FEAR FACTOR, SINGAPORE STYLE: MM LEE PAINTS BLEAK FUTURE OF LIFE WITHOUT PAP
In the wake of the NKF lawsuit against Dr Chee Soon Juan, it seems that the mantra being spelled out by our ruling incumbent, in a nutshell, is this: Never make defamatory remarks against anyone without factual proof.
This rule, it seems, does not apply to the ruling incumbent, as the founding father of Singapore, Mentor Minister Lee Kuan Yew, prophesizes on the day PAP no longer holds the reins of power and lords over a largely obedient populace:
Excerpts from Channel News Asia
Saturday April 29, 2:17 PM
MM Lee poses scenario: what would happen with opposition in power?
SINGAPORE : Minister Mentor Lee Kuan has said that if the People's Action Party is not in government, Singaporeans' lives will be gravely affected.
Mr Lee was speaking at a question and answer session at the Foreign Correspondents' Association's 50th anniversary celebration on Friday evening.
Addressing a 300-strong crowd, Mr Lee threw up a scenario -- what would happen if the PAP lost this general election, and the opposition members of the likes of Low Thia Kiang and Chiam See Tong took over?
Mr Lee said, "You have a hodgepodge of the Workers' Party, four parties in the SDA and Mr Chee Soon Juan's SDP, and they're the Finance Minister, they're the Minister for Trade and Industry, they're the Minister for National Development. You just wait (and see) what happens. You'll find your property prices sink, and if you haven't paid your mortgage, you may have negative estate value. And when it comes to elections, on the quiet, we tell them, just think what will happen if your estate is not run properly?"
Mr Lee also said if the opposition rose against the PAP, they had to be a world class opposition and not this "riffraff."
He said Singapore is what it is today because he had tweaked the system, and he would continue to do so, to improve Singapore.
Allow me to sum up MM Lee's assumptions:
If the opposition parties dominates parliament:
1. The opposition party leaders will somehow merge and share various high-ranking ministerial positions.
SINGAPORE: POST PAP ERA: COLD, DEAD, AND LIFELESS???2. Supposing if such a scenario is practical (Given the fact that Chee Soon Juan and Chiam See Tong don't see eye to eye, despite Chee being a former protege of Chiam), their supposed inability to administrate the nation will result in a drastic fall of property prices.
3. The opposition parties in Singapore are nothing more than a bunch of riffraffs (I.e A bunch of undesirables).
Slanderous remarks indeed. On what basis does our highly esteemed MM base his accusations on?
Has anyone of the opposition leaders, Mr Chiam, Mr Low and Dr Chee ever held the reins of power, besides being MPs in their respective wards (minus Dr Chee)?
And on what basis does he have to brand all opposite parties "riffraff"? Dr Chee and his infamous law suits aside, have the opposition parties made any alleged "defamatory" remarks against him or the ruling incumbent?
Most importantly, why such sweeping remarks without any basis of facts?
As far as I know, when Dr Chee made his supposedly "defamatory" remarks in his SDP newsletter, he did cite instances and sources to back up his claims. Yet he was sued.
Is this the way our "first class government" reacts? Lampooning the opposition without basis of proof? Sueing the opposition party for criticizing the ruling incumbent?
MM Lee also takes pride in "tweaking" with the political system in Singapore. I would reckon that by "tweaking" the system, people are actually subjugated to the point of apathy towards anything political. Whisper blowers from the general populace would be immediately subjected to the scrutiny of law in the form of defamation suits.
Is this the "proud" end product of this high-strung political "tweaking"?
MM Lee has these comments on the Worker's Party Manifesto:
On opposition parties, Mr Lee said they should compete on the competence of the candidates and the basis of policies; an example is to debate the Workers' Party manifesto.
Mr Lee said, "You put out a manifesto, we put out a manifesto. This is what we say we believe in, you say it's motherhood statement; we say fine, you tell us how you would create jobs. But they're not, they don't want to discuss their manifesto, because even before the campaign started, we explained publicly what would happen if we adopted their policies. So he doesn't want to talk about it anymore."
Mr Lee stressed that the Workers' Party manifesto was flawed. - CNA /ct
Perhaps what MM Lee should do is challenge Mr Low Thia Kiang to a National Debate on TV. Without a proper platform or equal political playing field, how does MM Lee expect Mr Low to effectively challenge the negative remarks made against the WP manifesto?
Yet again, we have witnessed the double standard and uneven playing field between the ruling incumbent and the opposition parties.
By trying to scare the populace with unwarranted claims against the opposition party, the ruling incumbent may have unwittingly lost votes to the opposition parties involved. After all, opposition parties is about having an alternative voice in parliament; and judging the way things have progressed, or regressed so far, it may be time to give the ruling incumbent a stunning "mandate" they will not forget in a hurry.
posted by BEAST FCD @ 4/29/2006 02:29:00 PM
11 Comments:
Hi beast:
Low actually challenged PAP to a televised debate!
So did Dr Chee.
Now if PAP is so "1st world" then it couldn't be defeated by a bunch of "riffraff" right?
So why isn't PAP taking up the challenge of a bunch of "riffraff"?
Don't tell me they are they afraid that they would be defeated by a bunch of "riffraff"?!?
Yes, Low Thia Kiang did.
That was why I was so pissed with MM Lee's arrogant speech.
If these are just a mere bunch of riffraffs, why not take up the challenge and have a go at them?
Or, if he feels he is too high and almighty, he can jolly well send his son to debate them.
Whatever it is, it is slanderous for Lee to criticize the opposition without any basis. That, my friend, is defamation.
This is Lee Kuan Yew s country, he is supremee and his superiority is leading Singapore to 1 st world standard.
He is the owner of the island, singapore is his home, he have the right to slandouring anybody in singapore, remember you all only a tax payer,your tax is equalise as residence fees for the country.
To blonde:
Aiya, we all are "riff raffs" la.
Normal ppl like us are not qualified to talk about politics la.
What do we know man?
We dun even know how much reserves Spore has even though we had a president who is supposed to protect it for us.
Maybe we shd just leave these matters to our super 40+ years old generals and great scholars.
VOTE for PAP, regardless of the candidates...
If you want LKY type of politics and climate of fear, vote LKY.
But you do have a choice. Kick LHL out.
WP manifesto is much more detailed on all aspects of policy making. In fact it shows the way for how Singapore should become, economically, socially as well as democratically.
On the contrary, PAP's manifesto seems to be cobbled together hurriedly after WP announced their manifesto.
Exactly, if the opposition are all a bunch of clowns then why don't the pap debate them on their live media and let the people decide. We all know why. blonde, I agree with you they don't have the balls to do so.
Painting all this doomsday yada yada if the opposition gets elected might just backfired on the pap. Singapore would go down the drain just because the opposition gets elected? If that was the case, then perhaps the pap who were the only ruling party the last 40 years of so didn't not do as good a job to build a strong foundation for Singapore.
I'd like to think the average Singaporeans are much smarter than what LKY makes them out to be and know that it is all just pap rhetoric. So those that can vote exercise your vote wisely. This is the only time you are empowered to be able to decide what the destiny of Singapore is going to be on May 6.
The problem with this country is that most Singaporeans do not have spirit. Many, even the educated (vocational level and above)have this misconception that if one votes for the opposition he and even his family will land in hot soup. They would have less benefits compared to PAP supporters.
People in the civil and military sectors (which make up a substantial portion of the workforce) will probably not dare to show their support for the opposition because they mistakenly believe that they would 'receive letters' from the government. We live in a climate of fear. In reality I find that there are probably many people who hate the ruling party but choose to cast in their votes because people are 'scared shitless'.
The GE? Fraud.
I've read the Workers' Party pamphlet - lots of new perspectives. The PAP manifesto that came in my mailbox - very nice magazine looking booklet (is this printed using tax payers' money...same argument as HDB upgrading) - went straight into the tongsampah (dustbin).
Hi all the anons:
If u all meant wat you have said, please do yourself a favour.
Bring all of your voting friend to the rallies. Let them hear for themselves what the candidates have to say instead of relying on our "First World" media.
Walk the talk and and act on your belief.
LKY has been the "mayor" of what is essentially a city and not much more. If you realise this, then you can deal with the Govt's chest thumping.
His biggest failure was not being able to manage Malaysia - that's why Singapore got kicked out. That failure shows a lack of real political skill or statesmanship.
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