At the conclusion of the final election rally on 5 May 06, several Singapore Democrats unfurled a banner that read “FREE Singapore from the LEEs!”
When the crowd saw the banner, it burst into loud and sustained applause, and then gathered around the SDP members and started chanting “SDP! SDP!”
Of course, none of this appeared in the media.
Finally, Dr Chee Soon Juan stood on the terraces of the stadium, raised his hands to quieten the crowd and told them that he may be jailed and made a bankrupt, but he will never stop speaking up for his fellow Singaporeans.
“But I want you to remember,” he added to a hushed audience, “whether you are a PAP supporter or an opposition supporter, we are all Singaporeans.”
The crowd shouted back: “Yes! Yes! SDP! SDP!”
Everyone quietened down again and Dr Chee continued: “And because of that, we in the SDP will not do to the PAP what it does to us!” The crowd roared in appreciation.
This, fellow Singaporeans, is really what First World politics is all about.
For more photos from the SDP’s final rally at the Woodlands Stadium, click here.