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http://therealsingapore.com/content...join-young-pap-and-other-facts-you-didnt-know
[h=1]HOW DR CHEE WAS INVITED TO JOIN YOUNG PAP AND OTHER FACTS YOU DIDN'T KNOW[/h]
Post date:
27 Apr 2015 - 3:47pm
[photo credit: The Straits Times]
Over the last few years, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has rebranded itself as a formidable and credible party, having even launched several papers on healthcare, education, housing and on reforming the economic system in Singapore.
SDP's efforts have not gone unnoticed and have garnered itself a growing following, especially among the younger and PMET population, many of whom aspire towards a new Singapore model to secure their jobs.
The Secretary-General of SDP, Dr Chee Soon Juan, has also emerged as a noteworthy statesman, whom the PAP has so seriously that it even sent out its own minister, Chan Chun Sing, to rebut Dr Chee.
But Dr Chee remains focused on renewing his party and consolidating his party's foothold in Singapore's politics. Indeed, the SDP has also recently launched a new book about Dr Chee, titled, "Teacher, Thinker, Rebel Why? Portraits of Chee Soon Juan".
Here, we compile 7 facts about Dr Chee that you might not have known about.
(1) Dr Chee was asked to join Young PAP
Did you know that the People's Action Party (PAP) had assessed Dr Chee to be so capable that they had actually invited him to join the Young PAP when he was still teaching as a university lecturer?
This was revealed by Dr Chee at the launch of the SDP's General Election campaign, "Your Voice in Parliament", earlier this year.
Interesting then, isn't it, that if the PAP had believed that Dr Chee was a suitable party member, how far it then later tried to paint Dr Chee black, when Dr Chee decided to join the opposition?
Perhaps the PAP indeed sees a formidable opponent in Dr Chee!
(2) Dr Chee taught was a university lecturer at the National University of Singapore
Dr Chee was schooled at the Anglo-Chinese School before he eventually earned himself a PhD from the University of Georgia in 1990 as a neuropsychologist.
When he came back to Singapore, he took up a teaching position in Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
After Dr Chee was prevented from teaching in Singapore, he continued to have an illustrious academic career.
He was also an Honorary Research Associate at the Monash Asia Institute (1997) and University of Chicago (2001), and was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (2004).
(3) Dr Chee joined politics because of the Graduate Mothers' Scheme
In Dr Chee's own words, this was what started him with politics:
"Well, it had been on my mind and my heart for a long time. It all started they had this repugnant Graduate Mothers' Scheme where they said Lee Kuan Yew said that women who had university degrees could have more children and women who weren't graduates if you had had more than two children you would be penalized."
(4) Dr Chee has won international awards for freedom and democracy
Dr Chee was awarded the Defender of Democracy Award from Parliamentarians for Global Action in 2003 and the Prize for Freedom from Liberal International in 2011.
He joins a long list of other heads of state, such as Former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand who also received the Defender of Democracy Award in 2003 as well as current opposition leader in Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who had also received the Prize for Freedom 1995.
(5) Dr Chee wants the freedoms of all Singaporeans to be respected.
Dr Chee penned an article in The Huffington Post late last year. In it, he outline his belief of how the Singapore economy should grow:
The island republic needs an alternative vision, one that will confidently usher Singapore into the next phase of development: Privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises, instead of state-owned conglomerates, need to be the prime drivers of growth; the wage structure should ensure that the working poor don’t see their real incomes shrink even as the number of billionaires rise; the elderly should not have to work menial jobs just to feed themselves; the media must be free from state control; and, most importantly, the political system needs to change to allow truly free and fair elections, where the political freedoms of Singaporeans are respected.
(6) Dr Chee wanted to invite Mr Chiam See Tong back to SDP to run together.
In the book, "Teacher, Thinker, Rebel Why? Portraits of Chee Soon Juan", Dr Wong Wee Nam wrote:
Mr Chiam finally said he was keen to go with the proposal to contest the next GE under the SDP. Dr Chee had no objection. He even showed that he had thought the whole thing through by bringing out a master plan listing out the sequence of events for Chiam’s homecoming."
(7) “You've got to have dreams in your life.”
This line was said by Dr Chee to his wife.
This was what Dr Huang Chihmei said of her husband:
"I met Soon Juan when we were doing our graduate studies at the University of Georgia in the United States. When I was offered a scholarship to do my PhD at Pennsylvania State University in the north, I wanted to think it over. Having just met, we naturally wanted to be closer together, but Soon Juan encouraged me to pursue my doctorate. I still remember him saying, “You've got to have dreams in your life.”
[h=1]HOW DR CHEE WAS INVITED TO JOIN YOUNG PAP AND OTHER FACTS YOU DIDN'T KNOW[/h]
Post date:
27 Apr 2015 - 3:47pm
[photo credit: The Straits Times]
Over the last few years, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has rebranded itself as a formidable and credible party, having even launched several papers on healthcare, education, housing and on reforming the economic system in Singapore.
SDP's efforts have not gone unnoticed and have garnered itself a growing following, especially among the younger and PMET population, many of whom aspire towards a new Singapore model to secure their jobs.
The Secretary-General of SDP, Dr Chee Soon Juan, has also emerged as a noteworthy statesman, whom the PAP has so seriously that it even sent out its own minister, Chan Chun Sing, to rebut Dr Chee.
But Dr Chee remains focused on renewing his party and consolidating his party's foothold in Singapore's politics. Indeed, the SDP has also recently launched a new book about Dr Chee, titled, "Teacher, Thinker, Rebel Why? Portraits of Chee Soon Juan".
Here, we compile 7 facts about Dr Chee that you might not have known about.
(1) Dr Chee was asked to join Young PAP
Did you know that the People's Action Party (PAP) had assessed Dr Chee to be so capable that they had actually invited him to join the Young PAP when he was still teaching as a university lecturer?
This was revealed by Dr Chee at the launch of the SDP's General Election campaign, "Your Voice in Parliament", earlier this year.
Interesting then, isn't it, that if the PAP had believed that Dr Chee was a suitable party member, how far it then later tried to paint Dr Chee black, when Dr Chee decided to join the opposition?
Perhaps the PAP indeed sees a formidable opponent in Dr Chee!
(2) Dr Chee taught was a university lecturer at the National University of Singapore
Dr Chee was schooled at the Anglo-Chinese School before he eventually earned himself a PhD from the University of Georgia in 1990 as a neuropsychologist.
When he came back to Singapore, he took up a teaching position in Department of Psychology at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
After Dr Chee was prevented from teaching in Singapore, he continued to have an illustrious academic career.
He was also an Honorary Research Associate at the Monash Asia Institute (1997) and University of Chicago (2001), and was a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (2004).
(3) Dr Chee joined politics because of the Graduate Mothers' Scheme
In Dr Chee's own words, this was what started him with politics:
"Well, it had been on my mind and my heart for a long time. It all started they had this repugnant Graduate Mothers' Scheme where they said Lee Kuan Yew said that women who had university degrees could have more children and women who weren't graduates if you had had more than two children you would be penalized."
(4) Dr Chee has won international awards for freedom and democracy
Dr Chee was awarded the Defender of Democracy Award from Parliamentarians for Global Action in 2003 and the Prize for Freedom from Liberal International in 2011.
He joins a long list of other heads of state, such as Former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand who also received the Defender of Democracy Award in 2003 as well as current opposition leader in Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who had also received the Prize for Freedom 1995.
(5) Dr Chee wants the freedoms of all Singaporeans to be respected.
Dr Chee penned an article in The Huffington Post late last year. In it, he outline his belief of how the Singapore economy should grow:
The island republic needs an alternative vision, one that will confidently usher Singapore into the next phase of development: Privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises, instead of state-owned conglomerates, need to be the prime drivers of growth; the wage structure should ensure that the working poor don’t see their real incomes shrink even as the number of billionaires rise; the elderly should not have to work menial jobs just to feed themselves; the media must be free from state control; and, most importantly, the political system needs to change to allow truly free and fair elections, where the political freedoms of Singaporeans are respected.
(6) Dr Chee wanted to invite Mr Chiam See Tong back to SDP to run together.
In the book, "Teacher, Thinker, Rebel Why? Portraits of Chee Soon Juan", Dr Wong Wee Nam wrote:
Mr Chiam finally said he was keen to go with the proposal to contest the next GE under the SDP. Dr Chee had no objection. He even showed that he had thought the whole thing through by bringing out a master plan listing out the sequence of events for Chiam’s homecoming."
(7) “You've got to have dreams in your life.”
This line was said by Dr Chee to his wife.
This was what Dr Huang Chihmei said of her husband:
"I met Soon Juan when we were doing our graduate studies at the University of Georgia in the United States. When I was offered a scholarship to do my PhD at Pennsylvania State University in the north, I wanted to think it over. Having just met, we naturally wanted to be closer together, but Soon Juan encouraged me to pursue my doctorate. I still remember him saying, “You've got to have dreams in your life.”
