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Chee hits back at PAP over charges of racism, hypocrisy

SINGAPORE — Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan yesterday hit back at charges of hypocrisy and questions on racism from People’s Action Party (PAP) leaders in recent days, saying that the ruling party does not consider its own hypocrisy.

SDP chief Dr  Chee Soon Juan with his wife (far left) and daughter (next 

to him) during a walkabout yesterday. Dr Chee called for better protection of Singaporean workers through retrenchment insurance in his May Day message. Photo: Jason Quah

SDP chief Dr  Chee Soon Juan with his wife (far left) and daughter (next

to him) during a walkabout yesterday. Dr Chee called for better protection of Singaporean workers through retrenchment insurance in his May Day message. Photo: Jason Quah

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SINGAPORE — Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan yesterday hit back at charges of hypocrisy and questions on racism from People’s Action Party (PAP) leaders in recent days, saying that the ruling party does not consider its own hypocrisy.

Challenging the PAP to find any racist statements ever made by the SDP, Dr Chee said at the opposition party’s second rally for the Bukit Batok by-election that the PAP’s Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu had ignored her own party’s racist statements in the past.

Former PAP Member of Parliament (MP) Choo Wee Khiang had made racist statements about Indians, while a Young PAP member — who has since quit the party — had compared Malay kindergarten students to terrorist trainees, said Dr Chee. Even late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had made disparaging comments about Malays, he added.

Turning to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who had questioned Dr Chee’s character on Saturday on a visit to Bukit Batok, Dr Chee said: “Even though I did not attack Mr Lee, he has no hesitation in continuing to disparage me.”

Up until last night, Dr Chee said he had not brought up remarks made by Mr Lee’s sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, about her brother although he had “ample opportunity to attack him on this”.

He was referring to Dr Lee disagreeing with Mr Lee on the various ways in which the nation recently commemorated Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s first-year death anniversary, and views she had posted on Facebook. Had the disagreement been between Dr Chee and his sister, the PAP would have gone to town with it, he said.

“You say that the SDP is racist when your own members, leaders make racist remarks. You say that I don’t respect the elders when you treat our elderly in such a heartless and disgraceful manner. And you attack my character,” he said.

“Please, my fellow Singaporeans, please don’t fall for it. No one is as good as the PAP says they are. No one is as bad as the PAP says. We are all human beings. We have our weaknesses and we have our strengths but please, let’s not glorify ourselves and demonise our opponents for our own political gain.”

On Ms Fu’s remarks about him not holding a full-time job for a long time, Dr Chee said this was “a new low”. He received offers from universities in the United States after being sacked in the 1990s by the National University of Singapore, he said. But he chose to stay in Singapore and concentrate on political work here, and has had no regrets.

He said: “I find it really in bad taste when Ms Grace Fu and Mr Lee Hsien Loong tell you that just because I don’t make a lot of money like them, then I’m not working and I cannot take care of Bukit Batok.”

Earlier during the rally, SDP central executive committee member Paul Tambyah had called Ms Fu’s comments about Dr Chee’s career as an author and politician “puzzling”, given her Cabinet portfolio. “She doesn’t seem to believe anyone can make a living from doing academic research in institutions of higher learning and publishing books for which people queue up for hours,” he said. “Perhaps to her, being an author or a politician is not a real job.”

Detailing how he built up the SDP, Dr Chee said the party could not afford an office in the 1990s and he spent time writing and selling its party newspaper to make enough to rent a small space in Balestier for S$500 a month, he said. More people joined the party and today, it has an “honest-to-goodness party apparatus”, with ground operations, fundraising, IT and policy research teams, and is able to put up credible policy papers, he said.

Speaking to reporters after a walkabout in Bukit Batok earlier, Dr Chee also called for better protection of Singaporean workers through retrenchment insurance in his May Day message.

Under the SDP’s proposed scheme, retrenched workers would receive 75 per cent of their last-drawn salaries for the first six months, 50 per cent for the following six months and 25 per cent for the final six months. Payouts — capped at the prevailing median wage — would stop after the 18 months, or once the individuals are re-employed.

The SDP has previously estimated its retrenchment insurance to cost S$2 billion a year and said 80 per cent of the budget would come from the Government, with the remainder to be split between employers and workers.

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