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The following is the transcript of the National Day Rally Speech of The Reform Party. It was delivered by its party’s secretary general, Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, at Speakers’ Corner on the 10
Fellow Singaporeans,
It is now 44 years since independence and in that time we have achieved much. We all know that Singapore as a whole is today much richer than it was in 1965. But we also know that Singapore is a far poorer nation in terms of loss of freedoms and lack of opportunities and erosion of human rights.
The Reform Party would like to begin today by focusing on the words of our Nation’s pledge. Like every Singaporean, I recited this every day in primary school, some forty years ago now, followed by the singing of the National Anthem. How far does today’s reality correspond with the words of the pledge?
We pledge to build a democratic society. And truly in these last 44 years we have built….. and built and built. And what we have gained is an infrastructure, an edifice, a corporate head quarters. We have built the house but not the home. And as for a democratic society? From where we stand today this pledge is honoured more in the breach than the observance.