SDP a competent, constructive party, says Chee
SDP’s candidate Chee Soon Juan takes a wefie with a supporter after delivering his speech at the rally held at Choa Chu Kang Stadium. Dr Chee said the PAP would always call the SDP’s ideas dangerous and reckless, and would also launch ‘personal attacks’ by calling him a ‘gangster, liar and psychopath’. Photo: Ray Chua
SINGAPORE — Speaking in his first election rally in 14 years, Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan presented a more personal side of himself yesterday (Sept 3), and painted a “nightmare” scenario of the ruling People’s Action Party securing all parliamentary seats in this General Election.
In this scenario, Singaporeans would have no one to speak up for them in Parliament and no say in shaping their future, said Dr Chee, who was discharged from bankruptcy in 2012, and was unable to contest in the 2006 and 2011 elections.
“Think of all the problems that you face — the overcrowding, the stress, the low wages, the unfair competition for jobs, the under-employment, the high cost of living, your medical bills, unaffordable HDB (Housing and Development Board flat) prices, your future without adequate retirement income. And then think that you have no one to speak up for you on these issues, that you don’t have a voice in Parliament,” he said.
He then painted a “reverse” picture, with 11 of the SDP’s candidates elected into Parliament. “Think of the issues we’ll raise. Think about how when the Government says, let’s raise the Goods and Services Tax or let’s delay the Central Provident Fund withdrawal age again, or let’s raise the ministers’ pay, then think about how the SDP will be there to speak up for you,” he said.
Expressing his thrill at speaking in an election rally after a “very long break”, Dr Chee said his party is the only one that has built an alternative platform backed by a set of comprehensive policies and then fielded candidates with “the right stuff” to push for the proposals in Parliament.
“We do this because we are a responsible party, a competent and constructive party,” he said. “We do this because we want to give you a reason to vote for the SDP and not just against the PAP.”
SDP Holland-Bukit Timah candidate Paul Tambyah, who also spoke at the rally, said the SDP’s healthcare plan favours spending on primary healthcare to prevent catastrophic complications later on. A medical professor, he does rounds in general medical wards for part of the year, where he meets someone “almost every day” who has suffered a stroke. Half had had high blood pressure years before and commonly said they could not afford medication or to see a doctor, he said. “Under the SDP’s plan, we spend wisely now, patients stay healthier longer, and costs go down overall.”
Dr Chee said the PAP would always call the SDP’s ideas dangerous and reckless, and would also launch “personal attacks” by calling him a “gangster, liar and psychopath”.
The PAP’s office holders had on Tuesday brought up Dr Chee’s actions in the 1990s including his ouster of his one-time mentor Mr Chiam See Tong from the SDP in the 1990s and presenting false data to a parliamentary committee.
Besides promoting his party’s policies and seeking votes from residents last night, Dr Chee also included some anecdotes to show a more relatable side of him. He spoke in Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien, Teochew and even attempted a few words of Tamil before launching into his English speech.
He said he brushed up on his Mandarin to court the woman who is now his wife, Dr Huang Chih-Mei, while studying in Georgia in the United States. He also said he could identify with the average person’s struggles with the cost of living — venturing to Giant supermarket to buy ice-cream for his children, he would look at Wall’s instead of Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s, but his wife would tell him to wait for a discount.
He said he cared about the “number of zeroes” on his pay cheque, but not enough to keep silent when elderly Singaporeans were collecting cardboard to pay for meals while top civil servants could afford to pay S$50,000 for cooking classes in Paris — referring to a 2009 controversy triggered by a travelogue written by Mr Tan Yong Soon, then-Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, on a family trip to Paris to learn cooking at the famed Le Cordon Bleu culinary school.
“These are matters that I want to take with me to Parliament … to change things for the better for you, for all of us,” Dr Chee said.
