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SDP - Competent. Constructive. Compassionate. (Part I)
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Singapore Democrats
While some may want to attain the 5 Cs of cash, car, condo, country club, and credit card, the Singapore Democrats have a different set of Cs we aspire to - competence, constructiveness, and compassion. These are the qualities we have been working to build up and they will be the ones we want voters in this coming general elections to know us for.
In this three-part series we look at each of these virtues and examine to what extent we have been able to attain them. We start with being constructive which, of the three, is perhaps the easiest to measure and assess.
For years the PAP has targeted the SDP and charged us for being a party that opposes for opposition sake. We have not, it says, been a party that comes come with constructive alternatives. Because of its control of the media and, more crucially, the lack of an alternative medium we have been at the mercy of our accuser.
The electorate has been fed a steady diet of negative news and attacks of the worst kind against our party and its leaders. We were helpless against the onslaught because there was no avenue for us to fight back. The attack took its toll.
Then came the Internet. With its growing pervasiveness and utility, we found a weapon with which to defend ourselves and, indeed, launch countermeasures against the PAP propaganda.
More important, it was a medium which we could use to tell Singaporeans our views and alternative proposals. This we did with a vengeance. We have made our stand clear on our positions vis-a-vis PAP policies and articulated our reasons for doing so. We didn't stop there. For each of these positions, we have explained as clearly as we possibly can what alternative policies should replace the PAP's.
We have done this in several areas such as education, the political system, the media, society and the arts, social security, income disparity and even national service. We published these on this website in the section on our Manifesto.
The one area to which we have given overwhelming focus is the economy. We do this for obvious reasons: the national narrative is still very much an economic one.
We published The SDP Economic Alternative online and will be putting out a printed version for distribution soon. Some of the ideas contained therein have been echoed by analysts, academics and even PAP MPs.
To be sure, we have been doing this all along. Our ideas are not new. We campaigned on the minimum wage, retrenchment benefits, and Singaporeans-first policies, discussed in our Economic Alternative, way back in the 2001 elections.
Few people know this, however. And understandably so because the print and broadcast media will not cover our alternative proposals. They still won't.
The difference now is that there is the Internet. Limited as it may be in its reach, the new media at least affords us a means of getting our message across and to counter the PAP's propaganda. The influence and reach of cyberspace will only grow.
Now, even our most hardened opponents cannot credibly accuse us of not being constructive and opposing for opposition sake. It is one achievement that we are immensely proud of. It is one matter we will take to our voters in the upcoming GE - that there is an alternative. It is called the Singapore Democratic Party.
SDP - Competent. Constructive. Compassionate. (Part I)
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Singapore Democrats
While some may want to attain the 5 Cs of cash, car, condo, country club, and credit card, the Singapore Democrats have a different set of Cs we aspire to - competence, constructiveness, and compassion. These are the qualities we have been working to build up and they will be the ones we want voters in this coming general elections to know us for.
In this three-part series we look at each of these virtues and examine to what extent we have been able to attain them. We start with being constructive which, of the three, is perhaps the easiest to measure and assess.
For years the PAP has targeted the SDP and charged us for being a party that opposes for opposition sake. We have not, it says, been a party that comes come with constructive alternatives. Because of its control of the media and, more crucially, the lack of an alternative medium we have been at the mercy of our accuser.
The electorate has been fed a steady diet of negative news and attacks of the worst kind against our party and its leaders. We were helpless against the onslaught because there was no avenue for us to fight back. The attack took its toll.
Then came the Internet. With its growing pervasiveness and utility, we found a weapon with which to defend ourselves and, indeed, launch countermeasures against the PAP propaganda.
More important, it was a medium which we could use to tell Singaporeans our views and alternative proposals. This we did with a vengeance. We have made our stand clear on our positions vis-a-vis PAP policies and articulated our reasons for doing so. We didn't stop there. For each of these positions, we have explained as clearly as we possibly can what alternative policies should replace the PAP's.
We have done this in several areas such as education, the political system, the media, society and the arts, social security, income disparity and even national service. We published these on this website in the section on our Manifesto.
The one area to which we have given overwhelming focus is the economy. We do this for obvious reasons: the national narrative is still very much an economic one.
We published The SDP Economic Alternative online and will be putting out a printed version for distribution soon. Some of the ideas contained therein have been echoed by analysts, academics and even PAP MPs.
To be sure, we have been doing this all along. Our ideas are not new. We campaigned on the minimum wage, retrenchment benefits, and Singaporeans-first policies, discussed in our Economic Alternative, way back in the 2001 elections.
Few people know this, however. And understandably so because the print and broadcast media will not cover our alternative proposals. They still won't.
The difference now is that there is the Internet. Limited as it may be in its reach, the new media at least affords us a means of getting our message across and to counter the PAP's propaganda. The influence and reach of cyberspace will only grow.
Now, even our most hardened opponents cannot credibly accuse us of not being constructive and opposing for opposition sake. It is one achievement that we are immensely proud of. It is one matter we will take to our voters in the upcoming GE - that there is an alternative. It is called the Singapore Democratic Party.
