TR EMERITUS

By Eugene Yeo Long regarded as politically apathetic and "bochap", there was a well of unprecedented interest amongst Singaporeans especially the young in the latest Malaysian general election. Whether in heartland kopitiams frequented by the Ah Peks and Ah Sohs or a cyberspace populated by young savvy bloggers and forumers, everybody is talking about the political "tsunami" which has hit Malaysia and if its effect will spill over to Singapore in the next GE. Many Singaporeans were inspired and electrified by the triumphs of the underdogs against all odds - the overwhelming grassroots machinery of BN, its seemingly infinite resources, vilification by the mainstream media, all of which they can easily identified with given the similar circumstances in Singapore. Bloggers post daily updates of the Malaysian election campaign and of the results on polling day itself. The podcasts of opposition campaigns, speeches and rallies were widely viewed. Internet chatrooms and forums were filled with threads praising, supporting and even lauding opposition figures though few Singaporeans have met them in person before. Though the ethnic composition of the electorate on both sides of the causeway differs greatly (Chinese is the majority race in Singapore with a majority of 76% as compared to 26% in Malaysia in which the Malays is the dominant race), the political landscape is uncannily similar with a monolith party or coalition leading the countries since independence. Political analysts hailed the internet as having a significant impact on the opposition's electoral success as evident in the high level of support received by the opposition in the urban constituencies with over 60% in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur alone. Malaysia's internet penetration is 62% compared to Singapore's 85% in 2007 and therefore it is not impossible, inferring from the Malaysia experience, that such stunning electoral outcome can be replicated in Singapore in the island's next general election in 2010 or 2011. Frustrated and peeved with the mainstream media's unshamed bias to the incumbent Barisan Nasional, many young Malaysians turned to the alternative media as a reliable source of news. The more biased and lopsided the reports of the state media are, the more credibility the alternative media gains. The popular online news blog Malaysiakini reported a record half a million visitors an hour on the election day itself causing its server to crash. Not surprisingly, the majority of netizens are anti-establishment opposition supporters. According to a mock election conducted by the popular news blog Malaysia Today, 88% of its readers voted for the opposition, Barisan Rakyat. The same trend is also noted in Singapore, not least by the ruling PAP, that more and more Singaporeans are obtaining their news from blogs and forums.   Like their Malaysian counterparts, Singapore netizens are voracious critics of the PAP. Surely it does dawn upon the politically astute PAP that this is a potential threat to their rule in the future. As Raja Petra Kamaruddin of Malaysia Today put it aptly:  "I also read that some politicians in Singapore are anxious as to what had happened in the last election in Malaysia. They feared that the tide will overspill on the island causing the People's Action Party (PAP) to collapse in their next general election."  Read More →

By Eugene Yeo  In a recent interview with the online newspaper Malaysiakini, Dr Mahathir commented that it would be a "disaster" for Malaysia if it "loses its opposition" as in Singapore. As a Singaporean who grew up during the Mahathir years, Dr M's tolerance and embrace of the opposition came as a pleasant surprise given his autocracic tendencies exhibited during 22 years of iron-fisted rule. He may even come across as being "magnanimous" and "gracious" when compared to the PM of this country who once threatened, in his very own words, to "fix the opposition" if more were to be elected into Parliament. Indeed, is this the reason why there is no opposition left in Singapore ? Since Singapore was separated from the Federation in 1965, politics on two sides of the straits had been dominated by a single mammoth entity - Barisan Nasional, a motley coalition led by UMNO in Malaysia and the People's Action Party (PAP) in Singapore. Ironically, the Democratic Action Party (DAP), one of the main opposition parties in Malaysia was an offshoot of the PAP, being formed by the Malaysian PAP cadres in 1966. Barisan Socialist's fatal mistake A flip through the history books will tell us that Singapore always has an active and vibrant opposition presence since the first legislative elections in 1955 held by the British colonial government in which the PAP, then in the opposition, won three seats. In 1961, left-wing members of the PAP, led by Lim Chin Siong and Dr Lee Siew Choh left the PAP and form Barisan Socialis taking away 35 out of 51 branches from the parent party. In February 1963, many members of the Barisan Socialis were arrested by the Internal Security Department (ISD) for "subversive" activities to set up a communist state in Singapore including its charismatic leaders Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan. Despite that, in the 1963 state elections, Barisan Socialis won 13 out of 51 seats to become the largest opposition in Parliament. After the elections, in a series of "anti-communist" and "anti-subversive" activities, the ISD would continue to arrest many members of the Barisan Socialis, including its MPs thereby crippling the party. However, the killer blow was not dealt by the PAP but by a disastrous move which led to serious repercussions for the opposition till today. After Singapore's independence from Malaysia, Barisan Socialis MPs began to resign one by one in 1966. Though the Barisan Sosialis' official position was to 'take the fight to the streets', in reality, the party believed that Singapore's future was in serious doubt and felt pointless to continue the political struggle. In the by-elections for these vacant seats, the PAP had a clean sweep. Calls for blank ballots by the Barisan Sosialis went unheeded. By 1968, there was no opposition member of parliament and it would take another 13 years before the opposition parties could win a seat in parliament. Since then, the party itself has failed to win a single seat in parliament. Later in an election rally in 1980, party chairman Dr Lee Siew Choh apologised to the voters for what they did in 1966 and admitted what they had done was a grave mistake. PAP consolidates its power It was to be a mistake that the opposition in Singapore never recovered from. Barisan Socialis's dramatic capitulation gave PAP 12 uninterrupted years of complete power and hegemony in Parliament in which they used the advantages of their incumbency to consolidate their presence and position in all branches of the government and civil society. Important institutions of the state which are previously independent, such as the press, civil service and grassroots organizations came to be dominated by the PAP and their continued stranglehold on them has kept the opposition weak and subdued to this day. Without a free press, the media soon became part of the PAP's propaganda machinery constantly extolling the virtues and achievements of the government where criticism are almost unheard of. At the same time, laws are strengthened to curb basic freedoms of speech and assembly guranteed for citizens under the Constitution. Political activism especially in the university is severely curtailed with transgressors being jailed or exiled, most notably the prominent student leader Tan Wah Piow. A subservient press and a subdued civil society serve only to perpetuate the PAP's unbridled penetration into all aspects of Singapore be it the judiciary, HDB which builds the flats 90% of the population lives in, the NTUC supermarts in which Singaporeans buy their groceries and even kindergartens for the next generation. The PAP's presence and pervasiveness is so complete that it will not be exaggerated to compare it to the Communist Party of China. Singapore has been turned into a virtual police state. In fact, the PAP's strongman Lee Kuan Yew once said unashamedly to a foreign journalist that he is proud to admit that the PAP is the government of Singapore and verse versa. More importantly, the PAP's absolute control of Parliament, state resources and even the Election Commission under the PM's Office enables them to change the rules at will to serve their own narrow political interests. HDB flats in opposition wards such as Potong Pasir were not upgraded even though its residents pay taxes like the rest of Singapore. Gerrymandering is rampant with single constituencies singled out as the bastions of the opposition being partitioned and amalgamated into bigger GRCs which have ballooned over the years further tip the playing field to the favor of the PAP. The opposition is often ridiculed and demonized by the media as foreigner saboteurs, enemies of the state or some lunatics fresh out of IMH. Not surprisingly, the ranks of the opposition continue to be decimated throughout the years. Nipping the nascent opposition in the bud Though the opposition is severely weakend, Singaporeans continue to yearn for an opposition in Parliament to check on the PAP whose paternalistic style of governing involves forcing unpopular policies down the throats of citizens has caused increasing voices of dissent to emerge from Singaporeans    In 1981, Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party won the Anson seat in a by-election with 51.9% to 47.1% of the vote to become Singapore's first opposition MP since 1968. He was again re-elected to the same seat in 1984 as one of only two opposition politicians to win in that election. Later, however, Jeyaretnam was brought down by a series of politically-motivated charges and fines in a successful effort to disbar him and prevent him from taking part in future elections. Two months after his 1984 re-election, he was charged for allegedly mis-stating his party accounts. In 1986, a district court found him innocent of all charges but one; the prosecution appealed and the Chief Justice ordered a retrial in a district court. At the retrial, Jeyaretnam was declared guilty on all charges. The judge sentenced him to three months' imprisonment (later commuted to one month), and fined him SGD5,000, sufficient to disqualify him from standing for election for a period of five years. He was also disbarred. In the 1988 election, Jeyaretnam was barred from contesting due to his 5-year disqualification. However, he did attend election rallies to help out his fellow party members. At an election rally, he challenged the PAP's claim to being an open and transparent government, and asked whether any investigation had been conducted as to how the Minister for National Development, Teh Cheang Wan, had obtained the tablets with which he had committed suicide, in the midst of being investigated for corruption. After the elections, Lee commenced proceedings against Jeyaretnam, alleging that the latter had slandered him as his words at the election rally were understood to mean that Lee had committed a criminal offence by aiding and abetting Teh to commit suicide, and thereby, had covered up on corruption. The action was heard by Justice Lai Kew Chai who found a case against Jeyaretnam and ordered him to pay Lee, damages of SGD 260,000, together with interest on the amount and costs. Jeyaretnam was subsequently being sued successfully for defamation in separate lawsuits in 1995 and 1997 resulting in over $S500,000 in damages. He was only discharged from bankruptcy and recalled to the Bar last year. The plight of Jeyaretnam as well as other prominent opposition leaders who have been embroiled defamation suits such as Tang Liang Hong, Francis Seow, Gopalan Nair and Chee Soon Juan have caused Singaporeans to shun politics altogether particularly the young, capable and professional intellectuals who have much to lose. Politics in Singapore has acquired such a sordid reputation that even the PAP has problems recruiting new candidates to stand for elections, let alone the opposition which has long been discredited and dismissed as a bunch of crankpots by the PAP and the state media. The Wayang of today - PAP's approved "opposition": In 2001, Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam, long seen as one of the few brave leaders in the opposition who dare to challenge the PAP, resigned abruptly from the Workers' Party, citing lack of party's support for his fight against bankruptcy. Mr Low Thia Kiang who became the WP's Secretary General swiftly pledged to chart WP from the "confrontational politics" promulgated by his predecessor and to serve as a "constructive opposition" in Parliament. He was later accused by Jeyaretnam for helping the PAP to oust him. Low's open deference to the PAP has made him an instant blue-eye boy of the regime and the media. MM Lee praised him in public as being "credible" and "acceptable". The media began to run favorable reports on WP and its new generation of leaders. This ringing endorsement by the establishment net WP the biggest number of votes during the last General Election in 2006 with 2 MPs in Parliament. Though decried often by detractors as being intolerant and insensitive, the PAP leadership does retain a certain degree of political acumen to realize that Singaporeans are getting tired and fed up with the ruthless and uncompromising approach it adopts towards its adversaries and the fact that there will always be support for the opposition. Since you can't beat them completely, might as well co-opt the acceptable ones into your fold! During the GE 2006, MM Lee gave his definition of what a "First World opposition" should be - in short, an "opposition" that is compliant, cooperative and does not confront the PAP so that its MPs can continue to breeze their bills through in Parliament without any problems. His words were directed at Low who by then was gaining a reputation as a "credible" opposition MP. Parliamentary sessions became more like a meeting with few questions asked or issues debated. Even PAP backbenchers and NMPs are more vocal than Low. In a lame attempt to live up to the PAP's "expectations" of him, Low went further by restricting his "opposition" to only making a few token speeches in Parliament and praising the PAP for its governance and laws in public. He even renounced the tag of "opposition", preferring to call WP an "alternative party" providing an "alternative" to the PAP.  In Malaysia, it is possible to get two ideologically polarized parties like DAP and PAS to collaborate in the civil campaign "Bersih" to call for free and fair elections. Not so in Singapore where WP leaders and members shun SDP like a plague and are eager to be seen aligned to the PAP by inviting its leaders to WP's 50th anniversary dinner last year. In one interview with the Straits Times last year, Low infuriated opposition supporters by defining the role of the opposition as a "watchdog" and not a "mad dog" alluding to SDP's Chief Chee who has been the most voracious critic of the PAP. With WP betraying the opposition's cause to become a pseudo-subsidiary of the PAP, the opposition in Singapore is not only "lost", it has also been rendered completely impotent and irrelevant. The PAP's "taming" of the opposition and its tacit approval of WP has severely curtailed the boundaries in which future opposition parties can operate. In other democracies, the opposition is expected to check on the ruling party by voicing its concerns and criticism freely without any fear or worries to the extent of being confrontational. Across the causeway, no opposition party will survive if its leaders prostitute themselves to Barisan Nasional with boot-licking antics of the WP. In Singapore, thanks to the new WP under Low Thia Kiang, the role of the opposition has now been denigrated to that of a "docile", "compliant" and "non-confrontational" "alternative" voice in Parliament.  Read More →

THE FORGOTTEN PEOPLE OF MAE TAO The Saffron revolution in September had awakened the world to the brutality of the military junta in Burma . As attention of the international media on Burma fade away, little remain known to the outside world of the longest and largest humanitarian disaster in Southeast Asia . In 1949, a year after Burma gained independence from the British, civil war broke out between the central government in Rangoon and various ethnic groups in the outlying frontier regions. The Karens, who inhabited in the highlands along the Thai-Myanmar border were relentlessly prosecuted by the Burmese army; many lost their homes and fled to Thailand where they end up as refugees along the Thai-Myanmar border. Over 5 decades, the number of refugees swelled up to close to 1 million according to the United Nations High Council for Refugees. In 1988, after a failed uprising against the military junta, thousands of university students fled to the border. One of them is a Karen doctor -Dr Cynthia Maung. With a dilapidated building with bare dirt floors, a rice cooker, solicited medicine and food, Dr Cynthia Maung started the Mae Tao Clinic on the outskirts of Mae Sot, Thailand . Working tirelessly under harsh conditions with few supplies and less money, Dr Cynthia Maung managed to turn Mae Tao clinic into an oasis of hope for the homeless refugees stranded along the Thai-Myanmar border. Dr Cynthia Maung Today, the Mae Tao Clinic has grown to provide inpatient and outpatient medical services, basic surgical service, and mobile satellite clinics set up in Karen controlled war zone to assist those who cannot reach the clinic. There is a staff of 5 physicians, 120 health workers and 40 support staff providing basic healthcare to 300 to 400 patients who come to the clinic daily. Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand Dr Cynthia Maung has received many honors for the clinic's humanitarian work.  As we wept for the innocent lives lost during the Saffron revolution, let us do a small part for the forgotten people of Mae Tao. The homepage of Mae Tao clinic is at www.maetaoclinic.org.  The author is a participant of NUSSU Project Letpabya, a humanitarian mission to Myanmar in 2004.  Read More →