SDP’s public forum on electoral reform, 20 Jan 08

January 20, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Current Affairs, Political Discussions, SDP

SDP just concluded a public forum on electoral reform, held at Allson Hotel on 20 Jan 08, Sunday, from 2pm to 5pm.

Speakers at the forum included Chia Ti Lik, J.B. Jeyaretnam, Jufrie Mahmood, and Dr Chee Soon Juan. Mr Tan Tarn How was slated to speak too but backed down.

The forum could only be described as passionate, lively, sincere, and robust.

True to his firebrand style politics, Chia Ti Lik fired the opening salvo by pointing out the severe flaws in our current electoral system, and lambasting certain Opposition parties for having the cheek to openly claim to seek electoral reform in their manifesto, but only pay lip service to those ideals in Parliament. He said that this was tantamount to defrauding the electorate. Calling a spade a spade, Chia Ti Lik said that merely having a government approved Opposition in Parliament that is only content with operating within the system and scratching the back of the PAP would get us nowhere. He said that if the avenue to reform the system through parliamentary means was closed to us, we should seek to do so by other legal extra-parliamentary means such as campaigns and robust public dialogue.

J.B. Jeyaretnam recounted the colourful history of his participation in the elections and related it to serious issues facing the electorate like the fear factor, freedom of information, transparency, funding for political parties and what he calls “the blatant intimidation of voters”. Jufrie Mahmood said that we should first seek to reform our media which is blatantly pro-PAP if we are to stand a chance of reforming the electoral system. Finally, Dr Chee Soon Juan gave a resounding wrap-up of the stark reality that we face and the work that needs to be done. Lamenting the lack of an independent electoral body, Dr Chee called for a committee to be formed to examine how the establishment of independent election commission could be achieved. He said that he would continue to persuade Opposition parties and civil groups to come together and unite in this cause. He also called upon everyone who was willing to participate in reforming our electoral system to indicate their support by standing up. Most members of the audience rose and eagerly stood up to be counted.

At the end of the event, a form was passed around to allow people to sign up to join the committee on electoral reform.

Straits Times article which appeared the same day:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_198218.html
Jan 20, 2008

Opposition moots election reform group
By Zakir Hussain

OPPOSITION activists have called for a reform of the electoral system here and aim to set up a committee to see how this can be achieved.

Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan, who mooted the idea on Sunday, hopes to bring opposition parties, civil society groups and individuals together to discuss changes.

These would include having an independent election commission.

They could also research best practices elsewhere, train poll observers and raise awareness of what they see as problems with the current election system, such as the group representation constituencies, he told 50 party supporters and others at a forum at the Allson Hotel.

Opposition parties, among others, have previously said that electoral rules do not give them a level playing field.

One criticised feature is the absence of an independent electoral body. A Government-run Elections Department oversees the polls.

But an Institute of Policy Studies survey after the 2006 general election found voters generally agreed that the ‘whole election system is fair to all political parties’.

No other opposition party accepted Dr Chee’s invitation to speak at the forum.

He wrote to Singapore People’s Party chairman Chiam See Tong, Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang, and to the National Solidarity Party and Singapore Malay National Organisation.

But he was not deterred, saying: ‘I will persuade them, make them see the importance of coming together.’

Two panellists, both former WP candidates, were less generous towards opposition MPs who, they said, ‘play by the rules’ but got nowhere.

Lawyer Chia Ti Lik, leader of advocacy group SG Human Rights, called them ‘PAP apologists’ who did not raise the issue of election reform, while Mr Jufrie Mahmood said they ‘did not deserve the label’ of opposition.

Panellist J.B. Jeyaretnam, a former WP chief who plans to set up the Reform Party this year, said the ruling PAP had created a climate of fear and that there was a lack of transparency about the way elections are held.

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Comments

4 Comments on SDP’s public forum on electoral reform, 20 Jan 08

thinknothing on Sun, 20th Jan 2008 9:39 pm

Well done SgHR and SDP !

You guys have hit the nail on the right spot.

You are definitely moving in the right direction. Perservere and gradually more and more people will see through the veil of deceit behind the PAP’s electoral system which is no different from Russia’s United Russia Party under Putin.

The WAYANG PARTY is the greatest impediment to real democracy in Singapore. Be resolute and do not afraid to offend these wayang clowns who have contributed nothing to opposition politics except being made used by the regime to protray itself as a democracy.

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