By: 永久浪客/Forever Vagabond
Dr Lee Wei Ling, PM Lee’s sister, has come out to deny that she has ever signed a petition asking to stop attacking Dr Chee Soon Juan’s character (https://theindependent.sg.sg/dr-
“This is false, I have a very poor opinion of Dr Chee, and do not think he is fit to be in Parliament,” she said.
She went on to accuse Dr Chee of “allowing” his speakers to attack David Ong at an SDP by-election rally.
“(Dr Chee) then came on stage and pretended to be magnanimous and said we should not attack character. When pressed, he admitted he knew what the fellow speakers were going to say,” she added.
“Why does he not deal with facts: why did he in the first place agree to his speakers attacking David Ong’s character, while pretending to be above it all?” she asked.
From this episode, the author concludes that Dr Lee may not have understood the concept of free speech. How could Dr Chee control what the speakers want to say or not say? How did he “allow” his speakers to attack David Ong? Dr Lee seems to think that the speakers are robots which Dr Chee can control through the push of buttons. This is clearly not the case.
It is precisely Dr Chee knew what the speakers had wanted to say that he countered them in his following speech. Or would Dr Lee rather see Dr Chee continue to attack David Ong like what the other speakers did?
Next, let’s talk about members of the public getting angry and attacking David Ong. Is Dr Lee also going to condemn all those who attacked David Ong too?
Unlike Dr Chee, David Ong has been elected by the public into office. David Ong has won the trust of the public and has a duty to the public. By fooling around with someone’s wife while in office betrays that public trust. The public has the right to be angry and to condemn David Ong.
Dr Chee, on the other hand, has not been elected into public office yet. Whether Dr Chee is fit to be in Parliament or not, only when he is elected into office will the public be able to tell. But certainly, David Ong, who has betrayed the public trust, is not fit to be in Parliament. Had the woman’s husband not complained, David Ong would most certainly have continued his tryst behind the public’s back.
So, perhaps instead of condemning Dr Chee, Dr Lee should condemn David Ong first. But yet in her posting, she made no mention if what David Ong did was wrong.
Instead, she picked on Dr Chee and condemned him of “allowing” rally speakers “to attack David Ong”.
