PAP is not better than the SDP: Dr Chee

SINGAPORE — Voting for the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in the Bukit Batok by-election is a “win-win situation”, said party chief and candidate Chee Soon Juan in his final appeal to residents of the Single-Member Constituency on Thursday (May 5) night before Cooling Off Day.

If he is elected, residents would not only have a full-time Member of Parliament whose top priority would be to run the town council effectively and productively, they would have an MP who would speak up on matters that affect them and their families, said Dr Chee at the SDP’s fourth rally in nine days of campaigning.

“I ask you for your vote because I know I can be a better MP, to represent Bukit Batok, than Mr Murali (Pillai, the People’s Action Party candidate),” he said, pointing to his party’s ideas and proposals developed over the years.

“The PAP is not better than the SDP when it comes to ideas and competence. The SDP does not take a backseat to the PAP when it comes to capability, whether it be taking care of the town council of running programmes for the town or ideas to help Singapore,” said Dr Chee.

“Electing the SDP has all the upside, with no downside,” he declared.

The SDP is also constructive and responsible — not the destructive party the People’s Action Party (PAP) has tried to brand it as — and has supported the ruling party’s schemes when they benefit Singaporeans, he said.

These initiatives include the installation of solar panels on the rooftops of public housing blocks and the cleaning of their own classrooms and surroundings by students.

When his party criticises the PAP, it proposes alternatives, Dr Chee added.

To tackle high land costs making public housing too costly, for instance, it proposed a non-open-market scheme where Build To Order flats could be sold at a price that excludes land cost, while homeowners who did not want to participate in the scheme could still sell and buy in the open market.

A student mentorship programme mirroring SDP’s proposed Pathfinder programme, targeted at enabling students to explore their interests and talents, has also been proposed by the PAP’s candidate Murali Pillai, Dr Chee said.

Taking the stage for nearly an hour as the last speaker at the rally, Dr Chee reiterated his call for retrenchment insurance for Singaporean workers.

He also addressed the Manpower Ministry’s clarification that the net number of new jobs taken by locals was 700 last year, and not 100 as mentioned by him. The previous number was mentioned by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say himself, and new number is still a 99 per cent plunge from 2014, said Dr Chee.

“You want to quibble with me that it’s 700 and not 100? Should we heave a sigh of relief and then start to celebrate? You take a piece of rotten meat and you marinade it with soya sauce and you put garlic and add some sambal belachan, it’s still a rotten piece of meat,” he said. “My message to this Government is, stop trying to spin the news to make yourself look good and start helping the people.”

Just before he capped his campaign by having his party mates and the rally audience sing the national anthem, Dr Chee thanked Bukit Batok residents for welcoming him into their homes and offering him drinks and acknowledging his efforts to speak up.

“Whatever happens on Saturday, a part of me will always be here. My heart will always be here in Bukit Batok,” he said, before his family including his elderly mother went on stage with other party members.