TR EMERITUS

OPINION Even before the electoral battle has began proper, the Singapore opposition has managed to start a cat-fight among themselves which is making them a bigger clown than the beleaguered Jack Neo who should seriously consider a movie on the longest political saga in Singapore. In 1993, opposition veteran Chiam See Tong left the Singapore Democratic Party he founded under acrimonious circumstances due to differences in opinions with his CEC members over the hungry strike conducted by his protege Dr Chee Soon Juan. As expected, the state media tried to play up the enmity between the two men by portraying Dr Chee as an unscrupulous upstart who "ousted" his mentor from the party. Dr Chee has already posted an explanation about what happened on the SDP website. 17 years later, the controversy was dredged up again unwittingly by Dr Chee himself who told Lianhe Zaobao in an interview last month that he had tried his best to persuade Mr Chiam to stay on as SDP's leader who later joined the Singapore People's Party (SPP). This prompted a reply from Mr Chiam's wife Ms Lina Loh who accused Dr Chee in another interview with Lianhe Zaobao last Sunday of "distorting" the truth resulting a tit-for-tat exchange between the two camps of supporters in cyberspace much to the delight of the PAP. With an election around the corner, the spectre of in-fighting among the opposition will return to haunt them again as they have proven to be incapable of setting aside their petty differences for the greater goal ahead. The recurrent spat between SDP and SPP over an incident long past is perfect publicity for the PAP to smear the opposition as a group of immature, naive and insensible "riff-rafts". Both Dr Chee and Ms Lina Loh who is expected to participate in the next general election still don't get it - the truth is irrelevant in politics especially when the saga had happened years ago, it is public perception which matters most right now. It reflects very badly on them including the parties they represent that they chose to wash a 17-year old "dirty linen" in public again to refresh not only the memories of those who are aware of it, but the young voters who do not have any inkling of what transpired between the two men as well. To put it bluntly: it is an absolute PR disaster for both SDP and SPP. The Singapore opposition seriously has a knack of shooting themselves in the foot, not only once, but repeatedly by giving SPH and the PAP free ammunitions to shoot at them! It's quite pointless to put the blame on the hapless journalist who conducted the interviews when both have been so forthcoming with sensitive information to buttress their own positions. Can Singaporeans really trust the opposition to fight for their interests when they are busy scratching and biting one another over such a trivial affair?  Will SPP or SDP  score any political points among voters by throwing mud at each other? Who will be the winner in the end? The answer is obvious. The only way out of the present impasse is NOT to go to the media again or take pot shots at one another in cyberspace but to put up a "wayang" to deflect public attention and to shift the blame back to SPH. Dr Chee and Mr and Mrs Chiam should meet up for dinner together with other party leaders, bury the hatchet (whether they are sincere about it is another matter altogether) and issue a joint press statement on the controversy to close the case once and for all so that SPH will not be able to make use of the historical animosities between them to drive a wedge in the opposition again. The proposed joint statement by SDP and SPP can be along the lines of: "Over the past few days, there were some articles made in the media on Mr Chiam's departure from SDP in 1993. We regret to say that the remarks made by both Dr Chee and Ms Lina Loh had been quoted out of context by the media. Both SDP and SDA enjoy a cordial relationship with each other and will continue to work together to serve the interests of all Singaporeans." Such a statement will save the "faces" of both parties, take the heat off them and arrow the blame back to SPH again which doesn't have a reputation for objective, fair and balanced coverage on the opposition anyway, thereby "killing two birds with one stone." While we have no right or business to interfere in the internal affairs of SDP and SPP, we hope they will take our proposal into consideration. With public unhappiness and resentment against the PAP at an all-time high, the next general election will be an ideal opportunity for the opposition to snare a few more seats in Parliament including a GRC provided that they get their act together. There are no permanent friends or foes in life, let alone politics. An enemy of yesterday may become a most trusted ally in the future. Unless the opposition band together under a common platform like Malaysia's Pakatan Rakyat coalition, they can never stand a chance against the PAP juggernaut which controls all institutions of the state including the police, media, civil society and grassroots organizations. A dinner between Mr Chiam and Dr Chee is too long in the waiting. Surely Mr Chiam will have the magnanimity to forgive the man whom he brought into politics in the first place and had suffered tremendously for the last 20 years under the repressive PAP regime?   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook discussion on this article here and invite your friends to do so as well to raise awareness among fellow Singaporeans.   Related articles: >> Chee: personal attacks made against me by Mrs Chiam were untrue >> Lina Loh to Lianhe Zaobao on Chee-Chiam rift >> Historical baggage between SDP and Singaporemedia >> Dr Chee replies to Zaobao journalist’s clarification >> Zaobao journalist posts clarification on her Facebook  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent After a four day wait, PUB has finally replied to a netizen's complaint about the "Water Festival" event organized by Bukit Batok grassroots organizations. The event will be held on 18 April 2010 to welcome the New Year for the Thai, Burmese, Laotian and Cambodians living in Singapore: A netizen Kojakbt has since written to several government agencies including the Attorney-General Chambers and the Singapore Police Force questioning the legality of organizing such an event. Under the Public Utilities Act (CAP 261) 50(b), any person who wastes water “shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.” According to an unverified rumor circulating in cyberspace, a similar “Water Festival” held in the 1980s by a group of Thai workers in the Boon Lay area was stopped by the police for wasting water under the Public Utilities Act. Both the AGC and Singapore Police had refused to comment on the matter and "directed" Kojakbt to PUB instead. A director from PUB's Water Supply Department has replied to Kojakbt's queries promising to "look" into the matter. It remains to be seen if PUB dares to stop an event which has the blessings of senior PAP leaders such as the Senior Minister of State for National Development Ms Grace Fu who told a netizen rather nonchalantly on Facebook that the "Water Festival" is a way of Singaporeans showing "respect" to foreigners. Ms Fu's insensitive remarks sparked an outcry in cyberspace with many netizens questioning if she is a MP for Singaporeans or foreigners. "If that is the case, shall we also celebrate the Sultan of Johor's birthday to show our respect to the Malaysians?" one angry netizen retorted. One Singaporean has written in to the Straits Times Forum yesterday questioning the discrepancies in the messages sent by Bukit Batok grassroots organizations and the Ministry of Environment to conserve water. So far, no government agencies including the Ministry of Environment have commented on the issue yet. The event would not have triggered such a furore in the past. It is a sign that Singaporeans are getting increasingly unhappy, disgruntled and angry with the PAP's discriminatory policies against locals. The next general election may be the last opportunity for native Singaporeans to vote out the PAP after which they will surely be relegated to being second class minorities within their own country of birth.   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so and help us exceed the number of fans on the official YPAP Facebook page.   Related articles: >> Unhappy Singaporean writes into ST Forum to complain about "Water Festival" >> Netizen’s queries on “Water Festival” stone-walled by Singapore Police >> PAP MP Grace Fu: organizing “Water Festival” is a way of telling foreigners we respect them >> Netizens protest against “Water Festival” organized by Bukit Batok grassroots organizations >> Singaporean unhappy at grassroots organizations hosting Water Festival for foreigners  Read More →

By Sheridan Mahavera from The Malaysian Insider Wanted Urgently: Electronic engineers for Bangi-based multi-national corporation manufacturing capacitors. Starting salary: RM2,500. Benefits: full medical, housing and personal loans, and a RM200 monthly transport allowance. Sounds like a plum job for our engineering graduates right? The employer in question, Nichicon (Malaysia) sdn Bhd, doesn’t think it was attractive enough. Its human resources manager Mohd Taufik Abdullah claims despite advertising everywhere and postings on job sites, the company could not get even one Malaysian to fill the 10 posts available. “In the end, we were forced to hire Filipino engineers through an agent we knew. “Yes, we hear it all the time too, that universities and colleges produce thousands of engineers a year. But where were they when we were looking for them?” asks Mohd Taufik. That industries are addicted to foreigners to do the menial, repetitive, tiring, dirty, hazardous but critical jobs is not a new thing. But highly-paid and skilled posts like engineers? And it’s not just engineers, says Mohd Taufik and his colleague Noor Azman Abdullah of Hosiden Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Factories in the Bangi area, where most of the big-name electronic factories in Selangor are based, are having problems hiring local clerks, technicians and junior executives. This is not the tip of the iceberg. This is the iceberg, claims factories and the associations who represent them in Selangor, Malaysia’s most industrialised state. Read rest of article here.  Read More →