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Tag: Singapore democratic Party

  • SDP Chairman, Jeffrey George, Arrested For Drug-Related Offences

    SDP Chairman, Jeffrey George, Arrested For Drug-Related Offences

    Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chairman Jeffrey George (pictured above, second left) has been arrested for drug-related offenses.

    George, an engineer, was elected as SDP chairman in October 2013. During the September general election, he acted as an election agent for secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and SDP vice-chairman John Tan.

    Chee told The Straits Times the party was shocked by the news, and requested that Goerge’s family’s privacy be respected.

    The Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said investigations are ongoing.

    Yahoo Singapore has also reached out to the SDP for comment.

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

  • Mohamed Jufrie: Failure Of Opposition To Let Voters Have Their Cake And Eat It Let To Their Dismal Showing At The Polls

    Mohamed Jufrie: Failure Of Opposition To Let Voters Have Their Cake And Eat It Let To Their Dismal Showing At The Polls

    Much has been said about the last GE, or rather its result. A combination of factors – from LKY’s passing to newly minted citizens, right down to the bookies who predicted PAP’s loss in many constituencies which alarmed many voters.One important factor which many failed to mention was the failure of the opposition to give voters what they wanted ie to have their cake and eat it.

    Singaporeans are very smart indeed. What is the use of having the cake and not getting to eat it?

    Simply speaking the voters wanted the PAP to still be the governing party and at the same time they want a strong opposition presence. The alternative parties were just not ready. When they heard minister Khaw Boon Wan’s threat that the PAP might not be able to form the government they panicked and decided to play it safe. They went for the cake even if they end up not getting to eat it.

    Had the opposition been smart enough they would have executed the By Election Effect Strategy (BEES as we described it some years ago) to let the PAP form the government on Nomination Day by contesting less than 50% of the seats. Just like we did in 1991 when the opposition won an unprecedented 4 seats – 3 SDP and Low Thia Khiang for the WP.

    Had we repeated the BEES voters would not have been threatened and would have voted for the more credible candidates without fear. The credible opposition candidates could then prove themselves worthy of the peoples’ support and gone on to prepare themselves for future elections to win more seats and by then would be on their way to ready themselves for government in subsequent elections.

    Voters now get the cake but cannot get to eat it because the PAP would not let them. Just watch.

     

    Source: Mohamed Jufrie Bin Mahmood

  • A Letter From Australia – Thank You SDP For Well-Run Campaign In GE2015

    A Letter From Australia – Thank You SDP For Well-Run Campaign In GE2015

    Dear Singapore Democratic Party,

    I am a Singaporean living in Australia. I am married to an Australian and live here with our family.

    I followed closely both GE2011 and more recently GE2015 from afar, which has been made possible by the Internet in current times. Needless to say, given that I am writing this letter to you, I am supportive of having strong and credible opposition voices in the current political climate in Singapore.

    Since GE2015, 9/11/15, I have been left somewhat broken-hearted, and to be honest, a little shell-shocked.  It is not my intent to go into a political analysis here – I am not a political commentator, neither am I au fairewith the intricacies of politics in Singapore – I am sure that you all would have done/ will do a post-mortem of the outcomes from GE2015 and are in a much better position to do so that I am.

    However, I would like to give my gratitude to ALL OF YOU, candidates and volunteers alike, at the SDP (and all other opposition parties) for putting yourselves forward in a bid to secure an alternative, and equally as good if not better, future for the country and people of Singapore. Thank you. You are all courageous and progressive people that Singapore should be proud to call sons and daughters.

    In my opinion, GE2015 saw the fielding of the strongest pool of opposition candidates that Singapore has seen since Independence. Not just in formal qualifications, but also in personality, character and voice. It was because of this that I was so heartbroken that the ground did not show the support that I had wished it to. It was never a question for me that the incumbent party would still form government at the end of this round of GE based on numbers alone (and dare I say, so should they as they are probably the most adequately resourced to do so at present), but I had felt that the opposition field this time would have been able to provide the much-needed alternative and credible voice in Parliament, to challenge both the incumbent and people of the nation to think outside-of-the-box, be more progressive and dare to dream beyond our backyard as a nation. I would have been happy even with a stronger margin for the opposition than what GE2015 delivered, for a more promising GE2020. Alas, that wasn’t to be so.

    So it leaves, I guess, the opposition parties and their supporters to re-evaluate their positions, as they face the cross-roads post GE2015.

    In any case, please accept my gratitude again for a campaign well-run for GE2015. Onwards and forwards to the next milestone!

    With best wishes,
    ​Elin

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org

  • SDP: Non-Transparency Over Hepatitis C Outbreak Extremely Serious

    SDP: Non-Transparency Over Hepatitis C Outbreak Extremely Serious

    The SDP sends our condolences to the bereaved families of those who died from the recent Hepatitis C outbreak at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) as well as to those who are infected by this serious viral infection.

    We look forward to an expeditious and comprehensive investigation into how the episode occurred and, subsequently, deteriorated and what steps are being taken to prevent future mishaps.

    What is disturbing, however, is the non-transparent manner in which the incident was handled by the Government. Information about the outbreak apparently first emerged between April 17 and May 14 this year when the first five cases of the hepatitis C infections were reported by the SGH to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

    The SDP appreciates the difficulty in distinguishing between acute and chronic infections of hepatitis C in some of these cases, as explained by the MOH in its statement today. But even if it was only in August that the MOH was informed that cases were suspected to be linked, it would have been aware of the first outbreak in April. And yet the public was not informed.

    Most of these patients were apparently transplant recipients who, according to the Singhealth website, are routinely screened for hepatitis pre-transplant. Thus, their conversion from negative to positive would have been an indicator of an acute or subacute infection.

    Also, it appears that infection control reviews may have been conducted from at least June 2015 for patients in the affected wards. Thus, patient safety as well as safety of the blood supply were potentially compromised by delays in notification of the general public, especially those vulnerable patients who might have gone through the affected units.

    This is because individuals who may have been recently infected with the virus and incubating it may have gone on to donate blood without knowing that they were in the “window period”. This is a potentially extremely serious situation.

    It is our understanding that the outbreak is the among the most widespread in medical history. Yet the MOH kept the matter under wraps and did not keep the public informed. This is in marked contrast to the SARS Epidemic in 2003 when the Government handled the matter with much more transparency.

    The secretiveness in this episode is unwarranted as the public has the right to know – and the Government the obligation to inform the public – of such a life-and-death matter. The management of the incident by the Government raises two important questions:

    One, why was the public not informed when the outbreak was recognised and investigations commenced in May-June 2015 despite the potential risks to other patients?

    Two, was the withholding of the information a political consideration?

    The Government needs to answer these questions and account to the people over the matter.

     

    Source: http://yoursdp.org

  • Meet SDP’s Paul Anantharajah Tambyah

    Meet SDP’s Paul Anantharajah Tambyah

    It is parliamentary election season in Singapore now and there are several firsts this round. The most significant to me personally are that I will finally get a chance to vote, and that there is an infectious diseases physician contesting this time as a candidate for theSingapore Democratic Party (SDP), one of the older opposition political parties in Singapore.

    Professor Paul Tambyah is famous in medical and healthcare circles, although perhaps less well known to the man or woman in the street. He was the founding head of infectious diseases at the National University Hospital, and has won more awardsthan I can count. He is regularly invited to give lectures at international conferences, and sits on a huge number of ministry (not just MOH) committees, lending his insights and experience to improve Singapore.

    I have the privilege of working under, and then with him, for a good number of years on both medical and other matters. His intelligence is quite evident, and is combined with great energy and a deep sense of integrity. Less well known is his compassion, which I have witnessed exhibited to medical students and patients. Unlike many others, he still maintains a faith in Singapore, and a willingness to freely contribute his time and energy to Singapore that is striking. There is no profit – personal or otherwise – that comes from being associated with the opposition in Singapore, as many locals know.

    He had kindly agreed to answer some questions for this blog, taking time out of his hectic campaign schedule (I guess we will find out if he will command as many “eyeballs” as Group B streptococcus and raw fish!). I have copied his email answers below:

    • 1. Why did you – a prominent infectious diseases clinician, tenured professor of medicine, well-respected researcher, and a happily married man – decide to get involved in politics in Singapore?

    The main reason was the frustration with the healthcare financing system in place in our public hospitals. Many doctors and nurses feel the same. I have tried all the conventional approaches including speaking up at various feedback sessions etc. but to no avail. Eventually I realised that the only way to get answers on important questions is to get into parliament. One of my heroes Rudolf Virchow did the same – and he was contending withBismarck the Iron Chancellor!

    • 2. Many of your colleagues are concerned about your being in an opposition party. That you may suffer job repercussions, loss of career opportunities, and not be awarded further research grants post GE-2015. What do you say to that?

    I think that question was definitively answered when I was promoted to full professor with tenure in 2013 after “coming out” at the SDP boat quay rally in 2011. The knuckleduster era is truly over and Singapore politics is fortunately entering what was called the “new normal”

    • 3. How did you persuade your wife and family to let you campaign?

    It was hard. They were very worried about repercussions – my parents knew Dr. Lim Hock Siew and Dr. Beatrice Chen very well and obviously 20 years of detention without trial was a scary spectre.
    I think that the realisation that with social media, those kinds of things will never happen again hopefully helped reassure them. My wife knows that she cannot change my mind once my mind is made up :-) .

    • 4. Is it safe for your medical or infectious diseases colleagues to be seen drinking tea with you from now until mid-September? Lightning seems drawn to those who wear red, it is said…

    Hopefully not any more. Many doctors and nurses have been spotted at rallies and so far, all are well!

    • 5. What 3 things do your medical colleagues not know about you?

    1) that I have a second edition of Osler’s Principles and Practices of Medicine from around 1900.

    2) that I cannot drink coffee after 3pm.

    3) that I was once one of the editors of Sintercom – the Singapore Internet Community (that was) shut down before the 2001 elections.

    • 6. What is your favourite hawker food and is it really healthy to eat orh luak (what are the risks of hepatitis or food poisoning)?

    There are significant norovirus and Vibrio risks from any oyster dish. I like nasi briyani done local style with pineapple salad

    • 7. Why should people vote for someone like you – who hails from another ivory tower (i.e. university)?

    I like to think that my general medicine duties bring me back down to “the ground”. My mother’s favourite quotation is from Proverbs 31 where she talks about being the “voice of the voiceless” in speaking up for the marginalised who are often sidelined. I hope that I can be part of that voice in Parliament.

    Source: MIPHIDIC – Personal infectious diseases blog, focusing in particular on Singapore, antimicrobial resistance, outbreaks, and (occasionally) chess.

     

    Source: www.tremeritus.com