I refer to the article: "JEREMY CHEN: WHY I LEFT THE SINGAPORE DEMOCRATIC PARTY"
I will state this. I am a member of SDP. I have not been attending recently due to my work schedule. Hence, as I indicate here and later, I have very little clue as to what caused Jeremy to leave. But whatever the reason may be, there can not be a reason good enough to justify what he has been doing and is still doing.
I am also writing this on my own accord and neither SDP or Dr Chee has prior knowledge that I am writing this. It has been very hard to refrain from responding to Jeremy as I am sure it must have been for the other members. However, the vindictiveness and arrogance has gone beyond disturbing. This is wrong in principle and integrity, on so many levels.
People involved in organisations do not sit down and do nothing. Everyone plays a role. It may be in doing the research before writing the paper, or crafting the policy, or go on walkabouts, be the event planner, or the one who sees to the food and drink during gatherings, some go to meetings and contribute with lots of ideas and some maybe not so many, and some with more commitments, may only be able to attend the occasional activity. The point is, every person does something and that is valued.
Whoever each person is or contributes, is appreciated by everyone. Every member has his or her own gift and each brings to the table that ability and that is celebrated. The fact that someone wants to be there willingly to contribute, is enough reason to be celebrated and our contributions, big or small, have always been received with gratitude.
What none of us do, is to go and write and tell everyone what he or she has done to contribute because it does not matter. A person comes, he or she comes freely. We are there because we believe that we are doing it for the greater good. We want to be able to serve, to make a change. it does not matter to any one of us, who does what or if anybody recognise any of what I do. It simply does not matter.
Many of those in the party would, I am sure, like to tell the truth about this whole mess that Jeremy and only Jeremy has made. Until now, SDP and even Dr Chee has remained silent. In the face of Jeremy's vicious, unwarranted, unprofessional attacks, they have stayed silent and allowed the PAP supporters and some opposition supporters to gleefully use the unsupported accusations of one person to ridicule Dr Chee and SDP and to goad Jeremy into repeatedly attacking them.
People along the way, in any organisation, political party, or any group where the complexities of relationships, social interactions, and communication of ideas and opinions, are involved, there will inevitably be conflicts. This is part of being humans and being individuals and as such, you will find conflicts occurring in every party, PAP or alternative.
As Ronald Regan once said, "Peace is not the absence of conflicts, it is the ability to handle conflicts by peaceful means".
And if a person finally feels that what he wants is not aligned with what the party's direction is, there are always mature avenues to take. People leave social, political, religious, groups all the time, Jeremy's disagreement with the party or Dr Chee is not the first and will not be the last. This is because if an organisation is going to be able to function, discussions must occur, disagreements will happen, and decisions have to be made, regardless of whether there was full agreement to that decision. And no one should ever expect a leader to not stand firm on certain principles, to not have the courage to change a course or direction once started, for the bigger good, and to be once in a while, human and make mistakes.
Dr Chee is a good man. He is passionate but more than that, he is compassionate. He is a peaceful man (it is a shame that the media and the PAP has tried so long and hard to not let Singaporeans see that side of him). He is a principled man. He is humble. People have always mistaken his passion for arrogance. And he has sacrificed more than most of the politicians we have today, yet none more bullied and demonised.
As I said above, I do not fully know what transpired. However, the ways and words, in which, Jeremy used to attack Dr Chee and SDP, signalled for me, at least, certain things:
That Jeremy felt slighted.
That his anger was personal.
His agenda was revenge.
He did not publicly write all those things to whistle blow on the party or Dr Chee. He wanted to assassinate the characters of Dr Chee and members of the party.
And that was the folly and even, arrogance of Jeremy. I expected the arrogance. I never expected the foolishness and most of all, I am shocked at the viciousness.
And contrary to what Jeremy would like people to think of Dr Chee as being an autocrat or an authoritarian, I will, in my experience with Dr Chee and the party) put my personal views here.
Dr Chee is the least authoritarian head of an organisation I have ever come across in my life. Sure, sometimes tough decisions have to be made, whether one likes it or not but only when truly necessary. However, Dr Chee will go out of his way, sometimes, even meeting each member individually, to explain the reason why that decision had to be taken.
When I attended one of SDP's conferences and another SDP workshop, I was very new to anything politics. I, of course, had heard about the reputation of Dr Chee, fed to me, courtesy of the media and PAP. The Dr Che I saw, was not one bit like all the media had reported and PAP had accused him of being.
But the most amazing thing to me was, how he allowed members and even volunteers to participate, make decisions, and even control the activities. He once said during a meeting, "I have often been asked why do I let non-SDP volunteers be involved in the planning and implementing of SDP's activities. My answer is, if we say that this is a democratic party and we tell people that this is your party, then, how can we not practice what we say and believe in?"
That was some 4 years back and I still remember those words because it was in that moment, that I truly saw the sincerity, integrity, and passion of this man. I still see those traits in Dr Chee and more because he has always consistently demonstrated those behaviours and conducted himself that way.
Den Gogh
*Article first appeared as a comment on: http://therealsingapore.com/content/jeremy-chen-why-i-left-singapore-dem...