鼹鼠造山——小题大作

MAKING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL
by Teo Soh Lung

The Committee of Privileges (COP) has made history! For the first time in Singapore's parliamentary history, it has recommended that two witnesses be referred to the public prosecutor for further investigations for allegedly speaking untruths during the committee's hearing. Poor Pritam Singh and Faisal Manap! And poor Sylvia Lim too.

Sylvia Lim is apparently spared because she had cooperated with the COP. Really? Is the COP so kind? Or is it just wayang?

Make no mistake. PAP leaders are never kind or magnanimous. If they can eat you up, they will. This “Making Mountain out of a Molehill” Raeesah Khan saga is just another scheme (paid for by taxpayers) to demolish the Workers' Party. PAP leaders are sophisticated schemers. Letting Sylvia off is just an attempt to divide the party. If they succeed, they would gloat.

Another possible reason for letting Sylvia off is to prevent the accusation of an overkill. The COP has to pretend that they are fair minded, that they give credit where credit is due. They like to reward “when reward is due”. Conferring the title of “Leader of the Opposition” is one such reward that attempts to blind the beneficiary of the title. Only the gullible would fail to read the motive behind.

What harm did Raeesah Khan cause? Nothing really. She exaggerated her role, (probably with the aim of making it more credible) when she claimed that she accompanied a victim to the police station. She forgot that PAP leaders are vultures in parliament, ever ready to pounce on the slightest error.

Did she cause anyone to be jailed? No! Did she cause anyone to lose his reputation or job? No.

The Reform Party in its press release of 12 February 2022 concluded:

“No Opposition politician is safe in Singapore from the first breakthrough MP J B Jeyaretnam with his frequent and scathing attacks on the Government to the modern day compliant politicians. This will continue to be true until at least one-third of the seats in the House are under Opposition control.” (https://tinyurl.com/4rmes972)

I agree with the statement with reference to parliament. Despite the popularity of JB Jeyaretnam, the PAP leaders have no qualms in referring him, on various occasions to the committee of privileges over petty matters. For example, as a resident of Anson, I had received newsletters reporting on the committee's proceedings. I was shocked that even that was wrong in the eyes of PAP leaders.

With regard to opposition politicians in general however, they have never been safe since the Barisan Sosialis was born in 1962. They were arrested, tortured and detained without trial. Even elected members of parliament suffered detention under the Internal Security Act. Lee Tee Tong was arrested, humiliated and imprisoned without trial for 18 years. Two other MPs suffered detention too - S T Bani and Loh Miaw Gong.

The 4G leaders have to resort to all kinds of tricks because they know that their opponents are more capable than them. As in their record and history, every opponent must be nipped in the bud. They must never be able to gather enough strength to topple the PAP. Losing Aljunied GRC and then Sengkang GRC are lessons they will never forget.

Today, the PAP is not in a position to destroy opponents without receiving some flak in return. People are better informed. Many of us can see where Singapore is heading to if we remain silent and do nothing. We realise that we have to take responsibility for ourselves, to build a Singapore that is kinder and not always geared towards making money and ensuring a prosperous Singapore where the benefits belong to the powerful and the rich.