Psycho Kee Chiu

Chee Soon Juan replies 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 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 was referring to:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chee-soon-juan/free-the-singapore-media-_b_6306736.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chee-soon-juan/without-freedom-there-is-_b_6149966.html

This was the exchange whereby Keechiu Chan coined the term "Weighty".

Minister hits out at Huffington Post for giving Chee ‘undeserved space’

SINGAPORE — Two articles by opposition politician Chee Soon Juan published in The Huffington Post have drawn a sharply worded response from Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing, calling out the American news website for giving the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general “considerable but undeserved attention and space”.

The two opinion pieces, Without Freedom There Is No Free Trade and Free The Singapore Media And Let The People Go, were published on Nov 13 and Dec 11 last year, respectively.

The articles criticised the Singapore Government for violating human rights through its trade processes and for its control over the media, which Dr Chee said “have put reason and
intellectualism to sleep”.

In the letter addressed to the site, Mr Chan did not address the opinions expressed by Dr Chee, but took issue with the website’s decision to publish the articles. “You perhaps believe he is a weighty political figure in Singapore. He is nothing of the kind,” said Mr Chan.

Describing Dr Chee as a “political failure” who had stood for and lost three elections, Mr Chan said: “The party he now leads, the Singapore Democratic Party, was once the leading opposition party in the country. But that was when it was led by Mr Chiam See Tong, a man everyone in Singapore — political friend and foe alike — regards as honourable.”

While it was Mr Chiam who brought Dr Chee into the SDP fold in 1992, Dr Chee later forced him out of the party. “Since then, the SDP hasn’t won a single seat in Parliament, although Mr Chiam went on to win elections repeatedly,” Mr Chan said.

He also pointed out that while Dr Chee “likes to trumpet in foreign media”, the SDP secretary-general had been sued by ruling-party politicians and did not mention that he had been sued by Mr Chiam “because it is embarrassing”.

Dr Chee’s dismissal from the National University of Singapore — where he was a psychology lecturer — in 1993 for misappropriating research funds and other misconduct, including secretly recording conversations with university staff, as well as his 1996 conviction of perjury by Parliament for submitting false statements all point to his failure as a politician, the minister said.

“It is because of these and other failings that Dr Chee is a political failure — not because he was persecuted, as he likes to pretend (to be),” said Mr Chan.

“His party is now one of the weakest political parties in Singapore principally because voters do not regard its leader as an honourable man.”

Mr Chan noted that Dr Chee, who was disqualified from contesting the past two General Elections because he was declared a bankrupt in 2006 for failing to pay damages for libel to
former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, has been campaigning to redeem himself in the public eye.

“As he has done in the past, he has looked to the foreign media for redemption, chiefly because foreign journalists don’t know him as well as Singaporeans and he believes he can beguile them into believing he is the Aung San Suu Kyi of Singapore politics,” Mr Chan said.

While Dr Chee has claimed that he has been forced to publish in foreign media as he has been silenced in local channels, Mr Chan noted that several sociopolitical websites in Singapore had run several articles by Dr Chee, while some of his letters had been published in the local press.

“Dr Chee’s problem is not that he has not been heard by Singaporeans; his problem is that they have,” said the minister.

can CCS actually have a thought process like what "he" writes?

CSJ is a man of character!

CSJ conveniently removed "political" from the context of "political failure" so that CSJ can use the words from CCS to twist the context. That's below the belt. CSJ definitely can do better.

xpo2015 said:

CSJ is a man of character!

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Its OK for the pappy to give preference to foreigners and import millions of them but not OK for a foreign media to publish articles by locals.

The father and son gives interview to foreign media all the time while TCJ has leapt to the defence of Pinoys very quickly.

They always threaten to sue/report police all the time and yet 70% vote for more politics of intimidation-really incredible.

jw5 said:

This was the exchange whereby Keechiu Chan coined the term "Weighty".

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Many weighty ministers in west coast grc.

Only Mr Iswaran. Mr Lim is fairly trim for his age.

mojito said:

Many weighty ministers in west coast grc.

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wendychan said:

can CCS actually have a thought process like what "he" writes?

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other people write one lah.............

tryharder said:

CSJ conveniently removed "political" from the context of "political failure" so that CSJ can use the words from CCS to twist the context. That's below the belt. CSJ definitely can do better.

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Is Dr Chee a political failure? How to define political failure?

A "political failure" is defined by the "weighty ministars".

Narong Wongwan said:

Is Dr Chee a political failure? How to define political failure?

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wendychan said:

can CCS actually have a thought process like what "he" writes?

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heard there was a "Leak" on the new Cabinet lineup.


KC new cabinet post created for him - APM

shiokalingam said:

heard there was a "Leak" on the new Cabinet lineup.


KC new cabinet post created for him - APM

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APM = Asst PM , bros here can confirm latest leak ???

shiokalingam said:

heard there was a "Leak" on the new Cabinet lineup.


KC new cabinet post created for him - APM

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This leak will be investigated for OSA offence(s). One of our bros here will be tasked to oversee the investigation.

jw5 said:

A "political failure" is defined by the "weighty ministars".

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Not buying more points? Heard Leongsam has special offer now. Can pay by instalments.

mojito said:

Many weighty ministers in west coast grc.

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I was supposed to type that. Breakdown in communications. Refer to HQ please. Scroobal wants an explanation.

heard leak also that C Chong will be rewarded with a Snr Parliamentary Role also.


Snr Parliamentary Sec for NEA