The Online Citizen A Community of Singaporeans
by Judy Tan
I read with much interest, your articles on the Workers' Party's positioning and performance, "Is the Workers' Party feeling the pulse of the people" & "Just as we don't agree with Thum being singled out, we should not by the same vein single Pritam Singh out", arising from Mr Pritam Singh's tenuous role in the highly controversial "Select Committee" and his perceived silence on the bullying of historian Thum Ping Tjin.
While we should welcome discourse on this and note our maturity in doing so, I remain dismayed at the manner which many keyboard warriors hurled brickbats at Mr Singh that led me to wonder if they had met up with him or know him personally at any point of his political life? To begin with, do they even feel the pulse of the WP or Singapore Democratic Party for that matter?
I am proud to say I have met Mr Singh twice in May 2017 at his Meet-the-People-Session to discuss certain issues and am satisfied he is trying his best to advance the interests of not only Aljunied residents but the public at large who are as good as having no voices in our lopsided Parliament! Do you know how it feels like to be a lamb placed in the hot front seat with so many predators waiting to pounce on you when a wrong speech or jesture is made? Ever watched Maasai Sightings?
I am also proud to have met Dr Chee in person when I signed the petition outside the Burmese embassy a decade back and was rather surprised to see a meek, soft spoken family man whose sister, Siok Chin is so well loved by her brother's well mannered children. A far cry from what is portrayed on Dr Chee in the mainstream media which by the way, I reckon can be labelled as "fake news"!
While wards run by the People's Action Party are swift to lavish praises on wayang speeches by the retired Inderjit Singh and existing Dr Lily Neo made eons ago, how much of them do you really intimately know, beyond those photographs of hugging elderly or appearing at community events? I have heard from Dr Neo's former RC Chairwoman that she is not who she seems to be beyond those lenses. Dr Neo has since fallen from one of the most admired MPs to one who was almost splashed urine at and stabbed in 2014 by her own admission.
Are we that quick to forget how the WP MPs have held the fort high since winning by a razor-thin margin in 2015? They have voiced out vicariously on a range of hot button issues like the 38 Oxley Rd, Tampering of the Constitution, Test Ballooning of the GST before 2021 and last but not least, The Corruption Scandal of State-owned Keppel Corp. I distinctively recalled Mr Png Eng Huat chiding Indranee Rajah on the double standards of questioning and intimidation!
Now my call to all those bricks batters and keyboard warriors, what have you done so far to hold your PAP MPs accountable for your vote of 2015? If you still wish to keeping for these anemic MPs then you cannot expect the same high standards you demand of Mr Singh when you do not do the same for Lily Neo, Louis Ng, Lee Bee Wah and not forgetting, Sitoh Yih Pin.
#A take for the hypocritical religious: "Men shall possess the rule of law and not be ruled by the whims of other men" - Prophet Moses