the gospel of chee soon juan

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Prison Break somehow not so fun when you're watching it alone. Or maybe it's just that my alone-watching consists of being in complete darkness and it's a scary show. I scare easy.

Anyway, apparently there's this conspiracy theory circulating that notorious opposition leader Chee Soon Juan is actually acting as a PAP agent in a stupendous double bluff a la the newly-discovered gospel of Judas, in which it is "revealed" that Judas' betrayal-to-end-all-betrayals was known to and dictated by Jesus.

Amusing theory, yes, but could it be true? Let us examine the evidence.


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1992 by-election: Chee Soon Juan, then a NUS psychology lecturer, joins the SDP; his team wins 24.5% of the votes in the Marine Parade by-election

1993: Chee is sacked by NUS for allegedly abusing research funds. He goes on a hunger strike in protest, causing a split in the SDP and resulting in founder Chiam See Tong leaving. Until 1997 the SDP held 3 constituency seats; since Chiam left SDP has not managed to win a single seat back

1997 general elections: Chee separates MacPherson from the Marine Parade GRC, ostensibly so he can take on Matthias Yao mano e mano - he loses

2001 general elections: A week before the Nov 3 elections, Chee makes wild accusations against PM Goh on a Sunday morning walkabout, claiming that the PAP misled Parliament over an alleged $17b loan to former Indonesian president Suharto. As Wikipedia puts it: "The television broadcasts showed Chee running after Goh ranting through a loudhailer." Chee is sued for defamation and loses

Opposition members, who heretofore had encouraged voters to support any and all opposition, register Chee's antics with alarm and wisely change their tune to promote only their own parties, thereby dividing (and weakening?) the opposition

Chee also leads a team to contest Jurong GRC. He loses (are we sensing a pattern here?)

2002: Chee is fined for breaking the law by commenting on religion at the Speakers' Corner. As a result of this conviction he is ruled ineligible to run for the next general elections

2006 general elections: Two weeks before the elections, out of nowhere (note that he's not even running), Chee suddenly accuses the PAP of mishandling and covering up the NKF scandal and throws in allegations of corruption in HDB, GIC and CPF for good measure, resulting in a lawsuit threat and making his sweeping accusations headline news. Also, in flagrant floutation (yeah I made it up) of the no-podcast-during-election-period rule, Chee releases a political podcast on April 23

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Few people have been as vocal as Chee Soon Juan in opposing the PAP, but some of his actions not only broadcast his estrangement from common sense but also boost the PAP's image in comparison. In fact it seems that some SDP members are tentatively suggesting that Chee may be a liability to the party's credibility.

So - you decide lah. No political agenda, I just like to put together timelines for fun. Also, information is cobbled together from various sources so if anyone wants to add or amend please inform.

 posted by zyn :: 1:14 AM :: 18 Comments :: permalink


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