Singapore Democrats
First, write to the Official Assignee and signal to him that you would be agreeable to my application to discharge myself from bankruptcy, a status brought about by the lawsuit that you took against me. I am certain that with a clear and unequivocal statement from you, the officials at the Insolvency and Public Trustees Office would be quick to act.
Second, advise President S R Nathan to set aside my convictions and clear the way for my participation in this coming elections. Law Minister Mr K Shanmugam has made it plain that such powers exercised by the President lies with you, not the President.
11 March 2011
Lee Kuan Yew
Minister MentorLee Hsien Loong
Prime MinisterGoh Chok Tong
Senior MinisterDear sirs,
Very soon you will be calling for the General Elections. Ordinarily, I would say to you may the best man win and wish you a good campaign. But for reasons you and I know, you don’t need my good wishes.
You control the media and you lay down the rules for the election process. In such a scenario, good wishes are, at best, superfluous. At worst, it belies a confident party because confident parties don’t prevent their opponents from joining in the contest. Your undemocratic actions scream insecurity and nervousness.
Through your personal actions and actions of your administration I have been sued, charged and made a bankrupt. As a result, I am barred from running for office.
I call on you to un-ban me from taking part in this General Elections. The true test of a genuinely popular ruling party is when it participates in an elections that is genuinely fair and open. To this end, I call on you to:
First, write to the Official Assignee and signal to him that you would be agreeable to my application to discharge myself from bankruptcy, a status brought about by the lawsuit that you took against me. I am certain that with a clear and unequivocal statement from you, the officials at the Insolvency and Public Trustees Office would have no reason not to act.
Second, advise President S R Nathan to set aside my convictions and clear the way for my participation in this coming elections. Law Minister Mr K Shanmugam has made it plain that such powers exercised by the President lies with you, not the President. You will recall that the charges that led to my convictions and disbarment all stemmed from my political activities in the 2006 elections.
You will undoubtedly tell Singaporeans that I have already taken part in previous elections and failed. My performance at the polls, you will say, was not good and, hence, there is no need to fear my participation. Perhaps. But, the skewed political system notwithstanding, I would like to remind you that this was the pre-Internet era where you had complete control of communication tools.
This elections are a little different. My party intends to fully utilise cyberspace to communicate with the electorate, and with a free flow of information, we are confident of countering the propaganda that you have been spewing all these years. The electoral battle will be significantly altered.
So why not have a fair fight this elections? You lead your team and I lead mine. Let’s have a good political contest where we pit our competing visions and programmes for Singapore, and we let Singaporeans decide.
Unless, of course, you are not confident about your party, your ideas and, more importantly, your own leadership and that you can win in a free and fair electoral fight.
I await your reply.
Sincerely,
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party