by Dr Chee Soon Juan/
The YPAP incident where one of its members, Jason Neo, had put up a racially offensive post is not only unfortunate but very troubling. It would be tragic if this is a derivation from some of the tragic comments that the PAP, in particular Mr Lee Kuan Yew, has uttered about the Malay-Muslim community.
As far as the SDP(Singapore Democratic Party) is concerned we have made it abundantly clear that we need to build a multicultural society where we do not only show tolerance but, indeed, acceptance of our fellow citizens regardless of their backgrounds. The diversity of our party membership is not window-dressing, it is a reflection of the core value of pluralism that the Singapore Democrats hold dear.
To this end, we expect our members to know exactly where we stand on this matter and that we do not even have to tell them to avoid posting such offensive and bigoted remarks. Comments like those expressed by Jason Neo has no place in the SDP.
On the broader subject of online activity, we encourage our members and associates to participate in the new media. Society is that much more robust and transparent with a free flow of information and debate. We do expect, however, that they conduct themselves with decorum and civility in discussions that they engage in, and not resort to hateful speech.
Diversity, multiculturalism and pluralism are merely buzz words that we use to promote Racial Harmony Day in our schools when we continue to have our housing, military and social welfare policies based on skin colour. As long as we retain such attitudes in our public policy we cannot hope to eradicate racism and racialism, and inculcate in our youths the notion of Singaporean-ness.
We take this opportunity to reiterate the SDP’s stand that we are committed to building a democratic society which is the only way that we can achieve a more equal and more just Singapore.
Dr Chee is the Secretary General of SDP
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Dear SDP,
Aye ! I agree with you. This episode shows that the so-called “elites” are not so “elite” after all ! Human – all too human !
Regards
Dr Syed Alwi
QUOTE: “Diversity, multiculturalism and pluralism are merely buzz words that we use to promote Racial Harmony Day in our schools when we continue to have our housing, military and social welfare policies based on skin colour. As long as we retain such attitudes in our public policy we cannot hope to eradicate racism and racialism, and inculcate in our youths the notion of Singaporean-ness.” UNQUOTE
This sums it all up
Those of us here in Singapore who dream of real democracy are on your side Dr Chee. You and your family have suffered for Singapore. Someday, your children’s generation will see and taste the fruits of your work.
Life is a boomerang and what you give, you take. May God bless you and your family abundantly for your tremendous efforts for the betterment of all Singaporeans, with sincerity and without expecting any payment or benefits in return.
Dr Chee, you look so handsome and I like your smile too…
Alfian Sa’at has the cheek to question Jason Neo’s apology while he has no courage to apologize nor retract his earlier attempt to drag “Chinese” unnecessarily into the picture below…
Alfian Sa’at: “I believe this kind of captioning has come from an extremist Chinese. Where are the voices of the Chinese moderates? I want to hear from the Chinese moderates. Why are they silent? Why are they not condemning this act?”
Btw, Alfian Saat originates from Malaysia
To his great credit, Dr Chee has never been branded a racist or a religious bigot. His strong beliefs in pluralism and milticulturism are worthy of a man who had just won the 2011 Liberal International Prize for Freedom.
The SDP has consistently opposed the government on its housing, military and social welfare policies which are most unfortunately ethnically based.
dr chee
thank you for working os hard for common citizens who are neglected by the gahmen like me.
also,i don’t understand why they put you into jail and treated so harshly for no good reasons but let their YPAP member with such leniency.
you were put into jail for speaking for the well-being of common singaporeans like me but theis JN chap merely got ‘censured’ for his offensive racial remarks.
even a cardboard picker like me knows it is unfair.
Dr. Chee, you don’t seems to age lah. Whats your secret?? Last I saw you were 2 elections ago and you look now as you look then. hehehe… anyway, congrats for your 2011 LIPF award and hope to see you “fight” again in 2016..and oh.. do it in Sembawang GRC please :D
Dr. Chee, as always, you have said what has to be said, the way it has to be said, the way it needs to be said. And I concur!
Congratulations again on your winning the Liberal International Prize for Freedom. It is so well deserved and too long over due.
it is time singaporeans sit up and have a closer look at what dr chee has been trying to do for more common citizens all these years.
dr chee is the most outspoken of all oppo leaders demontrating real concerns fro ordinary singaporeans from bread and butter issues like jobs to laregr social justice issues.
it is sad singaporeans ahve been sold by MSM and are prejudiced against dr chee.
if only all oppo could co-operate and work more closely with one another,singapore and singaporeans could benefit much.
there are enough local talents to help propel singapore and singaporeans forward;the trouble is that singaporeans are simply too damn scared or lazy to start to wake up and let good countrymen make things betetr for them instead of letting themselves be conned GE after GE.
Jason Neo make a mistake, he should have shouted “WHERE THE MONEY, WHERE THE 5 BILLION MR GOH” This would the signature where SDP would invite Jason Neo to join the party.
Well this is just an overleveraged incident for sdp to make publicity remarks… Way I see it, sdp has done much worse in extremism politics.
@Casey,
When the Jason Neo incident broke, TOC wrote to the different political parties with Youth Wings for their views and whether they have a system of vetting potential members. Those who responded are NSP, SDP and PAP (PAP directed us to Mr Zaqy Mohamad’s FB note) Interesting that you never made similar remarks about NSP being opportunistic.
@ Casey
A dog sometimes eats its own poo. Are you one? Or you don’t know the meanings of “extremism” politics of the marxists conspiracy scam?
Yes Dr Chee is soooooo handsome
I have more respects for people that make a clear stance and speak up the truth like an opposition should be.
Unlike a certain chairman of an opposition that talks like a PAP, they disgust me beyond words. It would definitely makes her party looks better by shutting up.
Dr Chee, you got nice teeth :)
Well said, Dr Chee. Work hard. You have done nothing wrong and are the closest to winning the Nobel prize for Singapore. Your fight for human rights and democracy will be noticed, acknowledged and rewarded by the International Community in the not too distant future. You deserve the Nobel Prize.
From a true blue Singaporean,
Give Jason Neo a dose of LKY’s own medicine. Drag him to court to answer charges of sedition. Did not LKY give this treatment to his opponents during his heyday. It is good for everyone including past leaders who transgresses the bounds of religious morality.
If this incident happened in LKY time during 1960s & 80s this guy would definitely land in jail for inciting racialism-PAP central body now seems less harsh on this matter committed by their own people.
Dr Syed Alwi 18 November 2011
I hope you can be PM of Malaysia. I migrated here with my family after the country’s Minister himself went on air welding a kris (dagger) to threaten the minorities to submit to Ketuatan Melayu (Superior Malays). The one of Moslem Turkish descent. Hishamuddin. The cousin of PM Najib.
I close my shop (stop paying the taxes) in a shopping mall and relocated here to open one at Nex.
In Malaysia, the majority use their numerical legislative might to even pass laws branding temselves “bumis” (the Orang Aslis are in fact the Red Indians) to receive all kinds of free handouts and State privileges at the expense of the tax-paying minorities (today dwindled to a small proportion since the implementation of the discriminatory NEP in the late 60s). Today, Malaysian Muslims of Indonesia, India, Middle East, Pakistan, etc., are all “penumpang cuma” (free riders) eating up the Treasury indefinitely.
Just look at the Malaysian public service and compare with Singapore’s. One is lucky if one can spot a Chinese amongst them. And the Chinese there contribute more than 90% of the country’s revenues (so acknowledged by former PM Dr Mahathir and DPM Mudhideen).
Geraldine,
Agree with you Dr Chee has nice teeth. I wonder how often he visits his dentist.
alitan:
Alfian is from Singapore, just that he moved to Malaysia.
I don’t really agree with his comments, but they were meant to spoof a lot of comments that were directed against Muslims during the War on Terror:
“Where are the voices of the Muslim moderates? I want to hear from the Muslim moderates. Why are they silent? Why are they not condemning this act?”
an of Syed Alatas 19 November 2011 “”One is lucky if one can spot a Chinese amongst them. And the Chinese there contribute more than 90% of the country’s revenues.”"
lucky the “bumis” are in control as they are “measured” (not as fast as the others) in terms of development. else the whole country will be ‘raped’ by fast development with mostly concrete & pollution but less and less forest cover.
at least, we can still travel there and enjoy their nature.
developers / businesses will not shed a single tear when it comes to make money fast as long as the law allows them to the exclusion of many things (e.g sometimes important thing like environment).
“The diversity of our party membership is not window-dressing, it is a reflection of the core value of pluralism that the Singapore Democrats hold dear.”
It’s true, the SDP has the most diverse membership based on the photos and videos I’ve seen..
Oh, and also the current Chairman of the SDP is a Malay, opposition veteran Jufrie Mahmood. The previous Chairman was an Indian.
Don’t think any of the opp. parties or PAP has this.
pollution 19 November 2011
“not as fast as the others”
I beg to differ. Get your facts right. Coming from Malaysia myself.
Their numbers have swelled to abt 20 million within a short span of time since independence. And growing exponentially by the day. How? Any hope?
Look at Indonesia and the Arab Spring in the Middle East today. One word and period – UNEMPLOYMENT due to overpopulation. The ordinary, average natives there subsist on less than US$2 a day!
In Malaysia, everyone knows they practise polygamy, easy divorces (3 talaqs), large family size, etc., unobstruveily. This can only aggravate the fragile economic condition. Obedient Wives Club some more . . . LOL.
Serius. So many more hungry mouths to feed in the near future especially the baby bloomers later looking for jobs. And all so used to bantuan and handouts in Malaysia. In fact we can already see the non-minority Malaysians now working here in Singapore at Gaint, as private condo gardeners, etc.
At least now studying in a poly here I can have the opportunity to find a job elsewhere outside Malaysia one day when life over there gets tougher, brother.
This article further confirmed CSJ is an opportunist, and always trying to ride on controversies to “glamourized” himself!
@ Titiana Ann Xavier
“I wonder how often he visits his dentist”
—————-
Same here too. Perhaps, ‘busybody’ knows the answer… :)
Hi “James”, this article only further confirms CSJ’s commitment to the values he writes and speaks of. To me it seems more like you are trying to ride on this article to attack his character, since you can’t attack his views.
It is easier to throw stone at those who makes mistake. But can we say that we are so perfect? So long as mistake has been brought to open, and action taken by doer, who are the others to say that what ought or shd be done>>>>>
“Easy to spot mistakes of others”? Wow, this isn’t some simple comment made about some simple issue. It affects the dignity of all Malays and Muslims in Singapore, and furthermore coming from a YPAP member.
Maybe you’re someone close to the “Jason Neo” in question or maybe you’re Neo himself. Doesn’t matter, the way you’re replying already shows how you take this matter.
Sometimes I really wonder why I continue living in this country.
It is as clear as daylight that the law has been breached by a PAP member as well as by an active member of the SAF.
Dr Chee and his party colleagues have been prosecuted over and over again for allegedly breaking the law.
Let us open our eyes wide and see whether the PAP apply the law “without fear or favour”.Justice must not only be done but also be seen to be done.
I thought SDP accepted some arsonist the last time? It wasn’t even a closet arsonist. It was a publicly famous person with well known arsonist tendencies.
So much for “We do expect, however, that they .. not resort to hateful speech.”
I thought that Jason was just imitating his Master when he desecrated the aspirations of a whole busload of children of Muslims. When Dr Chee mentions it, I knew that, that must be it. Monkey see, monkey do. The PAP has bred within itself a generation of people who talk like LKY and even have his mannerisms. When LKY sought to tell the Muslims in Singapore to be less Islamic, he brought the ire of the Muslim community upon himself.He had no idea why it should do so, as it was just his advice to Muslims to be less urgent about their religion. The fact is that in Islam, no one except the Prophet Mohammad can change the practice of Islam. As the Prophet is long dead, change can only come from a universally agreed reinterpretation of the Sunnah and the Qur’an and not any Lee Kwan Yew.
FIGHT FOR SINGAPOREANS…
SIGN THE PETITIONS.
http://www.petitiononline.com/petitions/Employed/signatures?page=40
Cheap political shot by SDP to me, issuing such a holier-than-thou statement.
Nonetheless, tit-fot-tat for being the brunt of cheap shots by the PAP in the past.
@Displaced Singapore citizen
Thanks for forwarding the petition. I have signed it. My comment is given below:-
QUOTE:Just like rising costs of living and housing have for years been caused by the capitalist system of government that favor the rich and powerful elites who abuse the political power for their own survival and personal gains, people now are strongly objecting to the abuse of power again in allowing huge 30% influx of cheap foreign labor that cause big social problems to own citizens. Please repent and not make any more excuses to justify wrongs or mistakes or worse political abuse of power for personal gains. UNQUOTE
People must unite in order to change. I urge them to sign the petition.
@ Displaced Singapore citizen
Thanks for sharing. That’s very nice of you. I have signed it too.
Hey Titiana, you’re a fast breaker. :)
Geraldine,
Read your comment in the petition. Agree with you totally to boot out the MIW come 2016.
Easy life of Singaporean will coz easy to loose when compete with global competition. Sure those who can’t afford hardship should get it, but some must complete hard courses to handle a big tasks.
remember kunfu panda.
Noticed that CSJ and SDP is always the first to ride on such negative news about PAP and start ranting their “holier than thous” comments?
This is precisely why I never support CSJ nor SDP, they are just low-class opportunists…better for them to learn something from WP as to why WP are liked and supported by majority opposition voters!
TOC wrote to all political parties to comment on the Jason neo incident. So far NSP, SDP and YPAP replied. WP declined to comment. – Mod
Jason was wrong with his casual remarks though there are people who might agree with what he was implying – that something ought to be said and done about any group of people who would want purposely to dress up like Arabs in this part of the world, especially in multi-racial Singapore. Still, there is an interesting sideshow to this: It is the rather sorry spectacle of PAP juniors taking advantage of the situation to dump one of their own (the sacrificeable ones, anyway) to show they are very principled leaders. Jason is just another YPAP lackey, very low in the food chain – unlike TPL, CCS and JP (over whom TSL and Zaqy can’t even touch or smell). Beware,other YPAP members, you are just as dispensable as Jason.
Despite Mr Chee having nice teeth, i still think that because of his leadership, SDP will not win any seats in parliament.
Especially after all the baggage that is attached to SDP from his past ways of ousting our beloved Mr Chiam from his own party.
If only he will step down and let some more credible people on the helm at sdp.. then perhaps less of my neighbours and myself would ahve spoilt our votes in hbt in the recent elections..
Thanks Dr Chee. You are the one besides JBJ who was daring to challenge the strongest opponent without fear. You are the real hero having the same status as late Sun Yet Sen
Look at the comments of WP on Jason Neo’s incident versus that of CSJ and SDP.
Now you know why WP is still the more favored opposition party as opposed to SDP helmed by an eccentric opportunist!
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/workers–party-confident-of-avoiding-young-pap-embarrassment.html
Thomas Tan 21 November 2011 “If only he will step down and let some more credible people on the helm at sdp.. then perhaps less of my neighbours and myself would ahve spoilt our votes in hbt in the recent elections..”
Even as people like you wish that he steps down and with his current credibility, other people are still joining SDP.
Other credible people should have no problem in forming their own parties, if they are so credible, or no problem in joining the other remaining credible parties, you know what i mean.
The collective unconscious of the Chinese people in Singapore is dangerously leaning towards intolerance of other races and creed. When LKY made his outburst about Islam being somewhat unmanageable, he was fishing in the deepest parts of his unconscious being. LKY, Jason and such people in the forefront of political life have simply got to be realigned, else they cause the next religious/race conflict in Singapore. The foremost Islamic Authorities of the Land, MUIS and the Minister for Muslim Affairs are silenced by the very thought of reeducating LKY.Their jobs come first as always. At any rate out of the whole of AMLA these stalwarts of the Muslim Community choose to strictly confine themselves to divorce and Halal food, occasionally pointing out the Mas Selamats of their clans. Which one can guess to be a far far less dangerous job than advising their political masters dutifully.
@Supporter
You are absolutely spot-on. Those who have been castigating Dr Chee, go read up and learn: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=2655119383075
It is incredible that a man so maligned by the Statutory force of the PAP -led Government of Singapore is still able to wear a shirt and tie to talk to the IBA. His clear tones ring with the resilience of a Ulysses coming back after years of adventures to his wife’s house and addressing the throng of suitors who have encamped there. The winds of change, not the false promise by Lee Hsien Loong, but the real global realisation and acknowledgement that the Rule of Law must mean more than mere thuggery by the Elites. Dr Chee is a Ulysses.