tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post4711606699915238649..comments2024-02-14T04:53:18.295-08:00Comments on Singapore Dissident: Singapore Dr. Chee Soon Juan's $20,000.00Gopalan Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15399145588654603667noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081742307252789733.post-79854537154241991102011-02-10T13:56:20.185-08:002011-02-10T13:56:20.185-08:00Like you, I too was of the view that Dr Chee shoul...Like you, I too was of the view that Dr Chee should not under any circumstances legitimise the kangaroo judge's sentence by paying the fine but I have since reconsidered. The success of this appeal purely by word of mouth and online (because the state-controlled media simply blacked out all publicity, no surprise there) is astonishing and DOES mark an important turning point in the dialogue between Singapore's nervous citizenry and the opposition. And for this to occur during CNY and while the spin machine was furiously ramming the latest episode of <i>Fatuous Last Words of Our Great Leader, Vol 101</i>, down everyone's throat is doubly inspiring. To be honest I never thought it would come about. You can fool some of the people...<br /><br />Recall that Dr Chee and Ms Chee could not even raise the trivial sum of $2000 for a Legal Defence Fund in 2008 to appeal the defamation verdict in their contest against the Lees and you will appreciate the significance of this event. Enough ordinary people are now willing to step forward (including K. Jeyaratnam but not, as far as we know, Chiam or Low) to put their money where their mouth is. Since we both understand the God-like status of filthy lucre in the red dot, it speaks volumes that many willingly parted with some of it for the sake of Dr Chee.<br /><br />What a difference a year or so makes. I believe the frightened worm is, finally, beginning to turn on its tormentor. It isn't happening as swiftly and decisively as we would like to see but realistically, you do not overturn a 16-20% electoral margin at a stroke, short of a Tunisian or Egyptian-style revolution. <br /><br />The govt-controlled 'prostitutes and running dogs' (as David Marshall famously called the media) has always played a crucial role in shaping public perceptions as it does in every autocracy and Lee has used it skilfully to demonise the SDP. But now he is non-plussed with the arrival of a medium which cannot be as easily manipulated and which stymied his carefully-laid plan to put Dr Chee into suspended animation for the duration of the 2011 election.<br /><br />So yes, on balance, it's better that Dr Chee be allowed to spend his intellect and great experience managing a resurgent SDP than wastefully make a political point by insisting on being locked up as Lee must have calculated he would. Like all autocrats LKY has misjudged the moment and it is always most satisfying to give the old tyrant's ear a hard tweak in response, isn't it?mycroftnoreply@blogger.com