Quick impressions from the SDP rally on 28 April for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC

Given how the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has been demonised in the mass media since the 1990s, I was surprised to see a healthy turnout for last night’s rally.

I had a front-row spot directly in front of the speakers, and couldn’t see how far back the crowds stretched. It was only later that I realised how huge the turnout was, easily dwarfing my earlier guesstimate of 4,000 to 5,000. New media is certainly making its influence felt this election.

It wasn’t clear from the SPF press statement, but the rally site was the school field adjacent to the Commonwealth MRT station. It is easily accessible and there is ample parking in the nearby commercial buildings. Traffic flow was smooth and well-managed by the CISCO staff on duty. One of them was kind enough to point out that the other cars have been issued summons when I wanted park illegally by the side of the road (I had subscribed to the urban legend that traffic police don’t issue summons during election time. I guess things changed after they outsourced to CISCO).

As I walked into the field, it became apparent that SDP is a very well-organised party. I was met by SDP volunteers selling their newsletters. I bought a copy despite having bought one last week. They have set up tents near the entrance to sell various merchandise, such as t-shirts, soft toys, and mugs. During the speeches, they even had helpers to hold up signs to the speakers, signalling to them to start wrapping up. Don’t assume that PAP is the only professional party in town.

I was delayed by the traffic and missed the first speaker Teo Soh Lung. But I did hear her voice over the PA system – “Do you want a meal in a hawker centre, food court or a restaurant?”.

This was a reference to the notoriously insensitive remark by Vivian Balakrishnan in 2007 when he dismissed an appeal by PAP MP Dr Lily Neo to increase the Public Assistance allowance to 3,000 needy people by a paltry $1 a day. The total amount works out to $1m a year, which is peanuts compared to the hundreds of millions overspent by Vivian Balakrishnan on the YOG. More importantly, the money makes a real difference to the lives of those recipients, unlike the fluff of YOG “marketing benefits”.

Back to the rally. All the SDP candidates in this election spoke, here is what I can remember of their speeches (pardon any inaccuracies as I wasn’t taking notes).

SDP's candidates for GE2011 (taken from SDP web site)

Michelle Lee
She spoke mostly from a prepared speech, but her passion is evident for all to see. Highly eloquent and relaxed, Michelle Lee will be a great speaker once she gains more experience. Somehow, she reminds me of an older Nicole Seah.

Vincent Wijeysingha
In my mind, he is the most eloquent speaker of the night. He speaks with real vigour and passion without needing to shout. He knows how to work the crowd, pausing at the right times for the crowd to chip in with the punchlines.

I didn’t realise that he is the son of Eugene Wijeysingha, who is the legendary former schoolmaster of Raffles Institution. Now that’s real pedigree.

Tan Jee Say
I had glanced through his economic proposal when it first surfaced on the Internet in February. I was initially surprised when I heard he joined the SDP, but the move makes sense. Tan Jee Say gets an established platform to push for his ideas, while the SDP gets a comprehensive economic proposal to add substance to their ideals. Some cynics might call it a marriage of convenience but I see it as a complementary partnership.

Tan Jee Say started with a real bang, attacking PAP’s lack of diversity. He threw in some crowd-pleasing lines, describing Cabinet meetings as “a dialogue between father and son”. Sometimes it’s just “a monologue with you-know-who talking”. His speech started to meander halfway and he lost focus, especially after he was notified by a volunteer to start wrapping up.

Ang Yong Guan
Another quality candidate, Ang Yong Guan was previously a Colonel heading the psychiatric medicine unit in the Singapore Armed Forces. At rallies, he is the rah-rah guy who works the crowd. He peppered his speech with liberal doses of Hokkien. At one point, he even shook his knees while saying that PAP is running scared. Funniest speech of the night.

Alec Tok
He walks with the straight back of a dancer, and unsurprisingly, he is active in the arts scene. Alec Tok’s mandarin is surprisingly fluent though he struggles to find the right words at times, opting instead to use English words. He is more effective in English.

John Tan
Very good speaker and a trained social psychologist. I wonder if he was recruited by Dr Chee Soon Juan, who used to be a psychology lecturer. John Tan is very comfortable addressing large crowds.

Jarrod Luo
Jarrod Luo is the youngest of the SDP candidates. He tried an unusual tactic, asking the crowd to vote for PAP which incited a flood of loud boos after an initial surprise. He reeled off a list of unpopular failed PAP policies, and asked us again to vote for PAP if we want more of those. Jarrod Luo is still quite dependent on his notes, I found it distracting every time he glanced down to read. Also, he will be more effective if he can keep his emotions in check. At times, it looked like he was going to lose control.

James Gomez
James Gomez is famous for being attacked by PAP over his minority candidate application form in 2006. James Gomez first accused the Elections Department for losing his application forms, but video recordings later showed that he had put them into his briefcase. It was the vociferous reaction by the PAP that propelled James Gomez into the limelight. At that time, James Gomez was a Workers’ Party member.

Last night, he showed us why he was the target of such fierce attacks. He was a smooth speaker, and worked the crowd fantastically well. He stuck to a simple message of booting out the PAP ministers and “sending Khaw Boon Wan to JB”. Khaw Boon Wan is also the anchor PAP minister in Sembawang where James Gomez is contesting.

There were two other speakers, Sadasivam Veriyah and Mohd Isa Abdul Aziz who spoke in Tamil and Malay.

There were some light-hearted moments last night. An unexpected star of the night was the attractive lady emcee who joked that she was “not just a pretty face”, and took every opportunity between speeches to exhort the rally participants to support SDP by purchasing their merchandise and newsletters. The crowds responded by clearing out many of the items after the rally. If you know her identity, do let me know in the comments.

The SDP mascot Danny Bear made a couple of appearances on stage (nearly tripping over the wires once), and was greeted warmly with cries of “Pregnant bear! Pregnant bear!” (There was an odd hump in front of Danny’s tummy).

The crowd filed out from the field, and within 20 minutes, traffic was back to normal. On my way back, I saw many participants engaging in animated discussions about the speeches.

Why do Singaporeans only seem to awake from their political slumber during election time?

(Photos from the rally to follow.)

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