Category: Politik

Walid J. Abdullah: Murali’s Win Illustrates That Sinicization Important Pre-Requisite For Winning

I have seen opposition supporters trying to put a positive spin on the by-election.

Honestly, whichever way you look at it, it was quite a disaster (but not an unexpected one) for the SDP and Dr Chee. This was a by-election, not a general election, so there was a greater chance for him. He was up against a minority candidate. And it was an SMC.

If he could not get more than 40% of the votes considering these factors, honestly, he’d probably find it hard to win in any other contest.

Perhaps then it is time for Dr Chee Soon Juan to consider stepping down. He can help build the SDP, but maybe, his time with regards to contesting elections should be up.

Of course, it is easy for me to say all these. I am not the one who has fought my entire life against all odds, just for what i believe in. So i may not feel the need to hold on as much as him.

As for our friend Ah Mu, congratulations are due. But more than that: scrutiny should also be applied. His attendance record in Parliament, the amount of time he spends in his constituency (visiting homes just during election period is not ‘walking the ground’), the promises he made during hustings: all these should be looked at closely by Bukit Batok residents and Singaporeans in general.

And a word on race: Ah Mu, it is hard enough for minorities as it is, so when someone who is as successful as you feels a need to be known via a Chinese name, it really does tell the rest of us that perhaps, being sinicized is a prerequisite for success. So please, Ah Mu and future minority candidates, bear this in mind.

I want to say that elections should henceforth be based on contests of ideas, and not personal attacks, but Singaporeans have shown that personal attacks are rewarded. So my point on this would be moot.

Source: Walid J. Abdullah

May 8, 2016
By-Election The Latest Stop In Political Journey, Says Chee

Eight months after contesting his first election in 14 years last September, Dr Chee Soon Juan, 53, finds himself contesting his second.

While some political pundits had suggested that the Bukit Batok by-election was effectively last chance saloon for Dr Chee and as good an opportunity as it gets for him to enter Parliament, the man himself disagrees — opting to see the latest contest as simply one stop in the ongoing political process.

“It’s like an MRT station. You come to one stop, it doesn’t end there. You go on. I don’t think it’s ever an end goal in that sense. I’ve always seen it as a journey and not just for me personally — for the party, for the country as well,” said Dr Chee, who has parked himself at the MRT station many mornings and evenings leading up to the Bukit Batok by-election this Saturday, cycled and walked with his team around the Single-Member Constituency, and shaken hands with numerous patrons of the coffee shops there.

Political analysts have weighed in on what is at stake this time for Dr Chee, who first entered politics in 1992. They said that the by-election offered Dr Chee the best shot at winning a parliamentary seat in his colourful political career so far — due to factors such as the by-election effect and the ignominy of former People’s Action Party Member of Parliament David Ong’s resignation over an alleged extramarital affair.

Any result lower than 35 per cent would raise questions on his electability, an analyst said.

In response, Dr Chee pointed to the lack of a democratic system and media freedom here.

“Let’s put that in context and then we can start talking about electability … We don’t analyse the system first. Before you do that, let’s not start throwing words like you would in a democratic system,” Dr Chee told TODAY in an interview last Saturday.

When reminded of how opposition parties have made breakthroughs in the current system, Dr Chee called for “even-handed” media coverage and said his team would just have to continue to appeal to voters.

The tentative and sometimes tetchy relationship between the SDP and the mainstream media came to the fore in the past week as several speakers at its rallies criticised a front-page headline used by Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao after an interview with him, which the newspaper later corrected online.

SDP central executive committee member Dr Paul Tambyah also disagreed that this by-election spells the best opportunity for Dr Chee to get elected. Many in the opposition believe Bukit Batok SMC was carved out of Jurong Group Representation Constituency in the 2015 General Election because it was a PAP stronghold, said Dr Tambyah.

Other challenges include what Dr Tambyah called attempts by the ruling party to smear the SDP and Dr Chee, and distortion of statements they made.

Dr Tambyah — who was part of the SDP Holland-Bukit Timah team with Dr Chee and two others that won 33.4 per cent of the vote last September — also took a longer-term view of the SDP’s efforts to get into Parliament.

“We hope that by running a clean and fair campaign and focusing on the issues, we have moved the cause of democracy forward so hopefully Dr Chee will be in Parliament, if not this time, perhaps in the next GE,” he said.

Dr Chee said the response from Bukit Batok residents has been encouraging.

He has come to know many residents, who are beginning to feel “very comfortable with us around”. But he said: “How can you tell until the final poll comes around (on) Saturday?”

TODAY tagged along twice when Dr Chee was at Bukit Batok MRT Station and once as he walked around several coffee shops. Some commuters resolutely kept their earphones plugged in and refused to be distracted from their journey home, some politely smiled and accepted the brochures he gave out. Others stopped for a chat, wished him well and requested photos and autographs. One man stuffed a S$50 note into his hands.

The SDP is trying a more nuanced and gradated approach in reaching out to voters this time around and has covered all the residential blocks in Bukit Batok, said Dr Chee, who has pledged to be a full-time MP.

“For example, you come across a pro-PAP supporter or Residents’ Committee supporter, you say thank you and if they don’t want to support you, they don’t want to support you,” he said. “For those people who say, ‘I’d like to meet Dr Chee’, (my activists) will let me know and I’ll go visit them.”

Whatever the outcome on May 7, Dr Chee said he will keep at his cause. “Life is a journey. That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And change takes persistence, takes perseverance, but we’ll get there,” he said.

Source: TODAY Online

May 7, 2016
Bangladeshi Workers Worried They Can’t Pray Together

Some Bangladeshi workers sporting a beard are perceived as terrorists.

Others are not allowed to have their meals together – a measure some companies have taken to prevent any sharing of propaganda material among workers, said Mr A.K.M. Mohsin (photo), editor of Banglar Kantha, Singapore’s only Bengali newspaper.

With Ramadan coming up next month, the workers are now worried they will not be able to pray together.

Such is the impact that the latest spate of arrests and detentions of Bangladeshi workers under the Internal Security Act has had on the community, said Mr Mohsin.

Late last year, 27 Bangladeshi men were arrested and deported for terror links and possession of material on terrorist propaganda.

Last month, another eight men were detained under the Internal Security Act. Five others were repatriated.

Mr Mohsin, 52, explained: “Ninety-five per cent of the Bangladeshi workers here are Muslim, and most are very pious.

“They grow beards to emulate the actions of Prophet Muhammad, who is believed to have had a beard. But now they feel that if they follow their religion closely, people here will think that they are terrorists.”

As someone who runs Dibashram – a space for migrant workers here to get together for cultural activities and fellowship – Mr Mohsin is concerned about the plight of the Bangladeshi workers after the high-profile arrests.

“We should allow them to spend their weekends on recreational activities so they don’t have time to do bad things, or be involved in ridiculous discussions (that are held to radicalise).

“We should think of migrant workers as human beings, not machines,” he said.

WORRIED FOR HIS CHILDREN

As a father of three daughters aged six, 16 and 18, he is also concerned about how his children will be affected by the news.

“Like other parents, I’m worried about how Singaporeans will look at my children in another way. Actually, (these arrests) bring a lot of shame to us,” he said quietly.

Mr Mohsin is expected to meet the Singapore Bangladesh Society today to come up with some measures to improve the situation.

“Today, I told some of them (in the society) that we come forward to do something only when an incident like this happens. After that, we stop. That is no good. We have to continue our efforts to the migrant workers here,” he said.

Singapore ‘not exempted’ from radicalisation sweeping world

The wave of radicalisation is sweeping through the world and our region – and Singapore is not exempted, said Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam (right) yesterday afternoon.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a closed-door event at Temasek Polytechnic.

On Tuesday, the Home Affairs Ministry revealed that eight radicalised Bangladeshi men were detained last month under the Internal Security Act for plotting terror attacks in their own country.

They would meet in parks or open fields, and share large amounts of radical propaganda and videos. (See report below)

Another five investigated under the ISA were repatriated.

“These people had wanted to go to the Middle East but they couldn’t and so they were looking at other means.

“We could have been a target because they were prepared to attack anywhere.

“If they had been directed to attack in Singapore, they would have attacked in Singapore.

“So it shows the seriousness. It brings home again Paris, Jakarta… (the threat) is here to stay,” said Mr Shanmugam.

Adding that material on bomb-making and sniper rifles were recovered on detainees, he said: “You and I don’t go do research on those… so yes, there is a concern.”

We could have been a target because they were prepared to attack anywhere. If they had been directed to attack in Singapore, they would have attacked in Singapore.

– Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam

5 things to know about the detainees

Eight Bangladeshis, who called themselves the Islamic State in Bangladesh (ISB), were detained last month under the Internal Security Act (ISA), and another five were repatriated, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Tuesday. Here are five things you need to know about the detainees:

1 ISB’s leader was radicalised in 2013

Rahman Mizanur, 31, had been working on and off in Singapore since 2007. When he last came to Singapore last December, the authorities had no information to suggest that Rahman had radicalised views.

At the time of his arrest, he was working as a draftsman in a construction firm.

The seeds of terrorism were first sown in Rahman in 2013 when he read radical material online. He became more radicalised after a fellow Bangladeshi shared the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) propaganda material with him last year in Bangladesh.

2 ISB was a structured organisation

Members were given specific roles, such as leader and deputy leader, and were assigned responsibilities like managing the finances.

They would usually meet at parks or open fields and would share large amounts of radical propaganda and videos.

ISB was the first group comprising all foreigners to be detained under the ISA for terrorism-related activities in Singapore, said MHA.

3 Detainees had at least three years’ work experience here

When the eight detainees first came to work here, they were not known to be radicalised or involved in terrorism-related activities.

Each of them had worked here for between three and 10 years in the construction and marine industries. The authorities found no significant concentration in any particular company or accommodation.

The workers were arrested between late March and early April and were issued with two-year Orders of Detention late last month.

Five other workers who were repatriated – Evan Galib Hassan Chowdhury, Rana Masud, Pailot Md Rana Miea, Islam Tanjemul and Alomgir Md – were not part of the ISB, said MHA. But they possessed or proliferated jihadi-related materials, or supported the use of armed violence in pursuit of a religious cause.

4 Funds raised by ISB were members’ own contributions

At the time of the arrests, money was seized from the detainees.

MHA said the funds raised were from the members’ own contributions. The members had intended to use the funds to buy firearms for their planned terror attacks, but are not known to have acted yet.

Several of them may be prosecuted for terrorism-financing, and investigations are ongoing.

5 There is no link between ISB and the Bangladeshi nationals arrested last year

Some of the eight detainees chanced upon members of the radical religious group who were deported for terror links last year, but there is no indication that the eight detainees from ISB were part of this group. The Bangladeshi nationals in both incidents were not known to have been targeting Singapore at the time of their arrests.

Source: www.tnp.sg

May 6, 2016
ISA Arrests ‘Point To Need To Tighten Immigration’

The recent detention of eight radicalised Bangladeshis here under the Internal Security Act (ISA) points to the need to tighten the Republic’s immigration policy, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan said on Wednesday (May 4) morning.

Speaking to reporters after a walkabout in Bukit Batok, where he is vying to become the ward’s Member of Parliament, Dr Chee called on the Government to deal with the problem at its “root cause” by preventing more of such radical elements, which endanger Singapore society, from entering the Republic’s shores.

He was responding to questions from reporters about the Bangladeshis’ detention under the ISA, which he had spoken against previously on human rights grounds.

On Tuesday, the Home Affairs Ministry revealed that the eight Bangladeshi workers had formed a terror cell here aimed at bringing their homeland under Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate. It is the second reported case involving radicalised individuals from the Bangladeshi community here.

Responding, Dr Chee did not mention the SDP’s stance on the ISA, but said the Government has been “lax” in its immigration policy by taking in large numbers of foreigners. “You let in hundreds of thousands, millions … there must be people there who are not properly vetted,” he said.

The Government must “get it at the root cause” and prevent such situations “even before they come in”, he said, adding that if he was elected, he would raise questions on the vetting process with Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam.

Asked about Dr Chee’s comments, Mr Shanmugam, who was speaking to reporters about the detentions on Wednesday afternoon, said they showed “a lack of understanding of the problem”.

“So what does Dr Chee suggest? That we say no to all foreign workers? Or we say no to all foreign workers who are Muslim? I think (you) should clarify that. There are tens of thousands of Bangladeshi workers in Singapore, several tens of thousands. They are in our construction sector, working for our town councils, large numbers as cleaners … So what do we do? Send them all back? Who is going to do their jobs?” said Mr Shanmugam.

“After (the attacks in) Paris, after Jakarta, after all these arrests, they still say abolish the ISA and that all of these are immigration issues … these are serious matters, security issues that require careful consideration and proper thought … We should stop taking cheap political shots and political opportunism.”

When further queried about its stand on the ISA, SDP central executive committee member Paul Tambyah reiterated the need to address the “root of the problem” and the Government’s “unfettered immigration policy”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) corrected Dr Chee’s interpretation of employment data during his rally on Tuesday, calling it “alarmist”.

Dr Chee had said only 100 jobs were created for locals last year. The MOM said the figures he referred to — local employment — did not refer to the total number of new jobs taken by locals.

Local employment refers to the difference between total number of locals entering jobs and those leaving jobs, for example owing to retirement. They also pointed out that the difference was 700 last year, not 100.

Source: TODAY Online

May 5, 2016
Kebakaran Besar Musnahkan Kem Pelarian Muslim Rohingya

Satu kebakaran besar memusnahkan sebuah kem pelarian Muslim Rohingya di wilayah Rakhine, Myanmar. Ia menjejas sekitar 450 keluarga Muslim Rohingya yang tinggal di kem tersebut.

Menurut Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UN), kira-kira 50 tempat perlindungan rosak teruk, menjejas 2,000 orang. Sisa-sisa atap kayu dan atap besi yang bengkok dapat dilihat melalui asap tebal yang muncul selepas kebakaran itu berlaku.

Kawasan perkhemahan itu dihuni oleh sekitar 100,000 anggota kaum Rohingya.

Kebakaran itu dipercayai bermula dari sebuah dapur. Angin yang kencang menjadi punca api merebak dari rumah ke rumah, di kawasan yang kering itu.

Seorang pegawai polis memberitahu AFP bahawa api itu dapat dipadamkan selepas ia membakar rumah 448 keluarga.

Sekitar 140,000 penduduk, sebahagian besarnya dari golongan minoriti Rohingya, kini tinggal di kem-kem seperti itu setelah mereka melarikan diri daripada keganasan agama, melibatkan penganut muslim Rohingya dan penganut Buddha pada tahun 2012.

Konflik tersebut memecah belahkan wilayah Rakhine dan masyarakatnya berdasarkan agama dan melemahkan ekonomi tempatan.

Source: Berita Mediacorp

May 5, 2016