Hi SDP,
My name is Dom and I am a teacher by profession. I’ve long wanted to vote for the Singapore Democratic Party, but I never got to vote as my Tanjong Pagar area has not been contested at the elections for quite some time now. The reason why I’ve always wanted to vote for this party is that I do personally do feel that life in Singapore, just like in many other places in the world today, is very much unbearable.
What I want to do with this email is to give you feedback on what I see on your website so that you guys can improve on it and hopefully garner more support in the future. I would like to comment on 6 main issues.
To begin with, I would have to comment that the donate icon would scare many Singaporeans away. It just gives me the feeling that if this party is not financially sound, how can they be reliable? I know it must be tough given the many lawsuits various members of the party have faced over the years, but I strongly feel that the donate icon is making it even harder for you to be financially sound. If you were to win a place in parliament, things may be easier for you guys financially. But with the donate icon there, people can’t help but think how can I be voting some party that is not financially sound.
Second, I would have to comment that democracy in itself is trivial an issue for many Singaporeans, including myself. What I mean by this is that the US is a democracy but whoever is elected goes to war to support their selfish geopolitical agendas all over the world. Just look at their actions in the middle east. They are always accidentally going into areas in the world that are rich in oil. Democracy in itself, is not going to convince Singaporeans to vote for you.
Third, I would like to comment on accountability and transparency. I feel that this is a very shady area for Singapore. Singapore has little natural resources. So say Temasek Holdings is to invest in natural resources in war-torn countries in the middle east with companies from the US? Why would they want that to be transparent and accountable to its people? They must be thinking in their heads, why would we want to make this transparent? I mean we are just attracting terrorism and pricking our people’s conscience. I am making a big assumption here, but I do think Temasek Holdings is one big black box that many people don’t know much about and it is for a good reason.
Fourth, political participation. As we know, Singapore has an overt agreement with Britain and the US. Support their foreign policies and they bring foreign investments into our country. As such, we do not know exactly what these arrangements are, but I believe the PAP do not want much political participation as they have made many promises to certain countries and in turn they must fulfill their obligations in order for their many multinational companies to continue to invest in Singapore. So there is a good reason why they do not want political participation.
Fifth, economic inequality. Yes, I believe this is substantial in Singapore. But I think it’s even worse in many parts of the world. This can only be resolved perhaps if a welfare system is introduced. Maybe this is where you can actually garner votes. Be bold and push for a welfare system. I think that would actually appeal to many Singaporeans.
Sixth, individual rights. Yes, this is the most horrible area that I strongly feel needs to be tackled. It isn’t clear at all what rights individuals here have. If you are successful and useful to the PAP you seem to have a lot of rights, if you are not successful and stand in their path, you don’t seem to have any rights at all. This is scary, but you know, it is one of those things that isn’t going to be enough to garner votes. There is sickening elitist attitude that is dominant here in Singapore.
You may ask, why am I saying all these? I just hope that my feedback would be useful to you guys. In my opinion, push for a welfare system and hope that Singaporeans would one day have so much economic success that they start to desire to have individual rights that I feel all human beings ought to have.
In my opinion, push for a welfare system and continue to push for individual rights. You have my support sdp, even though I never got to vote for you, because I do relate to how you feel, I feel life in Singapore is often unbearable
Sincerely,
Dom
SDP’s Reply:
Dear Dom,
Thank you for your email and your encouraging words. We will continue to work hard for the support of Singaporeans.
On the matter of the prominence of the ‘Donate’ button on our website, rest assured that the SDP, while appealing for donations from Singaporeans, have, and will always, manage our finances soundly. In fact, it is the use of our funds in a responsible manner that we have been able to keep the SDP operating at an active level while maintaining fiscal discipline.
But like all political parties, we depend on financial support from the public to sustain our operations (especially when we do not yet have seats in Parliament). Such being the case, we place our call for donations prominently. It no way signifies that our party is not financially sound.
Again, thank you for your support and we hope you will stay in touch.