SDP - Dec 2014 - SDP to launch GE2015 campaign

SDP to launch GE2015 campaign


http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_to_launch_ge2015_campaign/2014-12-05-5913


Added on: Friday, 5 December 2014

by the Singapore Democrats

SDP to launch GE2015 campaign


There are indications that PM Lee Hsien Loong will call for elections in 2015. As such, the SDP will get underway our preparations for the electoral campaign.

The GE, widely anticipated to be held at the end of next year, is crucial as it will determine the future direction of our country. Depending on circumstances, Mr Lee may call for one as early as the second quarter of 2015.

It is, therefore, not early at all for the SDP to step up our campaign and prepare ourselves for the much anticipated contest.

This is why we are officially holding our GE2015 Campaign Kick-Off on 10 January 2015, Saturday at 2 pm at the Holiday Inn Atrium, Outram Road (see map).

The launch will present our strategy and campaign activities. We will unveil our vision and direction for Singapore. It will also be an occasion for Singaporeans to share your views with us and get involved in the campaign.

2015 also marks the 35th anniversary of the SDP. As such, a series of activities will be held to commemorate the occasion which will complement the election campaign activities.

Singapore is at a crossroads and the general election is a crucial opportunity for voters to decide the future of our country. Our launch in January kicks-off the process and we invite all Singaporeans to join us on this important occasion.

If we wait until elections are announced before we start increasing the tempo, it will be too late and we will have lost the battle.

Over the last few years, the SDP has been hard at work conducting our ground campaign and drawing up our alternative policies. We are now at the stage where we need to effectively communicate our policies and what we want to do for the country to our voters.

To do this we need much help from you, our friends and supporters. Please make a note of the date of the launch and be part of what promises to be a groundbreaking and historic elections.

SDP GE2015 Campaign Kick-Off




SDP GE2015 Campaign Kick-Off

Date : Saturday, January 10, 2015

Time : 2:00pm - 5:00pm

Venue : Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium
317 Outram Road, Singapore 169075 (Click here for map)

ALL are welcome

How to get there by Bus (No.51, No.64, No.186):

Join us! Bring your family and friends!


Event: SDP GE2015 Campaign Kick-Off
Date: 10 January 2015, Saturday
Time: 2-5pm
Venue: Holiday Inn Atrium, Outram Road

https://www.facebook.com/events/753547264736485/

Selamat Datang?

ksgd0717 said:

Selamat Datang?

Click to expand...

Ya! Semua selamat datang!

Great start for the SDP. Dr Chee must have been doing an excellent job as opposition politician, so good that it catches the attention of Minister Chan Chun Sing.

With the latest press release by Chan Chun Sing, it invoked some memories about the sad and troubled past of the SDP. How does SDP plan to address the issues raised by Chan Chun Sing? That the SDP is a party of the past. That Dr Chee behaved like a hooligan in Jurong. That Dr Chee is not an honorable man. Should Dr Chee step down, run the show from behind the scenes like LKY and let new blood take over?



http://www.straitstimes.com/premium...e-win-points-overseas-chan-chun-sing-20150116

Chee sacrifices S'pore to win points overseas: Chan Chun Sing
Published on Jan 16, 2015 12:56 AM

DR CHEE Soon Juan is disingenuous ("Not possible for poor S'poreans to live on $1,000 a month"; Dec 18).

Singaporean families earning $1,000 a month can indeed afford their own flats because of various housing grants. As a result, the lowest 20th percentile of households have an average net home equity of $200,000. That is an achievement no other nation in the world can boast of.

And that is not all. In recent years, we have enhanced our social safety nets. Lower-income households have benefited from, among other things, Workfare and various assistance schemes for medical, transport, utilities and education.

We will soon strengthen our social safety net further with the Silver Support Scheme to help Singaporeans with low Central Provident Fund balances.

Dr Chee claimed that he published in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) because he could not publish his article in Singapore. But he has been published here before in both mainstream and online media.

The truth is, Dr Chee has always preferred to play to foreign galleries. For instance, when then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong was conferred an honorary degree by Williams College in the United States,

Dr Chee turned up to protest and embarrass his own prime minister overseas.

He has continued to play to the foreign gallery in writing in its media.

For instance, when he writes in the right-leaning WSJ, he attacks our government-linked companies - never mind the many Singaporean jobs at stake if foreigners do not do business with our companies.

And when he writes in the left-leaning Huffington Post, he attacks the US-Singapore free trade agreement - never mind that this FTA allows our companies to compete in the US market and creates jobs for Singaporeans.

Dr Chee has always been ready to sacrifice Singaporeans and Singapore if he can win points overseas.

He is right now busy prettying himself in preparation for the next general election, trusting younger voters will not remember his past.

But older Singaporeans will remember that he was once dismissed from the National University of Singapore for misappropriating research funds and then staged a dramatic glucose-fortified "fast" in protest. They will also remember that he once heckled Mr Goh at a hawker centre.

Above all, they will remember that Dr Chee betrayed his own mentor, Mr Chiam See Tong. Mr Chiam had brought Dr Chee into the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), but Dr Chee plotted against Mr Chiam and pushed him out of the party he had founded.

The SDP under Mr Chiam was Singapore's strongest opposition party. The SDP under Dr Chee has become a shadow of its old self.

Singaporeans know who are honourable political leaders, like Mr Chiam, and who are not.

Chan Chun Sing

Minister for Social and Family Development
- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/premium...-chan-chun-sing-20150116#sthash.rtHKmONG.dpuf

The PAP is feeling the heat and getting desperate. Hence the personal attack and rehashing of old tropes in an attempt to re-demonize CSJ..

But CSJ gave a sterling, dignified and subtly ironic response. What a contrast to CCS's petulant and petty piece!

---

Chee Soon Juan responds to Chan Chun Sing




Mr Chan Chun Sing is certainly an accomplished man in Singapore. He has risen quickly through the ranks of the army and appointed a minister. I commend him on his remarkable achievement, there is much to be admired.

I have, unfortunately or otherwise, chosen a different path. It is, admittedly, not a conventional path and, certainly, not one that leads to power, privilege and a high salary. In this respect Mr Chan is right, I have not succeeded.

I have instead undertaken to speak up for the people of Singapore in what was, to put it mildly, a very difficult political terrain.

Nevertheless, I am proud of my achievements, as I am sure Mr Chan is of his. But I do want to sound him a note of caution: When we attain our goals in life, we should not look down and criticise others who have yet to achieve theirs.

Even if I have failed in Mr Chan's eyes, he must resist the urge to denigrate. Wasn't it Albert Einstein who once said: “You never fail until you stop trying”? I have not stopped trying and I don't think I will.

I do, however, find Mr Chan's comments troubling on two fronts:

The first is the PAP's out-dated practice of stigmatising failure. This is unfortunate. I want to tell my fellow Singaporeans, especially students, that we must not be afraid to fail. It is from our failures that we learn and become better persons and go on to achieve great things.

The second has to do with PAP's habit of engaging in the politics of name-calling and personal destruction. It is disappointing that the younger generation of ministers like Mr Chan has not set a new direction for the conduct of politics in Singapore instead on relying on that of a bygone era.

How does calling me a failure help to solve the problems that Singaporeans face? The more the PAP engages in m&d-slinging and ignore the grave problems that confront our nation, the more dire will be the lot of our people.

For the sake of Singaporeans, let us go beyond such an un-constructive form of politics which Singaporeans detest and graduate to a more mature level of contestation of ideas which the people deserve.

To this end, I repeat my invitation to Mr Chan and his PAP colleagues to debate me and my SDP colleagues on issues such as CPF, healthcare, housing population, education, etc that Singaporeans care about.

Chee Soon Juan


The two Huffington Post articles that Mr Chan Chun Singapore was referring to:
Free the Singapore media and let the people go
Without freedom, there is no free trade

Impressive reply by Dr Chee. That should shut Chan Chun Sing's mouth shut. If Chan Chun Sing can counter Dr Chee's reply, then I will salute him, not unless Dr Chee show his brilliance again.