Rilek1Corner

Tag: SDP

  • They (PAP) wanted to disrupt our plans, but God have a better plan for us (SDP); Damanhuri Abas

    They (PAP) wanted to disrupt our plans, but God have a better plan for us (SDP); Damanhuri Abas

    “Greetings friends and thank you for coming. What a nice place.. this is. We didn’t plan for this.”

    “They wanted to disrupt our plans, but God have a better plan for us.”

    Epic round of applause.

    That was how Damanhuri Abas started his speech at the SDP’s Campaign Kick-Off 2019 where he spoke on National and Malay issues. Close to 2 years ago if you remember, the man responded to an accusation that he uses religion to incite some ‘untoward things’. Yet today, this opposition politician who is driven by religion is standing on that stage. 

    You can watch more here.

    At the end of his speech, Damanhuri recited a Malay pantun that he wrote sometime after joining politics. 

     

    tanah liat, asal usul ku
    jasad dicorak, Tuhan yg satu
    siapa gerangan, anak melayu
    khazanah silam, sejarah lalu

    pulau ujong, dikenal dahulu
    bumi temasek, pantai membiru
    kota singa, nama negeri ku
    sergam indah, jasa ayah ku

    tempat melabuh, pedagang lalu
    gagah berani, laksmana melayu
    armada cheng ho, pernah berlalu
    duduk penjajah, haram bersatu

    kini merdeka, warga negara ku
    suratan takdir, kita disatu
    bangsa cina, india melayu
    minda penjajah, jadi seteru

    pelbagai kaum, berkah yg satu
    kibar bendera, bangga selalu
    merah putih, lambang jiwa ku
    kita rakyat, engkau dan aku

    maruah dibela, bukti cinta ku
    sumpah setia, ikrar sepadu
    berbeza acuan, tetap bersatu
    langit ku junjung, bumi pertiwi ku

    [English translation]:

    From clay, I’m made,
    shaped, by the One
    who is he, the Malay lad
    untold heritage, history’s past

    Tales of old, isle at the end
    Temasek’s soil, with azure sea
    lion city, my country’s name
    awe and majestic, with my father’s hardwork

    A port of call, to traders’ past
    courageously brave, the Malay warrior
    Cheng Ho’s armada, sailed nearby
    colonials came, begins the divide

    Free again, my countrymen
    destiny’s fate, gathers us
    we are Chinese, Indian and Malay
    colonial’s divide, we detest and fight

    Our racial mix, blessed by One
    forever proud, flags raised high
    red and white, embodies my soul
    we are citizens, you and I

    Honour protected, for you my love
    loyalty promised, unity pledged
    our molds differ, remains united
    the sky above I raise, on this land of mine

  • Damanhuri Abas: Yes, I Am Driven By My Religion And Am A Rookie Politician

    Damanhuri Abas: Yes, I Am Driven By My Religion And Am A Rookie Politician

    I have deleted my previous post and relinked to the original source post instead of the other link coming from another FB page.

    Scary siah!!! Sereemmmm!!!

    An article online (see below) apparently was posted accusing me of using religion to incite some untoward things. Firstly, the basic rule of academic rigour is to at least have the integrity to pay for a Malay writer if one intends to comment on an article in that language (jgn kasi malu melayu lah). I guess it suffice to merit the writer to its appropriate class for googling a lazy translation.

    So let me reply.

    1. Yes i m deeply driven by my religion. What is wrong with that? Our constitution recognised the importance of religion and defend the freedom and the right for anyone to profess and practice his or her religion unhindered. If you are not driven by religion surely something else must be driving you in life. It is in-built into our humanity to believe in something. In case the writer do not know, there is a nice little word called conscience to remind and guide a persons life. Even an atheist believe in his or her own atheism. We should respect that and not ridicule.

    2. Now referenced to my post in Malay where I mentioned the principle in Islam that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught Muslims the value of striving to do good and forbid evil. There are 3 modes to do so he (the Prophet) explained. First with your hands (authority/power) if you have the means, second with your words (reminding/warning/etc.) if you can only do so, third with your heart (conscience) by dissociating yourself from it, the third being the least one can do he said, and, in the category of faith, is the weakest.

    3. I have explained in my many other posts why I am of the opinion that this reserved PE is an elaborate government effort to prevent the people from voting a popular President who would be independent in performing his or her primary Presidential role of being the Guardian of our National reserves as well as to safeguard our meritocratic value for top public officers that the President is tasked to do. There are numerous opinion pieces that gave very clear arguments that mirrors my opinion. Even Ministers themselves are quoted to acknowledge its problem. One may disagree but in a democracy one have no right to deny another his right to intellectual discourse. Especially for such a dignified office as our President who everyone of us, swear upon our enlistment, to defend together with our constitution, with our life. But sadly no one can also deny someone of his choice to be less than intelligent.

    4. The article seem so desperate and hell-bent to smear me as a religious firebrand (or fanatic) for living the values that I learned from my parents, believed in and preached to my children as a Muslim. This believe guides my principle and action in life such as responding to this Reserved PE episode, as well as made me stop a stray chicken I came across the other day from crossing a very busy road and killing itself.

    5. The article stopped shot of discussing my other points which I will now elaborate. I mentioned the issue of fate and wisdom in responding to the Reserved PE. In my religion (Islam), fate is a concept that is part of the 6 articles of faith. First is believe in God, second is believe in the Prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Jesus, etc.), third is believe in the Books that God sent in history (Torah, Psalms, Bible, Qur’an, etc.), fourth is believe in the Angels (with their respective roles), fifth believe in Judgment Day (Heaven and Hell), sixth is believe in fate and predestination.

    6. Fate and predestination for a Muslim is to believe that God provides, and everything that happened, do so, with God’s will (both good and evil) as God ultimately allowed it. Wisdom is our ability to then use the endowment of reason that God bestows upon us to analyse the lessons behind that which happened, both good and bad as both are lessons for our life journey towards the end goal of the hereafter. Simply put, don’t blame God for the dead chicken for your failure to act in time to stop it from crossing the busy road. Wisdom is to learn from it and not repeat the same mistake twice. God has given you the mind to think and act freely and you will be responsible for its consequences. For Muslims, consequences are both on earth and in our afterlife. On this basis, I placed my opinion urging us Muslims to reflect and think about what this Reserved PE is about.

    9. I ended the post by asking ourselves to ponder about our believe as Muslims, that God provides. We are challenged to voice our opinion when we see a wrong in society and then feeling worried that it may ruffles someone feathers and may impact our livelihood if we do so.

    10. Of course the article also took cheap swipes at me for my political rookie-ness. I don’t deny I am a rookie politician. It painted many unsavoury unsubstantiated allegation of my subversive intentions to use religion to further my political ambition. May God forgive whoever this (hungry) ghost writer is for his or her ignorance of who I am and what i have done in life for my fellow Malay countrymen challenged with all the problems listed in the article, before i joined politics. I wish the same was asked of our PAP government and their Malay MPs for such a poor performance to show for the same pathetic outcome of the Malay community for the last 52 years under their watch.

    11. As usual it seems that the society boxing game knows no end to this supporters of the establishment. They only learned and know the Machiavellian art from their political masters. From their lazy responses, clearly they skipped the more important chapter on democracy.

    12. We all love this country and have lived here and for a huge majority of us, this is only what we have. It is incumbent upon us to contribute ideas and work to improve our living here as part and parcel of our citizenry. Leaders and government are servants of the people and not our masters. Their position are trust held in check by us the people. The check and balance, which is a vital mechanism of governance is undermined today in our country and we as loyal patriotic citizens should be concerned and do our utmost to protect it.

    13. Finally, i have expected this tirade to come as the political pattern of things here are just too predictable. But sad that it comes from someone who has no courage to put a name to what was written. But the low quality, my God, explains why the writer should be shameful of his or her own writing and would rather hide.

    So this begedil (nice malay potato patty served in mee soto) has decided to honour this sloppy piece of cheap unauthored article the dignity of a response. I leave it to the readers to solicit any untoward evil fanatical islamic intent by me, for reminding fellow Muslims to live their values that we profess to believe in life. Our beautiful religion teaches us, the end never justify the means.

     

    Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

  • SDP member, Damanhuri Abas: “How can that be when the contest is reserved for a single race?”

    SDP member, Damanhuri Abas: “How can that be when the contest is reserved for a single race?”

    Do you agree with the author?

    ***

    “The 2 most vital and fundamental role of the elected Presidency are guardian of the national reserves and ensuring top public appointments undergo due diligence and has no conflict of interest. There are logical and genuine concerns that the newly walkover President may have potential conflict in fulfilling the above function. Until only recently, she is very close to the Government and has little to no track record of internally voicing any dissent against policies before while in Government. These concerns never featured much in public mainstream media prior to nomination day and the public patiently waited for the campaigning to be given the answer.

    Had there been a contest, the public would have had the opportunity to hear this critical question of independence of the potential Presidential candidates to fulfil this incredibly important safeguard. Alas, instead of ensuring in the interest of the public, for a contest thus allowing for fair comparison on competency for financial acumen to fulfil one of the 2 vital roles, it seems the committee overrides the interest of the people by disqualifying 2 of the more financially experienced candidates, when they clearly had the option of allowing for it and had done so before in the last Presidential election. Meritocracy demands the best for the job is chosen.

    This is sadly now unanswered with a no contest. We are instead focusing away into other credentials of the new President such as HDB living, first woman, tudung-wearing, almost a school dropout, etc., which are commendable but of less priority for the job. The anger of the public are not over baseless sentiments driven by racial biases. How can that be when the contest is reserved for a single race? The public is genuinely concern of the ability for the new President to have the necessary financial competence and independence required. A fair expectation for a patriotic, smart, informed and educated citizenry which should be respected and not be brushed aside as petty complaint and branded as divisive. It is an honest expression of feeling short-changed as well as our love for this country that the restless voice of the public is now raised to be heard.”

     

    Source: Damanhuri Abas

  • SDP On EP Walkover: PAP’s Contempt For Our Constitution And Our Flag Must Be Roundly Condemned

    SDP On EP Walkover: PAP’s Contempt For Our Constitution And Our Flag Must Be Roundly Condemned

    Singapore Democrats

    The walkover of the Presidential Election comes as no surprise. The PAP had changed the rules and revised the criteria of the Elected Presidency to pave the way for Ms Halimah Yacob to assume the office.

    Nevertheless, this is a sad day for Singapore. The rule of law has been mercilessly mocked and denigrated. The contempt the PAP has shown for our constitution and our flag which symbolises the ideals of democracy, unity and progress must be roundly condemned.

    By doing what it has done, the PAP has shown yet again that its only goal is to strengthen its grip on power. That the goal is detrimental to the interests and progress of Singapore is of secondary concern to the party.

    It is bad enough that the PAP has manipulated the system to get one if its own to become the president. That it has dangerously played the race card and divided the people to achieve this must be of grave concern to all Singaporeans.

    The SDP protests this outcome in the strongest manner possible.

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org

  • By-Election In Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC

    By-Election In Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC

    The Secretary-General of Singapore’s Democratic Party, Chee Soon Juan has written a letter addressed to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to question him whether a by-election will be held at Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, following Halimah Yacob’s resignation.The full letter is attached below.