully undermined the Singaporean ability to support the
Opposition either financially, or by giving moral support in the
form of administrative service or otherwise.
Until Singaporeans learn to stand without fear of social or
political or economic repurcussions for supporting the Opposition
Parties, then we will see the development of stronger and more
mature Opposition Parties.
Visit the website given in my previous post above, and you will
hear the political views - of a NTU Associate Professor, Catherine
Lim, CSJ, and others from the WP and PAP, as well as the views from
others participating in this Forum - concerning the state of
politics in Singapore, the dangers of continued state of affairs to
the future of Singapore, and how Singapore can change for the
better.
The road to progress is a long one, but it need us to open our
minds and eyes to face new challenges with an open heart - to be
brave and fearless.
