Let it be as you have said...

the extracts

"While I admire your courage, determination and leadership, I have doubts on attractiveness of "civil disobedience" as promoted by you to the electorate. I am a young professional who belong to the top 20% of earners. Within 2 years of graduation, I am able to afford a condominium and a car. Much as I disagree with the PAP's heavy-handedness in dealing with the opposition, I owe it to them for what I have today. Though I come from a middle class family, my parents are able to support me to complete a medical degree in NUS, the most expensive course. Our country is stable and strong, we have material possessions and comforts few in other countries would ever imagine and I have a bright future ahead of me. To me, the concepts of democracy, human rights and liberalism sound very abstract and foreign. How can they improve my life in anyway. In spite of all its shortcomings, the PAP government did transform Singapore from a Third word to First in 4 decades. Which other countries can boast of such a strong, stable and responsible government as ours? Look at our neighbors Thailand which now faces a constitutional crisis due to the opposition boycott of the GE, when their economy suffer, its the people who is at the losing end. Is this the democracy you and your party propose? How do you intend to convince other young professionals like me to support your party?"

And his reply was that he used to be at the top 20% earners but he now have nothing.

"Dear Mihailov75,
First, let me congratulate you on your achievements.
Actually I think you are in the top 10 percent. You have indeed come a long way.
I, too, was in that tier of society where I was fortunate enough to do what I really loved - teaching and interacting with my students and seeing them grow intellectually. I was also doing research at NUH, Gleaneagles Hospital, and the Dept of Physiology. My wife was finishing up her doctoral dissertation and tutoring at the Dept of Social Work & Psychology. My office was serenely nestled on Kent Ridge. When I eventually applied for a credit card, I was offered three ¨C all gold. Banks started calling me up and said that they would give me a 100% housing loan. "One hundred percent??!!" my wife (fianc¨¦e then) and I exclaimed. We plumbed for a double-storey terrace house with four bedrooms, a big front porch and not little back garden. We got ourselves a brand new Mazda station wagon with plans to fit a few kids and a German Shepherd. We had arrived. (If you consider my childhood, which was distinctly not middle-class, the we-have-arrived feeling was even more delicious.)
But something stirred in me. Till today, I cannot tell you why, it just did. Seeing how the PAP treated Mr J B Jeyaretnam, the idea behind the Graduate Mothers¡¯ Scheme, the continued detention of Mr Chia Thye Poh, the bullying of the Mr Francis Seow and 1987 detainees, the absurdity of streaming our schoolchildren at nine years of age all gnawed away at me.
Most important, looking at the way working Singaporeans lived (and I know because I came from there) I found it difficult to continue living my lifestyle without lending a voice.
So I did.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Dear Mihailov, I cannot produce numbers to convince you that justice and truth outweigh the material comforts in life that you enjoy and the prestige that comes along with it. Instead I want to tell you that the measure of society is not how well it provides for the top 20 percent of its citizens. Instead the true measure of a society is how well we take care of our weak and old and vulnerable.
In the same vein, the true measure of a man is not how much he earns or what kind of house he lives in and what of a car he drives. It is how much he cares about those around him especially those who need a hand and a voice.
I will not try to convince you that democracy will get you a bigger pay check or buy you a bigger house, for it cannot. Instead I will tell you that in life there are virtues such as justice, truth and freedom that make us whole and that breathe into us the spirit to distinguish us from the other species of animals.
It is what makes us human.
I now live in a three-room HDB flat, drive a beat-up Toyota which
doesn't even belong to me, own no credit card, my office is atop the smoky Bee Cheng Hiang in Serangoon Road, I've been to jail four times, and I am a bankrupt.
But I have my wife and three children with me, and I have overcome my fear of standing up to the PAP. I can freely speak up for my fellow citizens. And because of this I dare say I am far, far richer ¨C and happier ¨C than the richest man in Singapore. Is this enough to convince you to join our cause? God will let you know.
Thank you, dear friend.
Chee Soon JuanSingapore Democrats"

A forumer - BalancedMind asked him to think for his wife and 3 children, to stop going against the ruling party or to change his tactics. I think he sympathizes with the poor wife and children who have to suffer together with their husband and father.

"Dear Dr. Chee,
I do not intend to burden you with all the questions and points that fellow
forummers have raised in this thread of yours. Your worth and what you
have done will be judged by our decendents many years down the road. You
can take comfort that you have played and done your part in securing democratic
process for us Singaporean and to which you have my respect.
However, I think it's high time that you do think about your family, your supportive wife and children. They have supported you in what you are doing up to now taking the blunt and discomfort that you are going through but don't you think you should also now think about them as they are just as human like everyone in this forumn. I have a little girl just like your eldest daughter and to which I try my best to give her the headstart in life. When I look at the photos of your family posted by Uncle Yap I was sad that you have not been fair to your little girl. I know you will be telling me that you love not
your little girl less but you love your country more. Much I can admire you for that believe but I still think you should spare a thought for your family especially your children who needs you more than we do.
You have done your duty to our nation and have been respected for that but allow me to say that my highest respect is not for you but to your wife and children who has supported you all these while which not many men can dream of. I do hope
you will spare some thought for them as it is your duty as the head of your
household to do so. "

But his reply was that he wish to create a better future for them by giving them a conducive environment and country.

"Dear BalancedMind,
Your words are wise and I thank you for them.
I have not the slightest ntention of sacrificeing my children's interests and needs.
Like any father, there is not a single day that goes by where I don't think
about how I would like them to grow up and how I can better provide for them.
But life is such that we never know what we are going to be confronted with.
That's why I see that the best gift I can give to them is to work for an
environment that facilitates their development into thinking individuals and citizens who endeavour to improve their lot around them. As they grow and see what is happening around them they will learn the values of right and wrong, and the courage to seek out the former and speak out against the latter. Their values system is what's most important.
With such an anchor for living, no matter where life takes them in the future they will always live richly ¨C both spiritually and physically.
Chee Soon JuanSingapore Democrats"

All these you will never hear from the media, not even the gossipy TNP or Shin Min...

posted by the spear carrier @ 5:17 PM