Chee to 'put a stop' to any attack on former Bukit Batok MP David Ong

SINGAPORE — Singapore Democratic Party chief and Bukit Batok by-election candidate Chee Soon Juan said he would ensure party colleagues do not take aim, going forward, at former Member of Parliament David Ong for his alleged personal indiscretions.

“If this was done, we’ll put a stop to it,” he said after a cycling activity in the single-member constituency leading up to Polling Day on May 7. At the media doorstop, he said he had not read what Prime Minister and People’s Action Party secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong had told reporters earlier in the day on Saturday (April 30).

Mr Lee had called Dr Chee hypocritical for allowing speakers at SDP’s rally last night to fire away at Mr Ong, who resigned after an alleged extramarital affair, while Dr Chee himself later told the crowd not to hit a man when he was down.

Earlier, Dr Chee also said the party’s message continues to be to stay positive, and “not get into the mudslinging that we all expected from the PAP side”.

Dr Chee was also asked about Yuhua MP Grace Fu’s remarks at the PAP’s rally on Friday night, that voters should also look at the resumes of each candidate and seek references from their colleagues and bosses. Ms Fu, who is Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, had also said that work experience is a relevant fact when considering credentials of candidates.

Dr Chee said his “best CV is to look at the SDP”.

“You look at things we’ve come up with and I give you one example, and that’s the series of alternative papers that we’ve put up. Without that kind of organisation, and the leader must be able to muster the resources, both human and financial and so on, to bring together a project like this. And it’s not just one paper, it’s a whole range of papers touching on the most important issues like healthcare, housing, education and so on,” he said.

“There was a joke going around that SDP seems to be the unpaid research arm of the PAP because the PAP seems to be taking our ideas,” he added, pointing to the SDP’s calls for universal healthcare before MediShield Life was implemented, and its calls for minimum wage before the Progressive Wage Model came about. “Don’t be impressed by titles and wealth and power; instead, be impressed by dedication and passion and compassion.”

Reiterating his commitment to be a full-time MP should he be elected, Dr Chee said residents have accepted part-time MPs holding day jobs and coming to the constituency on weekends and holding weekly Meet-the-People’s sessions as the standard. “We want to be able to show them a full-time MP from the SDP can take care of their needs, their concerns a lot better than what you see in PAP constituencies right now,” he said.

In a "live" post on Saturday evening on Facebook responding to PM Lee's remarks made on the same morning, SDP central executive committee member Paul Tambyah called for a debate on issues and not an engagement in character assassination. It is okay to ask what happened to plans for Bukit Batok announced by Mr Ong, and "it's okay to criticise Dr Chee for asking (former Prime Minister) Goh (Chok Tong) about Singapore's promise to (former Indonesian) President Suharto 15 years ago but attacking his character is uncalled for", said Dr Tambyah.

"We believe you can criticise what a person says or what a person does, but don't attack a person."

He added: "To be fair to the Prime Minister, perhaps he may have been misled by the Wanbao, which has admitted to us that they made a mistake in their transcription and in their headline that they put up (on Thursday)." Lianhe Wanbao has apologised to the SDP and has amended the online version of the article, he said, reiterating his call for a clean and fair by-election.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had earlier on Saturday referred to an interview with Dr Chee published by Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, saying that he was “saddened but not surprised” to read that Dr Chee was “not sorry for anything he did” and was “proud of his crazy history”. “

Lianhe Wanbao has apologised to the SDP and has amended the online version of the article, Dr Tambyah said, reiterating his call for a clean and fair by-election.