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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - 18 yrs later, Seet Ai Mee still lying...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>CPL (kojakbt22) <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>10:28 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 4) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>25977.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Dec 18, 2009
BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Debunking a fishy tale, 18 years on
<!-- by line -->By Jeremy Au Yong
<!-- end by line -->
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Dr Seet has clarified an erroneous story that she washed her hands after shaking a fishmonger's hand in 1991. -- ST FILE PHOTO
View more photos http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20091218/a29-1.jpg
<!-- story content : start -->
DR SEET Ai Mee was once Singapore's highest-ranking female politician, holding the post of Acting Minister for Community Development.
That was until 1991, when she narrowly lost her Bukit Gombak seat in the General Election to then Singapore Democratic Party chairman Ling How Doong.
Many attributed the loss to an incident involving hand washing after a handshake, which allegedly took place in a wet market while she was on the campaign trail.
This year, some 18 years after that fateful day, Dr Seet finally gave her side of the story.
THE PAST
THE oft-told story goes like this:
Dr Seet was on a walkabout in a wet market when she came across a fishmonger who extended a wet and smelly hand. Right after shaking his hand, Dr Seet went to wash her hands.
The story quickly made the rounds and was viewed by some as a sign of People's Action Party (PAP) elitism.
Then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong also addressed the issue. At a rally on Aug 29, 1991, two days ahead of Polling Day, Mr Goh said that she was a strong woman of good character. But he acknowledged that Dr Seet, a pharmacist, had a habit of washing her hands often. He added that while it was a good habit, it could be a liability as a politician.
He said: 'I have told Seet Ai Mee, 'You are a politician now. Forget about your old habit. You are no more a pharmacist. Go shake hands and don't wash them.''
Dr Seet lost her Bukit Gombak seat by 654 votes, or 1.4 per cent.
THE BLAST
DR SEET finally shed light on the incident in August this year, in an interview with the PAP news magazine Petir.
The interview was to mark the 20th anniversary of the PAP Women's Wing, which she co-founded.
Dr Seet, 66, and now president of HCA Hospice Care, said that reports at the time were wrong.
It was not one fishmonger whose hand she had shaken, but the hands of several pork sellers. And she washed her hands out of respect for Muslims.
She explained: 'I washed my hands after shaking hands with the pork sellers in the market, simply because I thought that if I shake the hand of another person later who may be Muslim, it would be a religious offence.'
She said that she had not been asked to clarify the matter at that time: 'Had it been clarified, we could have explained and defused the incident. The opposite happened instead, and I became political fodder.'
She described the day of her loss as 'a very dark night'.
At any rate, she stressed that she did not lose her seat because of a one-off hand-washing incident. There were many issues the voters were unhappy about, including rising prices and the cancellations of bus routes.
The clarification, albeit delayed, finally puts to rest one of the more intriguing tales in Singapore's modern political history.
And Dr Seet is now certainly philosophical about the whole episode. She told Petir that losing and winning were part and parcel of the political life: 'What has happened, happened. One moves on. Life goes on, during and after politics.'
[email protected]
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BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Debunking a fishy tale, 18 years on
<!-- by line -->By Jeremy Au Yong
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
DR SEET Ai Mee was once Singapore's highest-ranking female politician, holding the post of Acting Minister for Community Development.
That was until 1991, when she narrowly lost her Bukit Gombak seat in the General Election to then Singapore Democratic Party chairman Ling How Doong.
Many attributed the loss to an incident involving hand washing after a handshake, which allegedly took place in a wet market while she was on the campaign trail.
This year, some 18 years after that fateful day, Dr Seet finally gave her side of the story.
THE PAST
THE oft-told story goes like this:
Dr Seet was on a walkabout in a wet market when she came across a fishmonger who extended a wet and smelly hand. Right after shaking his hand, Dr Seet went to wash her hands.
The story quickly made the rounds and was viewed by some as a sign of People's Action Party (PAP) elitism.
Then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong also addressed the issue. At a rally on Aug 29, 1991, two days ahead of Polling Day, Mr Goh said that she was a strong woman of good character. But he acknowledged that Dr Seet, a pharmacist, had a habit of washing her hands often. He added that while it was a good habit, it could be a liability as a politician.
He said: 'I have told Seet Ai Mee, 'You are a politician now. Forget about your old habit. You are no more a pharmacist. Go shake hands and don't wash them.''
Dr Seet lost her Bukit Gombak seat by 654 votes, or 1.4 per cent.
THE BLAST
DR SEET finally shed light on the incident in August this year, in an interview with the PAP news magazine Petir.
The interview was to mark the 20th anniversary of the PAP Women's Wing, which she co-founded.
Dr Seet, 66, and now president of HCA Hospice Care, said that reports at the time were wrong.
It was not one fishmonger whose hand she had shaken, but the hands of several pork sellers. And she washed her hands out of respect for Muslims.
She explained: 'I washed my hands after shaking hands with the pork sellers in the market, simply because I thought that if I shake the hand of another person later who may be Muslim, it would be a religious offence.'
She said that she had not been asked to clarify the matter at that time: 'Had it been clarified, we could have explained and defused the incident. The opposite happened instead, and I became political fodder.'
She described the day of her loss as 'a very dark night'.
At any rate, she stressed that she did not lose her seat because of a one-off hand-washing incident. There were many issues the voters were unhappy about, including rising prices and the cancellations of bus routes.
The clarification, albeit delayed, finally puts to rest one of the more intriguing tales in Singapore's modern political history.
And Dr Seet is now certainly philosophical about the whole episode. She told Petir that losing and winning were part and parcel of the political life: 'What has happened, happened. One moves on. Life goes on, during and after politics.'
[email protected]
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