bye chee, bye....

this forumer posted his opinion which best described the game over for chee and long with him, SDP. it's a sad day in our political history. SDP was founded by chiam see tong who later had to abandon the party he found due to the includsion of chee.
End of Chee Part 2.
From: MoneyHelp234 30-May 07:26
To: ALL 1 of 34

178936.1

I see there were many responses to the thread I started earlier "is this the end of Chee" so let me summarise the views:

1. Chee had nothing to lose so he can only gain by fighting the Lees in court.

2. Chee gained nothing and was further damaged.

I will do an analysis as objective as possible.

View 1

The argument is Chee by getting presecuted in court and later charged for contempt of court has now exposed LKY's ugly machinery and brought attention to LKY's approach of suppressing opposition. Because Lee was able to perpetuate a culture of fear in which the conventional opposition is willing to stay behind the yellow line and avoid the crushing equipment, the PAP govt gets what it wants without having to activate the heavy machinery. In other words, the PAP is able to retain its stronghold on power and some semblence of legitimacy....if not for Chee. Chee sacrificed himself by standing in front of the crushing equipment to show the world what the PAP does to the opposition. The case was reported in the international news and people are at least reminded about the climate of fear that exists in Singapore....and the tarnish in LKY's legacy increases.

View 2

Chee himself suffered a loss of reputation and credibility in the eyes of Singaporeans because like it or not, the Singapore media will report events in a manner unsympathetic to the Chees. The paper reported Chees' behavior as bizarre, scandalous and outrageous. Chees claim about Dr Engels was debunked and that gave his opponents a chance to call him liar all over again. You might not like the Lees but they still command respect from the majority of Singaporeans and Chees' behavior in court towards them is considered unbecoming and unacceptable.

My View

I've often said this : Politics is the process of gaining and maintaining power. Whether what someone does is politically smart one has to go to the bottomline, has support for the Chees increased as a result of what they have done? Has the support for the Lees decreased after this episode in court?

If Chee's goal is not political but to sacrifice himself to expose the Lees' repressive ways, than I would say he has achieve his goals. But what is there to expose? Singaporeans already know how MM Lee operates and have never voted against what he did. In other words, Chee sacrificed himself to expose something that many Singaporeans have over time accepted. Chee is not the first person to be bankrupted ....there were many others and the PAP won election after election in spite of this.

Having said this, I believe the Lees and their system have suffered some damage in the eyes of younger Singaporeans who are seeing this for the first time. They are well travelled and probably well read and they know that leaders of other countries don't bankrupt their opponents with defamation lawsuits. However, for the majority of Singaporeans - it is business as usual. I have often said in my blog - the people of Singapore after 4 decades of PAP rule are different from people elsewhere. We mind our own business. Chee might have scored or lost a few points in court but he will never be able to overcome the apathy in Singaporeans. In any other country (say in Taiwan) Chee would have attracted a substantial following simply for having the guts to stand up to injustice....but in Singapore when they handcuff him to go to jail only a handful of faithfuls will show up. Chee is not defeated by the Lees, he is defeated by the widespread apathy among Singaporeans. ,....and that is the real story.