Here is Ariffin Sha’s speech entitled Power to the People which he delivered at Hong Lim Park for the #ReturnOurCPF Protest:
Good Evening Hong Lim Park!
I’m Ariffin, 17 and I am honoured to be part of this revolutionary event.
What we dreamed about for years is finally becoming a reality.
Over the past few weeks, we are seeing glimpses of the power of the people.
Defamation Suits are not new. But what is new is people from all walks of life coming together to support Roy. This is just a mere glimpse of what we the people can do when we are united.
When I first created the page Wake Up Singapore and started blogging, many told me.
“When you are young, you’re idealistic.
When you are old, you’re realistic.”
The people who say this have lost their ideals or have sold their ideals for self-interests. Life without conviction and idealism is a mere meaningless existence.
Fellow Singaporeans, for far too long we have been fed this lie that we are too small to make a difference. Well, if you ever think you are too small to make a difference, try spending one night with a mosquito!
We all have been witnesses to the consequences of elitism and oppression.
I feel sorry for Roy, he isn’t a politician, he is one of us too. He apologised for alleged defamation and even offered $5,000 in damages. When Roy apologised, you said he was not sincere, how sincere were you when you apologised before the 2011 GE? Lee Hsien Long, who earns 2.2 million yearly, said that Roy’s offer of 5000 was derisory. Of course 5000, is a joke to you. You earn more than 5k in just one day, but for many of us, 5k is our salary for 2 to 3 months.
This isn’t just PM Lee against Roy anymore, this is about the people in power against the power of the people. Look at what has happened. We may not agree with Roy, but we are all against bullying and fear-mongering. You may bring down Roy, but you can’t bring down his idea. A thousand more Roys will rise to seek transparency from the government and to fight for our rights
This was the same idea that JBJ fought till his last breath for, this was the same idea that Chia Thye Poh was detained 32 years for. Ideas are bulletproof.
Pm Lee once said that Ministers are servants and we the People are their masters.
Do you think our ministers deserves their salaries?
Do you think the Ministers remember who their masters are?
Do they remember the people who voted them into power?
Why, do we pay millions of dollars to servants who turn around to threaten us?
The People in Power have forgotten the Power of the People!
We the people ourselves, have forgotten the power we have.
More than elitism, we need oneness.
More than growth, we need happiness.
More than cleverness, we need kindness.
For the past few protests here, we have been saying “We Want Change!”
By saying that we mean that the people in ivory towers have the power to deny us. No one has ever reformed their Government by asking them for permission. So instead of asking for change, we will “Be The Change” and we will vote for change too.
The power to change rests within each and every one of us. We are awake when we realize that we have the power to change by living he change we want to see.
We need the power to return to the hands of the people. When was the last time we had a national referendum? Major Issues like White Papers need to have national referendums, we the people need our voice to be heard too.
All dictators will eventually die, all empires will eventually fall.
This is a new beginning. If we hold on to our unity, there will be no force in the world that can take it from us. The struggle against oppression has for the first time evolved into a united struggle.
How many of us here remember Operation Coldstore and Spectrum?
How many of us here remember Lim Chin Siong?
How many of us here remember what happened in Cheng San GRC during the 1997 elections?
This a promising sign of our political awakening.
JBJ once said that
“If the government is not prepared to listen to our peaceful protests, there must come a time where we have to resort to civil disobedience. But the time has not come for that. Before you can effectively launch a disobedience campaign, you’ve got to educate the people. You’ve got to get them ready to participate in it. We’ve got to educate the Singaporeans of what they are able to do”
And that is exactly what we should do. We need to educate and empower Singaporeans. Education is indeed the greatest tool in the world. Through education, we can eradicate fear
You see, knowledge comes with responsibility. Don’t you think there is a reason why we here know about Lim Chin Siong, Cheng San GRC, Operation Coldstore and many of our friends don’t? It is because this knowledge comes with responsibility.
This is the same responsibility that leads people like us to share what we have learnt with the masses. And this is something that not only bloggers, activists and politicians can do, every one of us here can and should do this. We all have a part to play in Singapore’s political awakening. Heck, there is even some crazy cartoonist out there playing his part.
Between now and 2016, you have less than 2 years. It is a long time and there is a lot we can do to wake Singapore up.
We don’t need an Arab Spring or an Occupy Movement, we can and we will achieve this reform peacefully.
We all must educate one another, question the status quo and start thinking for ourselves to ignite a mass political awakening and eradicate political apathy. Spread this knowledge in whatever ways we can. We must educate, empower, inspire and organize the masses. It’s time to awaken the rest of Singapore.
This protest isn’t a one-off event, it is something that we all will continue from. This shouldn’t be about getting angry, anger only blinds. This is about education and empowerment.
Governments should be afraid of their people and not the other way around. We pay them their salaries, we vote them into power, and we can also vote them out of power. We have the greatest power of all, the power of the people.
In the name of democracy, let us use that power. Lets do away with barriers, greed and oppression. The secret to change is not fighting the old, but building the new. So let us build a new and free Singapore, where progress leads to happiness. In the name of democracy, let us all unite!
For our people and our future, we will fight. We will never slacken, never fear, never lose faith and never back down. We will not stop until the plague has been removed from the Singaporean way of life.
Brothers and Sisters, this fight ahead may be long and hard, but let’s never forget what Gandhi said,
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
This fight won’t be over until we win.
It’s time to Wake Up, Singapore.
Power To The People
Arrifin Sha
*The writer blogs at http://ariffin-sha.com/