SDP - A most meaningful 2013 for SDP

[Cosmos10]

SDP - A most meaningful 2013 for SDP and Happy New Year 2014 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A most meaningful 2013 for SDP

Added on: Friday 27 December 2013

by the Singapore Democrats

http://yoursdp.org/news/2013-12-27-5757

2013 turned out to be a very meaningful year for the SDP with our emphasis on our 1) groundwork and 2) publication of alternative policy papers.

If 2013 is anything to go by, the next year will be even busier and more productive.

Calling ALL our friends and supporters, come ON BOARD and let's make DEMOCRACY a reality in Singapore!

 

[Cosmos10]

JANUARY

Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan started the year by calling for a better quality of life for Singaporeans in our 2013 New Year message.

[video=youtube;_Lt0a0bvf0g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lt0a0bvf0g[/video]

The party kicked off our campaign at the Punggol East constituency in preparation for the by-election. Observers commented that it was the SDP's announcement that prompted the PAP to call for the by-election because it anticipated a three-corner fight. The SDP eventually withdrew from the contest to prevent a split in opposition votes and allowing the PAP to retain the constituency.

http://yoursdp.org/publ/perspectives/was_it_all_a_waste/2-1-0-1248

http://yoursdp.org/news/2013-01-15-5531

 

[Cosmos10]

FEBRUARY

We conducted our customary Chinese New Year walkabout to meet residents in the various constituencies we contested in 2011 and to help usher in the Year of the Snake.

http://yoursdp.org/news/democrats_conduct_traditional_cny_walkabout/2013-02-04-5541

We launched our alternative policy Building A People: Sound Policies For A Secure Future in which opposed the Government's plan to raise our population size to 6.9 million and proposed measures to lower the number of foreign workers as well as tighten the entry of foreigners into the country. The guiding indicator for optimal population size is the happiness of our people.

http://yoursdp.ucoz.org/load/building_a_people_sound_policies_for_a_secure_future/1-1-0-8

Singapore is a nation: a community and a home to its citizens. It is not a marketplace to which travellers come when times are good and depart when things turn bad. It is where we live out our lives, bring up our children, care for our elderly, and look out for our neighbours - for better or for worse.

 

[Cosmos10]

MARCH

March saw us present our annual Shadow Budget: Transforming Our Capabilities, as in previous years, where we outlined an alternative budget that would initiate a much-needed economic and social transformation.

http://yoursdp.org/_ld/0/9_Transforming_Ou.pdf

We continued our ground campaign by making house visits in the Clementi housing estate.

http://yoursdp.org/news/democrats_continue_groundwork/2013-03-25-5587

 

[Cosmos10]

APRIL

The SDP launched our Chinese website in our continuing effort to reach out to Chinese-speaking Singaporeans. We are the first political party in Singapore to do so.

http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_launches_chinese_website/2013-04-16-5603

We continued with our house visits, knocking on doors of residents at the Bukit Panjang estate in the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.

The SDP spoke up against a raft of actions taken by various Government departments against bloggers and activists. This was not in keeping with the PAP's promise during the last elections to do things differently.

http://yoursdp.org/news/2013-04-25-5615?lBaXrQ

 

[Cosmos10]

MAY

The party honoured our workers in a public forum for May Day. The event, conducted in Mandarin, called for the protection of workers' rights and for the reform of labour laws so that workers can freely and independently organise their unions.

http://yoursdp.org/news/empower_workers_for_a_better_quality_of_life/2013-04-23-5614

May also saw the Minister for National Development make a shocking revelation that the HDB lost "hundreds of millions" of dollars every year. This was despite the Government charging Singaporeans enormous amounts of money over the cost of building the flats.

http://yoursdp.org/news/hdb_loses_money_what_khaw_doesn_t_say/2013-05-06-5626

In reality, the Government makes a handsome profit by factoring in the "cost" of land into HDB prices. In our housing policy paper, Housing A Nation: Holistic Policies For Affordable Homes, we proposed the Non-Open Market (NOM) scheme for HDB flats where the cost of land is removed from the prices.

http://yoursdp.org/_ld/0/7_Housing_a_Natio.pdf

Dr Chee Soon Juan spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway where he talked about the need for Singapore to develop a sustainable economic model which included the necessity of democratising the political system in the country.

[video=youtube;jmJQp9RsfOk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmJQp9RsfOk[/video]

 

[Cosmos10]

JUNE

The party spoke up about the Media Development Authority's (MDA) decision to regulate online news sites. The SDP has fought for our fellow citizens' right to freedom of the press because without a free media, the public is often misled by its rulers.

http://yoursdp.org/news/democrats_regret_govt_s_move_to_license_news_websites/2013-05-30-5640

June also saw the worst haze enveloping Singapore. The SDP issued a statement supporting the Government's efforts to address the severe condition and urged the authorities to look into the illegal clearing of Indonesia's forests through fires.

http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_proposes_long_term_response_to_haze/2013-06-21-5652

 

[Cosmos10]

JULY

Dr Paul Ananth Tambyah, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Department of Medicine at NUS was promoted to Full Professor with tenure.

http://yoursdp.org/news/congratulations_to_paul_tambyah/2013-07-05-5657

McGill University undergraduate Mr Chris Liu became the SDP's first intern under the party's internship programme.

http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_s_first_intern_treasures_experience/2013-07-19-5665

The Young Democrats embarked on a trip to Pulau Ubin and discovered that some of the residents there were still anxious about their high rents and threats of eviction despite the authorities' claims that they would not be chased out of the island.

http://yoursdp.org/publ/young_democ...in_to_look_into_development_issues/8-1-0-1346

 

[Cosmos10]

AUGUST

We kept up our ground work by visiting our constituents in the south and southwestern parts of the island during which we sold our newspaper The New Democrat, warning them about the PAP's intention to push our population to 6.9 million.

http://yoursdp.org/news/happy_national_day/2013-08-07-5675

We held our annual fund-raiser and had a great time performing with and for our friends and supporters.

http://yoursdp.org/news/what_a_thriller/2013-08-18-5683

Dr Chee delivered the SDP's response to PM Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech, pointing out that the announced changes in housing and healthcare did not get at the root-cause of our people's problems. He counter-proposed the SDP's alternative ideas.

[video=youtube;ZA_dyJmBTQU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_dyJmBTQU[/video]


The SDP announced the resignation of Dr Vincent Wijeysingha from the party. Dr Wijeysingha expressed his desire to get more involved in LGBT and other human rights issues.

http://yoursdp.org/news/wijeysingha_leaves_sdp_to_work_in_civil_society/2013-08-28-5689

 

[Cosmos10]

SEPTEMBER

We launched A Singapore for All Singaporeans: Addressing the Concerns of the Malay Community in which we proposed alternative social and economic policies to uplift the conditions our fellow Singaporean Malays.

http://yoursdp.org/_ld/0/10_main.pdf

The PAP Government announced the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) and urged employers to consider employing Singaporeans first. This was a page from the SDP's population paper with the major difference being that the FCF is only an appeal, not legislation.

http://yoursdp.org/news/comparing_sdp_s_s_poreans_first_policy_and_mom_s_fcf/2013-09-26-5717

Party activists attended our annual retreat which allowed us time for some R&R as well as an opportunity to make plans for the future.

http://yoursdp.org/news/democrats_attend_annual_retreat/2013-09-30-5718

 

[Cosmos10]

OCTOBER

In another sign that the SDP's National Healthcare Plan is taken seriously by establishment circles, the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) News published an article co-authored by Professor Paul Tambyah and Dr Tan Lip Hong in its September issue.

http://yoursdp.org/news/sdp_s_healthcare_plan_makes_it_into_sma_news/2013-10-07-5721

The party held its biennial party conference during which it elected its 16th Centrel Executive Committee (CEC).

New faces were introduced into the leadership even as familiar ones continue to provide the necessary experience. Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan reiterated party's ideology of building a caring and fairer system which puts people first.

http://yoursdp.org/news/democrats_elect_new_cec/2013-10-09-5723

We held our annual futsal competition to reach out to Singaporeans (especially our youths) and to raise awareness of the nation's politics among them.

http://yoursdp.org/news/2013-10-28-5729

 

[Cosmos10]

NOVEMBER

The party re-stated our support for Muslim women in Singapore to wear the tudung at the workplace if they so wished.

http://yoursdp.org/news/tudung_issue_are_we_missing_the_point/2013-11-11-5736

 

[Cosmos10]

DECEMBER

We SDP repeated our call for the Government to stop its punitive actions against bloggers and activists, and reiterated the need to reform our political system.

http://yoursdp.org/news/2013-12-06-5747

December also saw our first ever riot in Little India in nearly 50 years. In response, the party called for a review of present population and immigration policy which is fomenting unhappiness and social problems among the populace.

http://yoursdp.org/news/the_riot_sdp_warned_about_it/2013-12-09-5751

As in previous months, we ended the year with our regular ground activities by visiting residents in the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.

 

[Cosmos10]

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

If 2013 is anything to go by, the next year will be even busier and more productive.

Calling ALL our friends and supporters, come ON BOARD and let's make DEMOCRACY a reality in Singapore!

Thank you for reading.

 

[Cosmos10]

Re: Happy New Year 2014 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cosmos10]

Re: Happy New Year 2014 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Danny Singh - Courtesy of Jagwinder Singh :p

 

[Cosmos10]

Re: Happy New Year 2014 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tanwahp]

The party kicked off our campaign at the Punggol East constituency in preparation for the by-election. Observers commented that it was the SDP's announcement that prompted the PAP to call for the by-election because it anticipated a three-corner fight. The SDP eventually withdrew from the contest to prevent a split in opposition votes and allowing the PAP to retain the constituency.

SDP indeed lives up to its name for boasting, especially boasts about being first or sole foresight.

 

[GOD IS MY DOG]

chay............i thought they're gonna dissolve this mickey mouse party.........

that'll be good news for opposition then........

 

[leetahbah]

Good work, Cosmos. Hope to see you guys in parliament, anyone but the PAP, But you know, you guys got to do the ground work, no short cuts!