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A blatant LIE by TODAY to split the opposition and smear Dr Chee

February 28, 2009 by admin
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By Eugene Yeo

In a previous article, I wrote about how the Singapore’s media had the uncanny ability to sugarcoat the truth to make bad news sound good. Now let me showcase another classic example of the unique “Asian spectacles” of Mediacorp to distort reality and perpetuate an outright blatant lie in order to serve the partisan interests of the PAP.

TODAY published an article by Loh Chee Kong entitled “A politician who hates politics” in which the gist of it is to provoke disgust and repungance against the “betrayal” of his mentor Mr Chiam by Dr Chee:

“Fresh from leading the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) to three parliamentary seats in the 1991 General Election, Mr Chiam soon found himself ousted from the very party he had founded in 1980.

The long-drawn saga — set in motion after Mr Chiam brought his one-time protege Dr Chee Soon Juan into the party — had obviously scarred him. Said his wife Lina: “He would have nightmares and wake up suddenly … he doesn’t talk about it but it’s hurting him inside.” (Read full article here)

An unsuspecting reader who do not know the full facts behind this episode will have the misperception that Mr Chiam has been traumatized by his “ouster” from SDP which was “engineered” by Dr Chee. Nothing can be further from the truth. Chiam was never “ousted” by Dr Chee. He resigned on his own accord.

For over 15 years, the PAP and the state media have been propagating the myth of Mr Chiam See Tong’s “ouster” from SDP by Dr Chee Soon Juan to drive a wedge between the two and to smear the character of Dr Chee.

They are well aware of the fact that Mr Chiam is an established opposition icon who has won the respect and love of many Singaporeans even from those not living in Potong Pasir. By spinning a tale on how the popular Chiam is forced out of SDP by his protege Dr Chee, it would deal a mortal blow to the image and standing of the latter.

For those of you who are aware of the truth, what exactly transpired between Mr Chiam and Dr Chee in 1993 was elucidated clearly on the SDP website here.

In summary, Chiam was not “ousted” by Dr Chee. He first resigned as SDP’s Secretary-General after failing to obtain the CEC’s support to censure Dr Chee for his hungry strike. In fact, Dr Chee had tried in vain to persuade Mr Chiam to stay on. Mr Chiam subsequently resigned from SDP and form the Singapore’s People Party in 1997.

It is not for us to judge who is in the right or wrong. The pertinent question to ask is: why is TODAY dredging out the saga now again after so many years ? After all, it has already achieved its insidious motive of misleading the majority of Singaporeans about Dr Chee’s moral character.

What does this irrelevant article serve really when we have more pressing concerns such as the investment losses incurred by our SWFs ? Mas Selamat Kasteri is still missing after a year and there is no mention of it.

It is likely that the PAP internet brigade has detected an increase in support for SDP and Dr Chee amongst young IT-savvy Singaporeans who may not know about the saga in 1993 and therefore TODAY find it timely to drag the “dirt” out again to smear Dr Chee.

Loh Chee Kong of TODAY even has the temerity to write to Dr Chee asking for his response to Mr Chiam See Tong’s criticisms about the SDP. He said that he had interviewed Mr Chiam on Wednesday in which Mr Chiam said that the Singapore Democrats had engaged in “conspiratorial and destructive politics.” (Read Dr Chee’s reply to him here)

It is so obvious that Loh is trying to sow discord between the two men and to stir a hornet’s nest. A journalist is supposed to be neutral, balanced and objective in his reporting. What is Loh trying to do ? Why didn’t he include SDP’s explanation of the saga to allow readers to judge for themselves ?

Mr Chiam See Tong had asked the Today newspaper to stop publication on his interview. Mr Chiam told Today’s senior reporter, Mr Loh Chee Kong, that his remarks about the SDP were “off the cuff”. Mr Chiam had told Mr Loh — twice — not to publish anything he said about Dr Chee Soon Juan and the Singapore Democrats.

Yet, the reporter emailed Dr Chee and quoted Mr Chiam’s remarks, wanting a response from the SDP secretary-general. Dr Chee replied to Mr Loh and refused to respond, saying that the intended report is a PAP ploy to put SDP in a bad light. As expected, Loh went ahead and publish the interview anyway though he did not quote directly from Mr Chiam, his intention was clear.

I would suggest Mr Loh spend his time more productively on other important issues such as finding out the extent of losses incurred by Temasek and GIC NOW instead of regurgitating a stale grandmother story that few Singaporeans are interested about. Or if he is really so keen to write up on the “dark” side of politics, perhaps he should interview the old associates of Lim Chin Siong to find out how he was fixed by his own trusted comrade in 1963.

Also read Mr Ng E Jay’s commentary on this matter here.

JJ is the best person to know everything...especially the untruths and the half truths, the prejudices and the resentments, the flaming and the defaming. JJ IS THE MAN!!