Chee Soon Juan will be standing as a candidate for the SDP in the next GE. He has completely discharged his bankruptcy obligations after losing several libel suits against the PAP politicians. It has been a long time since he stood for a GE, best known or remembered when he challenged Chok Tong with the call, ‘Where is the money?’ or something like that. And that was followed by the sagas of postage fees and taxi fare claims when his professor had to take taxis to confirm that his claims were not in order. The thing that prevented him from standing in past GEs was his bankruptcy status due to his inability to pay the compensations awarded to those who brought suits against him.
Chee Soon Juan is back. Actually he never left. He was watching from the sideline or sitting at the benches, acting as manager or coaches to his team in every GE. How would the public view his return to the political fray? What were the wrongs of this man that had kept him away from political office for so long? He is no Anwar Ibrahim and less controversial in many ways. Would the voters take his past as a price he had to pay for being in politics at the wrong time when politics was vicious and ugly? I am not sure if it is less vicious and less ugly today. Only time will tell.
How would the PAP handle him this time with the old guards out of the way? Would Chee face the likes of LKY and Chok Tong again and go through the same political ordeal one more time? Or has time changed and the political climate is more stable, more mature and less vindictive and more civil? The PAP would likely put every obstacle they could find in his way to keep him out of Parliament. And they would have a lot to say about Chee Soon Juan. The only thing that matters is whether the voters would believe them or would even view them in favour of Chee.
There are many good things to talk about this man as a politician, tenacity, believing strongly in his cause and mission, offering an alternative formula to the current mantra, a no fly by night operator or fair weather politician. He would not go away after a defeat. He comes back fighting. Above all, he is a great orator and would give all the great debators in the PAP a run for their money in Parliament.
Would the people see the good things in this man to send him into Parliament? Or would they believe in the PAP narrative of Chee Soon Juan and turn away from him?
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/