Here’s PM Lee plugging Murali Pillai and slamming Chee Soon Juan at Bukit Batok
On Saturday morning (April 30), cries of “Ah Mu! Ah Mu!” were drowned out by those of “Mr Lee! ‘Mr Lee!” as crowds of Bukit Batok residents gathered, hoping to get a handshake or, better yet, a selfie with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The popularity of the People’s Action Party (PAP) Secretary-General was unquestionable: wherever he went, he was greeted with smiles, cheers and even adoring squeals from star-stricken aunties. His prodigious presence would have completely overshadowed PAP’s candidate for the upcoming by-election, if not for his proactive introduction of and campaigning of votes for Murali Pillai to everyone they met.
Here are the 6 painstaking observations we made about Saturday’s walkabout with Lee and Murali during the rare few moments we could see beyond someone’s scalp.
No one can come close to stealing PM’s thunder
Lee’s belief that Chee remains unchanged remains unchanged
PM takes his own photos (sometimes)
And he really wants a grandchild
The race card, played again
What happens when you provide feedback to the PM?
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Chee Soon Juan says PAP should ‘consider their own hypocrisy’
The chief of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has accused the People’s Action Party (PAP) of “gutter politics” and of being guilty of the very charges made against him, such as racism and hypocrisy.
Speaking at the SDP’s second rally of the Bukit Batok by-election on Sun (May 1), candidate Dr Chee Soon Juan said: “They don’t tell you how they can be better than opponents, they tell you how bad the opposition is by running smear campaigns so that you will vote for the PAP by default.”
“They don’t consider their own hypocrisy,” he added, noting that this sort of behaviour seemed “baked into the PAP’s DNA”.
related:
SDP rally for Bukit Batok by-election, May 1
Good character, integrity first requirement for candidates: PM Lee
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'Astounding' that SDP believes character does not matter: Heng Swee Keat
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has described a statement by Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) central executive committee member Paul Tambyah to be "one of the most astounding statements ever made in the history of Singapore politics".
In a Facebook Live video on Saturday (Apr 30), Dr Tambyah had said: "We believe you can criticise what a person says or what a person does, but don't attack the person ... It's not right to question his character ... Attacking his character is uncalled for. A person is not defined by his or her actions or words."
In a FaceBook post on Sunday, Mr Heng responded by saying: "I read with dismay Prof Paul Tambyah's statement yesterday claiming that character doesn't matter.”
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Finance Minister help PAP Murali by misleading the public
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat joined in the fray to support Bukit Batok by-election PAP candidate Murali by openly misleading the public and defaming the Opposition’s rally speaker, Dr Paul Tambyah. Minister Heng Swee Keat said that he was astounded when he heard Dr Paul said character does not matter:
“I read with dismay Prof Paul Tambyah’s statement yesterday claiming that character doesn’t matter."
This means a person can lie, cheat or betray someone with impunity. Prof Tambyah and his colleagues believe character doesn’t matter, a person’s words are irrelevant and we should ignore their actions. They believe they should be allowed to do or say anything and not be held responsible for their actions or words.
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Chee Soon Juan invokes Lee Wei Ling to make a point about PAP’s politics
The following is a snippet from Dr Chee Soon Juan’s speech at the Bukit Batok by-election rally on May 1.
“Up until now, I have never, never brought up the issue about what his sister, Lee Wei Ling said about him. You can search for it online or anywhere else. But you won’t find anything I said about the incident because I never made any. I had ample opportunity to attack him on this. But I did not. And it would have been a very potent attack because this is not your political opponent saying it. It is your own flesh and blood making these statements about you.
Now, I want you all to imagine. If it had been my sister saying these things about me, what do you think would have happened? Do you think the PAP would have gone to town with this? Do you think that all the newspapers, channel 5, channel 8, Channel NewsAsia would all have running this news with the reporters camped outside my house – camped outside my sister’s house – for days and weeks, trying to add fuel to the fire. And then interviewed SDP members, interviewed my friends, interviewed my former classmates, interviewed my teachers to prolong the saga. And make sure that every man and woman, and boy and girl in Singapore knew about the matter.
I bring up this incident because I want to show you that even though I had the perfect opportunity I refrained from using Dr Lee Wei Ling’s dispute with her brother. Because that’s not the kind of politics I want to engage in.
related:
Some Indians upset that Murali has made himself ‘Chinese’ to endear to voters
PAP has run out of ideas for Bukit Batok, Dr Paul Tambyah charges
SPH Wanbao admits mistake but refuses to apologize to Dr Chee
Ms Fu, how many PAP ministers have experience relevant to their jobs?
Is Murali committed to BB? Signs-off wreath as Chairman of Paya Lebar Branch
“Absolutely appalling!” Chee responds to Lee’s accusation about race
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PM Lee Raises the Race Issue to Distract Voters from the PAP’s Amorous Botak, David Ong?
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has fired away at Dr Chee, accusing him of not removing comments on his Facebook page which promote voting for a Chinese election candidate over an Indian one based on racial preference.
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia during a walkabout in Bukit Batok yesterday, he said that he heard “rumours” that people are saying “Just vote for the Chinese, that’s good,” and that’s not a good thing.
But is the Prime Minister doing this to take the heat off the PAP and former Bukit Batok MP David Ong’s hands-up-the-wrong-skirt extra-marital affair?
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On Integrity, Hypocrisy & Setting Bad Examples at Bukit Batok By-election
When leaders set a bad example – PM Lee and Minister Grace Fu continues the demonising of Dr Chee Soon Juan during the Bukit Batok by-election
It is really shameful to see our Prime Minister and senior ministers behave in such a despicable manner during the Bukit Batok by-election. Ministers Grace Fu and Halimah Yacob continued the PAP’s bashing of Dr Chee Soon Juan last night at the Bukit Batok rally. They threw various slurs at him including mocking him for being “unemployed” and for being rude to former PM Goh Chok Tong, something that happened eons ago.
It is very ironic and hypocritical that we have highly educated Singaporeans buying into the character assassination of Chee based on what the PAP-govt have claimed and what the local MSM have reported including over some flimsy allegations. Yet these same people have never spoken up against the numerous unethical actions committed by Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP against the citizens (including likening us to dogs) and against hundreds of innocents who were jailed for opposing them.
So it is really laughable to hear PAP supporters and some Ministers bitch about petty little things like Chee being rude to Goh ONCE when they have never objected to the numerous reprehensible injustices committed by the PAP leaders against the people of Singapore.
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“Dr Chee, are you a hypocrite?”
Reporters quiz Dr Chee Soon Juan on the issue of not wanting to bring up former Bukit Batok MP David Ong who vacated his seat in parliament and resigned from the PAP due to an alleged extramarital affair.
One reported asked if he had read the statement by PM Lee Hsien Loong and proceeded to give Dr Chee a rundown of that statement, referring to how PM Lee said Dr Chee was hypocritical to claim that he would not kick a man when he is down but allow for other party members to talk about David Ong. Dr Chee replied that he did not want to comment until he has read the statement himself and understood the context of what was said.
Another reporter posed the question of whether Dr Chee found it hypocritical to have other speakers at the SDP rally mention David Ong even though Dr Chee had said previously that he did not wish to bring up the issue of why David Ong had to vacate his seat in parliament. Dr Chee replied that he had no intention of bringing up the matter and that he will speak to his party members to put a stop to it if necessary. Dr Chee replied that he wants to move away from that issue and contest on issues that matter to the well-being of the residents.
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No ‘H’ (as in Hypocrites) In ‘PAP’, Only ‘P’s…Aplenty
The Secretary-General of People's Action Party (PAP) did not mince his words in condemning the candidate of Bukit Batok SMC By-election and Secretary-General of Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), Dr Chee Soon Juan by saying that he is ‘‘completely hypocritical’ SDP Sec-Gen’s action of getting his ‘guys to say all the bad things, you come along and you look magisterial, and benign and say, no you must not hit somebody’.
Just so we all have a common definition, hypocrisy is ‘the practice of claiming to have higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case’. Based on the definition, we have to agree with the PAP Secretary-General.
However, what Dr Chee Soon Juan has been doing with and at SDP – the activities organised, the focus on producing alternative policy papers, his round-the-island walk etc etc – taken in toto including organisational capabilities, the SDP Sec-Gen appears to believe that the American approach to electioneering, in and out of season, will finally win him a seat in the Singapore parliament. For good measure (or, if you prefer, for goodness sake), Chee even cultivates an American accent when speaking English.
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BB BE: Near stabbing, some scarring
HYPOCRISY is the word of the day. Who are you calling a hypocrite? Who’s the hypocrite now? If I’m a hypocrite, then what about you?
That about sums up last night’s (May 1) Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) rally in Bukit Batok.
It’s a classic case of wanting to call people names but telling people you don’t want to do so because you think it’s not nice. So characters were almost assassinated because the knife had only pierced the skin; it didn’t go in fully. We don’t know if it left scars.
related: An “almost” personal BE
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Highlights of the by-election campaign
The election campaign of the PAP and the Singapore Democratic Party in the Bukit Batok by-election has thrown up some interesting highlights which will captivate the mind of Bukit Batok voters in particular and the discerning Singaporeans in general. Quite naturally the PAP is taking this by-election seriously and the big guns who have come out to campaign for the PAP candidate Murali Pillai included PM Lee Hsien Loong and DPM Tharman Shamugaratnam.
But what should appear abominable to the voters and the public is the disgraceful performance of the heinous Grace Fu who behaves like a real witch in carrying out a character assassination of Dr Chee Soon Juan. However, she is not alone as other PAP speakers are also of the same ilk. Arrogance and hubris seem to be the order of the day for PAP leaders in dealing with Dr Chee.
Dr Chee Soon Juan on the other hand is a picture of composure in answering deftly all the accusations levelled at him by the PAP speakers. He is an underdog and does not expect any kid-glove treatment from his PAP opponents. He is aware that he is pitted against a party with enormous financial and manpower resources and above all a ruling party. From observations and reports, Dr Chee is making reasonable headway in his campaign and this is what irks the PAP leaders.
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related:
Bukit Batok by-election rallies - 1
Bukit Batok by-election rallies - 2
Bukit Batok by-election to be held on May 7
The Upcoming Bt Batok By-Election
Bt Batok MP resigns over 'personal indiscretion'