Bukit Batok by-election is not about Indian vs Chinese: Chee Soon Juan
SDP chief Chee Soon Juan speaking to reporters outside Bukit Batok MRT station. Photo: Nicholas Yong
Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan dismissed talk of race playing a factor in the Bukit Batok by-election, claiming that the issue is merely a ploy for the government to perpetuate its rule.
Speaking for the first time since lawyer K. Muralidharan Pillai was unveiled as the People’s Action Party candidate for the by-election, Chee noted on Tuesday (22 March) that the Workers’ Party’s JB Jeyaratnam had triumphed in the Anson by-election in 1981. “You mean the majority of people in Anson in 1981 were Indians?” he told reporters during a walkabout in Bukit Batok.
“It’s an excuse that the PAP had to come up with in order to justify GRCs, so that they can put in all these first-time candidates, field them together with the heavyweights, and then bring up the numbers in Parliament.”
Murali is only the first minority candidate fielded by the PAP in a Single-Member Constituency, after Michael Palmer triumphed in Punggol East in the 2011 General Election. He contested last year’s General Election as part of the PAP’s team in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency, narrowly losing to the Workers’ Party.
Deputy Prime Minister and anchor Minister for Jurong GRC, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, introduced Murali at a press conference on Monday (21 March). When asked whether race would be a factor in the by-election, Tharman said, “Race is never absent in politics.”
Responding to a question about the same issue, Chee said, “Let’s get away from this talk. The more the PAP talks about race, the more sensitised Singaporeans are to this whole thing, this racial divide.”
“I don’t see Mr Murali as any less formidable an opponent as any Chinese candidate.”
He added, “My contest with him will not be based on the fact that he’s Indian and I’m Chinese. I will contest him as a PAP candidate and a Singaporean who means well for our country, just as we do.”
