Rilek1Corner

Tag: David Ong

  • Damanhuri Abas: Scandals Show That High Salary Is Not The Answer To Eradicate Corruption

    Damanhuri Abas: Scandals Show That High Salary Is Not The Answer To Eradicate Corruption

    The trail of scandals spanning just the last decade along the corridors of power, sadly results from the chronic malaise of institutionalised governance when a single dominant party rule continues unabated.

    We had the following scandals, CEO of NFK, TT Durai in 2005, Edwin Yeo of CPIB in 2008, Peter Lim Chief of SCDF in 2013, Lim Cheng Ho of MFA in 2014, Bernard Lim Yong Soon of NParks in 2014, CEO of NKF, Edmond Kwok 2016, and most recently, Kong Hee and Friends of City Harvest Church, 2017. Just to list a few of them.

    And we also had the personal indiscretion of PAP MPs in the case of Speaker of Parliament Mr Micheal Palmer and the infamous affair involving PAP MP for Bukit Batok that happened only last year, Mr David Ong and his married grassroots woman volunteer.

    Now we have the latest scandal involving none other than a former Mayor and PAP MP Zainudin Nordin further reminding the people to seriously relook at all PAP leaders. They are not as clean as their white garment looks.

    The list of corruptions in their ranks and files of cronies as well as their leaders are undeniable facts and not fake news. It is crystal clear now to all Singaporeans that the logic of high pay and incorruptible public officers or leaders are hollow PAP sloganeering promising leaders of integrity and merit but delivering otherwise.

    Will the PAP reform and correct themselves? Most unlikely as the signs are showing the opposite, seen from the constitutional amendments on the Elected Presidency to the most recent clipping of further Presidential powers passed in parliament.

    We are even seeing more reduction of space for critical input and feedback which are necessary and healthy developments needed for reform and progress in a maturing democracy. They in fact, do the reverse to entrench their unchallenged controlling power. They still prefer to trust their own self-checking and the above samplings of scandals suffices to discredit it.

    All hegemonic power feels threatened by the natural God ordained system of check and balance. Their obsession with perpetual and absolute control will become their very undoing. History recalls many past powers wanting to remain so even though their time is up. Eventually they went astray falling from grace on their own highway of luxury and greed.

    Singaporeans therefore must do our part by intervening to stop this slippery decline down the slope of democratic regression happening before our very eyes. The only way to do so, is to put into parliament more oppositions to raise the vital questions that they themselves will not. The longer we delay, the tougher it becomes, as they will resort to all machavillian means within their vast controlling disposal to ensure their hegemony remains forever.

    The stakes are very high. It is about our believe in the Singaporean spirit to rise up to collectively remake and better our citizen’s deal. To share what we have with each other, to not leave anyone behind and to demand from our elected leaders, service and priority to the people and not their vested crony interest. The scandals are reminders of what is wrong in our society and for us to collectively act together as one united people to affect that vital redirection for our beloved nation.

    Singaporeans must realise that the only constant is change. Ours is past due. The People needs a New Deal with a very fresh and vibrant New face of real Hope, Integrity, Honesty, Courage and Humility. God-willing, together we can make it happen.

     

    Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

  • Chee Soon Juan – The Chiam Issue: Why This, Why Now?

    Chee Soon Juan – The Chiam Issue: Why This, Why Now?

    Below are some frequently asked questions about Mr Chiam See Tong’s departure from the SDP and why we are raising the issue now. I answer them here:

    Why rehash the past over the split with Chiam See Tong? Aren’t there more important issues to discuss?

    Many of you are sick of this matter and you don’t want to hear any more of it. I agree. There is nothing that I would love more than to leave this episode behind and get on with the issues that really matter to our nation. This is exactly what we did during the general elections (GE) in 2015 and again at the by-election (BE) in Bukit Batok – campaigning on the issues that voters care about.

    It is the PAP that keeps dredging up the issue to attack me and the SDP. Take a look at the following:

    • Mr Chan Chun Sing: “Dr Chee then proceeded to betray Mr Chiam, isolate him and force him out of the SDP.” (January 2015)
    • Vivian Balakrishnan: “I have just one message to send to the SDP: In the PAP, we do not have a tradition of backstabbing our mentors.” (GE 2015)
    • Sim Ann: “Singaporeans of a certain age will know…how he ousted his mentor Mr Chiam See Tong from the party Mr Chiam had built.” (GE 2015)
    • The Straits Times: “[Grace Fu] added that it would ‘be very interesting’ to see if there would b referral letter from Mr Chiam See Tong, who had recruited Dr Chee into SDP years ago. Last week, Mrs Lina Chiam had said in a Facebook post that her husband had not given his endorsement to any candidate in the by-election.” (BE 2016)
    • Mr Heng Swee Keat: “This means a person can lie, cheat or betray someone with impunity…How are voters to believe what such politicians say or hold them accountable for their actions if they were running a town council?” (BE 2016)


    Any fair-minded person will conclude that it is not SDP who is rehashing the saga. The PAP will not let the matter rest because it is to its advantage if it can continue to use this falsehood to attack me.

    But as long as the PAP continues to resurrect the matter, the SDP will rebut the lies. We hope opposition supporters will help us disseminate this information and, in so doing, make it counter-productive for the PAP to rehash the issue.

    But didn’t the episode take place nearly 25 years ago? Is it still relevant to voters?

    A few residents in Bukit Batok raised the subject with me and my party colleagues during our recent campaign. A couple of them indicated that they would not have voted for me had I not personally explained the situation to them. How many more voters are out there who still don’t know the truth?

    As much as some people think that the SDP-Chiam episode is no longer an issue, there are many who – with the help of the PAP and the media – still think it is.

    As a political party fighting for every vote, clearing up the issue to ensure that we don’t allow our opponent to capitalise on a falsehood to sabotage our effort is the smart and right thing to do.

    But why now?

    As I mentioned, we did not counter the PAP when it raised the Chiam issue in GE 2015 and BE 2016 because we did not want the PAP to distract the voters from the real issues. But not doing so may have hurt our campaigns because there are voters who still believe that I had betrayed Mr Chiam and, because of this, would not vote for the SDP.

    This must change. We cannot wait until elections to counter the lies, we must start now. To prevent these untruths from being reinforced and spread further in future elections, the SDP will counter them whenever they are raised.

    Why not just bury the hatchet with Mr Chaim?

    We tried – repeatedly. The SDP has invited Mr Chiam on numerous occasions to our functions in the hopes that we can bury the past and move on (see here).

    A recent example was our invitation to him to attend our 35th anniversary dinner in August last year. We even approached him to be our guest at our rally during the BE in Bukit Batok. The Chiams turned down our invitations.

    We also published an article in our party newspaper written by Dr Wong Wee Nam about how Mr Chiam and the SDP nearly came together in 2015. But Mrs Lina Chiam interpreted that as the SDP trying to use the piece as an endorsement by Mr Chiam of me. We had no such intention, we only wanted to bury the proverbial hatchet and to move on.

    For the record, Dr Wong’s article was published in The New Democrat in June 2015. An online version of the piece was published on 2 April 2015 (see here). Why did Mrs Chiam raise it only nine months later during the BE – and on two occasions, one of which was published in the Straits Times during the cooling-off period?

    Are you attacking Mr Chiam?

    No, not at all. In fact, it has been quite the reverse. Mr Chiam declared in 1993: “He has not been thrust into my position. He has usurped my position!” More recently, the Straits Times reported that “Mrs Lina Chiam accused Dr Chee of ousting her husband from the party he founded in 1980.”

    Nothing could be further from the truth. When Mr Chiam resigned as the party’s secretary-general, I, together with other CEC members, tried to persuade him to remain. Even when he went to the Singapore Press Club to criticise us and left us little choice but to expel him, we still tried – right up till the very end – to see if we could effect some form of reconciliation.

    But rather than go on a he-said-she-said type of argument, it is best to cite what High Court Judge Warren Khoo wrote in his decision when he presided over the lawsuit which Mr Chiam took against the SDP:

    “There were allegations in the pleadings of bad faith and of the defendants (SDP) acting maliciously in order to injure the plaintiff (Chiam See Tong). There were suggestions in plaintiff’s counsel’s questions put to the witnesses for the defendants that the object of the disciplinary proceedings was to make the plaintiff lose his seat in Parliament, that being the consequence of the plaintiff being expelled from the party. I do not think there is very much in these suggestions, having regard to the fact that the CEC even when they had decided to expel him were making efforts to seek a reconciliation with him.”

    The truth is that I have always tried to effect a reconciliation with Mr Chiam. I tried it more than 20 years ago and I have tried it in recent times.

    The falsehood that I ousted Mr Chiam and usurped his position in the SDP has gone on for too long. It must stop. Remember, a lie, if repeated often enough, becomes truth.

     

    Source: www.cheesoonjuan.com

  • Chee Soon Juan Counts On Local Celebrities Lim Kay Siu And Neo Swee Lin As Supporters

    Chee Soon Juan Counts On Local Celebrities Lim Kay Siu And Neo Swee Lin As Supporters

    Local celebrities Neo Swee Lin and Lim Kay Siu donned the SDP uniform when they attended the M1-Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2016. They won best ensemble for their play HOTEL.

    They joined us at BB last night for coffee. Swee Lin’s father told me that he was a PAP grassroots leader for 25 years working with PAP MPs Ibrahim Othman and Lee Chiaw Meng.

    He left the outfit and has never supported any other party. Until now that is. He came wearing the SDP uniform. The SDP is honoured and grateful.

    Thank you, Swee Lin, Kay Siu and Uncle William.

    ‪#‎NowIsTheTime‬‪#‎BukitBatok‬

     

    Source: Chee Soon Juan

  • SDP Social Programme For Bukit Batok – We Are One, We Are Bukit Batok

    SDP Social Programme For Bukit Batok – We Are One, We Are Bukit Batok

    SDP launches We Are One, We Are Bukit Batok, a social programme for the SMC should SDP get elected in the by-election.

    The SDP’s mission is not only to manage the housing estate well, we also want to cultivate a successful town.

    But what is a successful town? It is one where the pavements and lift-landings are not only kept clean but also where residents develop a unique sense of belonging. It is a place where members of the community and the town managers put our minds together to make the estate a real home – a home where neighbour greets neighbour, the better off lend a hand to help lift up those in need, and friends look out for one another.

    Dr Chee said: “I don’t want to be just an MP, I want to be that spark, that catalyst that brings out the best in the people of Bukit Batok, to inspire everyone to reach for their best, to appeal to the better angels in all of us and to discover that side of our community that we didn’t know we had so that we can build a compassionate town, a town that will, dare I dream, become the model and one day spread to all of Singapore.”

    The programme includes the following initiatives the SDP has spelled out for Bukit Batok:

    Hearts for Bukit Batok

    This project endeavours to create a caring community for our elderly and low-income residents. Under this programme, households in Bukit Batok will be encouraged to adopt a needy family in the community by contributing their time and/or resources to the family’s well-being. This will bring the Bukit Batok community closer together and forge strong bonds between fellow residents. It will enrich the lives of both the receiver and the giver even as we recognise that our humanity is inextricably bound together.

    The SDP will also set up and manage a trust fund that will raise funds to assist Bukit Batok’s elderly poor with monthly stipends or food vouchers. If elected, Dr Chee will use his MP’s allowance to assist 10 low-income families.

    Wong Hwee Lin is presently a Private Tutor, who has extensive experience in teaching. She possesses a Master of Arts in SocioCultural Anthropology and was nominated for a Teaching Award in 2009.

    Ms Wong will coordinate Hearts for Bukit Batok.

    Pathfinder

    This project aims to create an environment conducive for students to build confidence and develop their potential. It is a place where students come together discover themselves, explore their interests and talents, or simply find someone to listen to them. Pathfinder will also provide subsidised private tuition for students from lower income families.

    Rajakumari Ashukumar (Kumari) is presently an allied educator and pursuing a degree in biomedical science.

    Ms Kumari will coordinate Pathfinder.

    Dollars and Sense

    This initiative assists residents who are facing financial difficulties and are looking for advice in resolving their financial problems. Financial experts and planners will meet with residents either individually or in small groups.

    Mr Tan Kin Lian is currently the President of the Financial Services Consumer Association. A qualified actuary, Mr Tan was the CEO of NTUC Income from 1977 to 2007.

    Mr Tan will facilitate Dollars and Sense.
    Legal Lifeline

    Staffed by lawyers, the Legal Lifeline provides the first step of assistance to low- income residents who are in need of legal advice. We have at least 7 lawyers who have volunteered to run the legal clinic at this point in time.

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org

  • Chee Soon Juan: SPH And MediaCorp Editors Must Be Even-Handed In Coverage Of Bukit Batok By-Election

    Chee Soon Juan: SPH And MediaCorp Editors Must Be Even-Handed In Coverage Of Bukit Batok By-Election

    This was the front page of last night’s Lianhe Wanbao showing two very contrasting pictures of Mr Murali and I. Through the decades I’ve often been portrayed in a less-than-favourable manner (to put it mildly) whenever it comes to presenting me face-to-face with my opponents.

    I hope that this will not be the trend of reportage in the coming by-election.

    I appeal to the editors at SPH and MediaCorps to be even-handed.

    I do not consider Mr Murali as anything other than a worthy opponent and I hope that BB voters will get to see a fair representation of the both of us before they choose which person they want to be their MP.

    ‪#‎NowIsTheTime‬

     

    Source: Chee Soon Juan 徐顺全