SDP chief Chee calls for clearer campaign rules

SINGAPORE — Clearer campaign rules could have been put out earlier to ensure a level playing field for political parties, said Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan yesterday as the party introduced two new candidates at its headquarters.

Referring to new conditions introduced by the Singapore Police Force for the upcoming General Election (GE), Dr Chee, who spoke to reporters after the SDP introduced Ms Jaslyn Go and Professor Paul Ananth Tambyah as candidates, said the party would have no problem complying with them.

One of the two new permit conditions bar the concealment of faces on stage during election rallies. The other prohibits Central Executive Committee members and candidates of each political party from speaking at the rallies of other parties.

Party chief Chee Soon Juan said the SDP has no intention of doing so, but other opposition parties may have wanted to speak at one another’s rallies. He also said the party had printed posters for the elections, but new requirements were issued that it now has to address, without going into detail.

The SDP also wanted to have decal advertisements on a rented private bus to transport candidates during the nine days of campaigning, but it has dropped the idea of a “campaign bus” after the lack of clarity on the applications needed and a shortage of time. “These are things that (are) just not helpful at all to conduct truly free and fair elections,” Dr Chee said.

Prof Tambyah and Ms Go were introduced by SDP chairman Jeffrey George. Both candidates have been active before the 2011 GE, although Prof Tambyah joined as a member only in the past fortnight after leaving human rights group Maruah. Ms Go, who runs a construction company with her husband, joined the party in 2007.

Prof Tambyah, 50, has been active with the party for a decade and spoke at the SDP’s rally in Boat Quay in 2011. He said he could not contest then as his father died that year. Ms Go, 43, said she was not ready in 2011 and has since walked the ground to understand concerns of the public. Representing the party at conferences and events has also helped build her confidence, said the mother of two, who was an emcee at the SDP’s rallies in 2011.