PAP, don't engage in smear tactics: SDP chief Chee
Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan has called on the People's Action Party (PAP) not to engage in "smear tactics" as the General Election reaches fever pitch.
Dr Chee was responding to a statement released late on Monday night by the PAP's Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team calling on the SDP and, in particular, its candidate Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, 40, to be upfront about his "political motives".
This after the PAP began referring to a six-minute video on YouTube which showed Dr Wijeysingha attending a gay forum and debating how to further promote the rights of gays and lesbians.
The PAP team led by Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan -- and comprising of Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Christopher De Souza and Ms Sim Ann -- said in a statement on Monday: "The issue is not Wijeysingha's sexual orientation. That is a matter for him... Rather the video raises the question on whether Wijeysingha will now pursue this cause in the political arena and what is the SDP's position on this matter."
The PAP team also highlighted that the video -- which it accused the SDP of "trying to suppress" -- also touched on the issue of sex with boys and whether the age of sexual consent should be 14 years of age.
Dr Balakrishnan urges the SDP to be upfront about its agenda. (Yahoo! photo)
Dr Balakrishnan urges the SDP to be upfront about its agenda. (Yahoo! photo)
However, in a swift response, SDP secretary-general Chee said that neither the party nor its candidates will pursue a gay agenda.
"Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has asked whether the SDP is pursuing the gay agenda, let me state categorically, we are not pursuing the gay agenda and none of our MPs will."
Repeating that party's "only agenda" is to provide an alternative voice for Singaporeans in Parliament, the SDP chief also expressed his "disappointment" that Dr Balakrishnan raised the "gay issue" — referring to the video — in such a manner.
While both parties might have disagreements over policy issues, Chee called on the Minister not to resort to "personal attacks" and adopting "smear tactics".
"He didn't have the courage to say what he really wanted to say at first. And he was beating around the bush.
"We call on Dr Balakrishnan not to continue in this manner. I can only hope that he will not adopt smear tactics in this campaign and we ask him not to go down this road," said Chee.
Human rights lawyer M. Ravi -- who was prominently featured in the video -- also questioned why Dr Balakrishnan raised the issue of a gay "agenda".
Ravi told Yahoo! Singapore that he had organised the forum in November last year -- meant to discuss the constitutional challenge of Section 377A -- which criminalises sex between men.
He said that Dr Wijeysingha was invited as one of the speakers in a private capacity. It is understood that there were five other speakers at the event.
"The context of the issue was a constitutional challenge of 377A which is discrimination in the first place. He (Vincent) was just invited as one of the speakers in a private capacity and I as a citizen have the right to speak about the issues that I want," said Ravi.
"Just because I raised this issue, why must Wijeysingha be targeted? This issue does not need to be a political agenda only because it was being discussed.
"Just because another panelist raises some issue, does it automatically become a cause promoted by Wijeysingha? In that dialogue, we were just speaking our own mind."
Watch the video here.
Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan has called on the People's Action Party (PAP) not to engage in "smear tactics" as the General Election reaches fever pitch.
Dr Chee was responding to a statement released late on Monday night by the PAP's Holland-Bukit Timah GRC team calling on the SDP and, in particular, its candidate Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, 40, to be upfront about his "political motives".
This after the PAP began referring to a six-minute video on YouTube which showed Dr Wijeysingha attending a gay forum and debating how to further promote the rights of gays and lesbians.
The PAP team led by Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan -- and comprising of Mr Liang Eng Hwa, Mr Christopher De Souza and Ms Sim Ann -- said in a statement on Monday: "The issue is not Wijeysingha's sexual orientation. That is a matter for him... Rather the video raises the question on whether Wijeysingha will now pursue this cause in the political arena and what is the SDP's position on this matter."
The PAP team also highlighted that the video -- which it accused the SDP of "trying to suppress" -- also touched on the issue of sex with boys and whether the age of sexual consent should be 14 years of age.
Dr Balakrishnan urges the SDP to be upfront about its agenda. (Yahoo! photo)
Dr Balakrishnan urges the SDP to be upfront about its agenda. (Yahoo! photo)
However, in a swift response, SDP secretary-general Chee said that neither the party nor its candidates will pursue a gay agenda.
"Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has asked whether the SDP is pursuing the gay agenda, let me state categorically, we are not pursuing the gay agenda and none of our MPs will."
Repeating that party's "only agenda" is to provide an alternative voice for Singaporeans in Parliament, the SDP chief also expressed his "disappointment" that Dr Balakrishnan raised the "gay issue" — referring to the video — in such a manner.
While both parties might have disagreements over policy issues, Chee called on the Minister not to resort to "personal attacks" and adopting "smear tactics".
"He didn't have the courage to say what he really wanted to say at first. And he was beating around the bush.
"We call on Dr Balakrishnan not to continue in this manner. I can only hope that he will not adopt smear tactics in this campaign and we ask him not to go down this road," said Chee.
Human rights lawyer M. Ravi -- who was prominently featured in the video -- also questioned why Dr Balakrishnan raised the issue of a gay "agenda".
Ravi told Yahoo! Singapore that he had organised the forum in November last year -- meant to discuss the constitutional challenge of Section 377A -- which criminalises sex between men.
He said that Dr Wijeysingha was invited as one of the speakers in a private capacity. It is understood that there were five other speakers at the event.
"The context of the issue was a constitutional challenge of 377A which is discrimination in the first place. He (Vincent) was just invited as one of the speakers in a private capacity and I as a citizen have the right to speak about the issues that I want," said Ravi.
"Just because I raised this issue, why must Wijeysingha be targeted? This issue does not need to be a political agenda only because it was being discussed.
"Just because another panelist raises some issue, does it automatically become a cause promoted by Wijeysingha? In that dialogue, we were just speaking our own mind."
Watch the video here.
