Tan Kin Lian's Blog, Oct 4, 2009
Chee Soon Juan
I met Chee Soon Juan two years ago at a barbeque organised by The Online Citizen in East Coast Park. He brought his wife and three daughters with him. I had a friendly chat with him.
I met him on a few subsequent occasions. I gave some puzzles, quizzes and my books to him to give to his daughters. I have always wondered about how difficult life must be for his daughers in school.
I have spoken to Chee Soon Juan spoke on a few occasions and heard him speak at public meetings. He came across as being a sensible person and has some views about what is good for Singapore. I agree with his views on the need to have to promote democracy and to have a government that reflects the aspirations of the people and is accountable to the people.
The mainstream media has painted a negative picture of Chee Soon Juan. Many Singaporeans perceive him in a negative light, which I believe is a wrong perception. I hope that they will have the chance to meet him and listen to him, or read his views in this blog.
I met a friend at a coffee shop this morning. I told him about my views of Chee Soon Juan and his family. He agreed with me. He had heard a story that Soon Juan's daughter had to speak up in class and tell her classmates, "My father did not commit any crime". He was emotional; tears came down from his eyes when he said, "I wonder how any parent would feel if our own daughter had to face this kind of difficulty in the class".
I like to wish Chee Soon Juan, his wife and three daughters all the best as they face the difficulty of life in Singapore. I hope that more Singaporeans will come forward to express their support to him and his family.
Tan Kin Lian
I met him on a few subsequent occasions. I gave some puzzles, quizzes and my books to him to give to his daughters. I have always wondered about how difficult life must be for his daughers in school.
I have spoken to Chee Soon Juan spoke on a few occasions and heard him speak at public meetings. He came across as being a sensible person and has some views about what is good for Singapore. I agree with his views on the need to have to promote democracy and to have a government that reflects the aspirations of the people and is accountable to the people.
The mainstream media has painted a negative picture of Chee Soon Juan. Many Singaporeans perceive him in a negative light, which I believe is a wrong perception. I hope that they will have the chance to meet him and listen to him, or read his views in this blog.
I met a friend at a coffee shop this morning. I told him about my views of Chee Soon Juan and his family. He agreed with me. He had heard a story that Soon Juan's daughter had to speak up in class and tell her classmates, "My father did not commit any crime". He was emotional; tears came down from his eyes when he said, "I wonder how any parent would feel if our own daughter had to face this kind of difficulty in the class".
I like to wish Chee Soon Juan, his wife and three daughters all the best as they face the difficulty of life in Singapore. I hope that more Singaporeans will come forward to express their support to him and his family.
Tan Kin Lian
The image of Singapore does not depend on what CSJ says. It depends on the truth.
If CSJ says bad about Singapore which is untrue, the facts will speak for themselves. Some people will present the other side, and the thinking people can make their own judgement.
If we have basic flaws in our society, e.g. undemocratic, unjust or unequal (hypothetically speaking), there is no way of hiding the truth among the citizens or outside of the country.
We have to recognize our flaws and correct them. We should aspire to be more democratic, more just, and more equal. This will be for the good of our future.
Anyway, the foreign countries have their embassies in Singapore and they send back reports about what is happening here. So, it does not really depend on any one person's views.
********************************************************************
Selected comments on Tan Kin Lian's post
I share your thoughts about Mr.Chee. In the beginning, I believed what our "leaders" and the press had reported about him and did not have a good impression of Mr.Chee. After reading the various reports in the internet (TKL's Blog, Temasek Review, TOC etc.)and having seen the various video clips found in Youtube etc, I now have a total different opinion of Mr. Chee and truly admire his courage and determination. I hope that he will be able to stand for election in the comming GE and am confident that he will make an excellent opposition member in Parliament. If there is a campaign to help discharge him from bankruptcy, I would be most happy to help in my limited capacity with a small contribution, and I am sure there will be many others who will also do likewise. I wish Mr.Chee and his family all the very best.
I have read many negative reportings about Chee SJ on the mainsteam medias, as well as listening to speeches by Chee Soon Juan in some of the public engagement exercise.
We can judge for ourselves that Chee is not a negative person as projected.
Indeed, Singapore at this moment urgently needs capable and courages people like Chee to speak up and act for a just society for its people.
We all need to vote wisely in the next election, as the present govt has sadly becomes less caring for its people, but leaders more interested in enriching themselves with $$$...at the expense of its own citizen.
Why? Because that's DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
However, the mainstream media always has a one-sided opinion of him which is always negative. How is that even fair? Give him enough unbiased airtime on MSM and let the people judge him for who he is and what he stands for.
People that do not read the alternative news or media available will always associate him as a "gangster" or a "liar". He speaks the truth and he seeks to find out the truth.
CSJ challenged PM Lee to a televised debate which was declined. He challenged George Yeo to an online debate, which was again declined.
I've seen countless of times on ABC news where Australian PM Kevin Rudd has to appear on TV to argue his case on certain national policies against newscasters/journalists who always gives him a tough time.
Why can't our PM do the same? If the policies are beneficial to the country, defend it, prove it and debate it on national TV. It's not the same as reading off a pre-written script about how well and far we've progressed in the last 50 years because anyone could do that.
We've already lost J.B Jeyaretnam (God bless his soul), a true-blue Singaporean. We can't afford and we cannot afford to lose Dr Chee.
Before that, I, like many here, thinks that SDP / Dr Chee are trouble maker who like to break the law.
After following SDP / Dr Chee and some of the supporters blogs, I begin to realise that SDP / Dr Chee did not deliberately break the laws. In fact, it is the Ruling Party who amend / change the laws just to 'do them in'.
For some of you here who mentioned that they agree with Dr Chee's ideals but not his method, let me ask you this, what method you are disagreeing with? If you seen how other opposition parties can go around with their groundwork without much of a 'disturbance' by the police and SDP was place under police investigations for theirs, ask yourself this, what went wrong?
SDP / Dr Chee's methods? Or is it the case of rule by law?
And this article only proves his wise and mature understanding of REAL politics - something that doesn't happen in Singapore
He "broke the law" seemed like a big thing until you realised that he is only doing something to raise public awareness of the plight of the underdog, giving an alternative view.
The media is controlled by PAP - can anyone dispute this fact? So with no media support, how can the public know about what he has to say? If PAP play this game fairly, then Dr. Chee has no need to resort to all the media-grabbing tactics.
Singapore can benefit if everyone play the game fairly. IF the ruling party can't even handle some opposition in the parliament, and they need to crack their brains to "fix" the opposition, then what good are the PAP people?
Martin Luther King, Jr
Thank you Dr Chee for reminding us to stand up & do the right thing.
The "laws" now seems getting more and more oppressive and fear inducing. Speaking against injustice means you may become bankrupt or jailed without trial. Voting against ruling party means you could be traced. Wearing a t-shirt could land you in trouble. One man protest is now illegal. Any recording you make may be judged as political. Even voicing out in "anonymous" internet is fearful because you can ultimately be traced.
To those who disagree with CSJ methods, could you suggest more effective methods? Could you name some examples in history where dictators are thrown out simply by keeping totally quiet and doing nothing?
If in the future the law says any talking in public could be judged as political and illegal are you going to stop talking completely?
Comparing the methods of CSJ vs the methods employed by the ruling party, I would disagree with the methods of the ruling party even more.
No comments:
Post a Comment