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“I approached Teo Chee Hean. He was shaking hands with other supporters, and posing for photographs. I approached him and said, “Mr Teo, I live here and I have a question for you.” He nodded, keeping his smile intact.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Benjamin Cheah, and I’m from The Online Citizen.”
“Where do you live?”
I pointed in the appropriate direction. “Over there.”
“Where are you from?”
“The Online Citizen.”
“Thank you for identifying yourself.” He turned around and walked away.
“Mr Teo!” I shouted.
He continued walking”, Benjamin Cheah recounts.
General Election 2011 is over. The People’s Action Party has been returned to power. The Workers’ Party has made inroads into Parliament. Old warhorses have fallen. New stallions have come forward. The dust has begun to settle in the battleground of General Election 2011. The machinery of the various political parties will now go into post-mortem mode and will be silent for a while.
But there are a bunch of people who cannot be silent. These people cannot be silent because between GE 2011 and GE 2016, there will be many issues to be discussed; there will be many untold stories which have to be told; and there will be many injustices which will have to be spoken for. The collective bunch of people who will be discussing these issues, speaking up for the injustices and telling these stories are the volunteers at The Online Citizen.
No matter who turns their back to our hard questions, no matter who calls us irresponsible for reporting a fact, no matter who snubs our invite to an open discussion, we at The Online Citizen will continue to bring you what we have been bringing you for the last 4 and a half years. But we can do this only as long as we have your support.
Yes, you guessed it. This IS a shameless plug for donation. But there is no shame in asking for support – for donation, for a worthy social venture like TOC. For TOC to keep growing and to keep reflecting the views and opinions of ordinary Singaporeans; for it to remain a platform for the average Singaporean who is concerned about issues facing our nation, we need you to support us with your donations.
Your donations will help in providing a reasonable stipend to our Chief Editor, Andrew Loh, so that he can have reasonable sustenance to continue casting the vision, to continue motivating our writers and contributors who are all volunteers.
Your donations will ensure that TOC appreciates the writers and contributors of TOC by reimbursing them for the expenses incurred when they cover events or news. Simple expenses like those for transportation, the expense of a meal while covering the event/news.
Your donation will pay for TOC’s operating expenses too such as site maintenance, administration, purchase of necessary audio-visual equipments, etc.
TOC’s effort at raising funds has been hampered by the Prime Minister’s Office gazetting us as a political association. Now, only Singaporeans can keep TOC going. Without the support of Singaporeans, TOC cannot continue to champion causes and values like civic participation, open government and free media, to redefine news, to expose and question the quasi opinions and veiled ‘viewpoints’ of the mainstream media.
Donate to keep The Online Citizen alive!
Thank you!
Ravi Philemon
Head of Community Outreach
The Online Citizen
For those who want to donate to us, you can do so either through credit card via Paypal (just click on the ‘donate’ button at the end of any article in www.theonlinecitizen.com) or by check/bank transfer. Please write to us at [email protected] for more details.