what did i tell u!!...LOL...Scroobal wif all due respect think yr intel on this one really salah bro...Vivian had one tight metaphorical slap on his face...so too that holier than though chris de souza n to a certain extent liang n sim ann...about time too...bloody hell...GCT talks abt good clean fight...n then vivian stoops to such below the belt gutter snipe smear crap...tot he was being darn clever...fancied himself as singapore's version to karl rove/andy coulson/alistair campell/peter mandelson!!...LOL...wah this PAP slate has 2 president scholars...1 first class first LLb King's College n former clerk to ex CJ n they come up wif this type of disgusting tactics...shocking to say the least.....Vincent, Jeey Say, Yong Guan n Michelle, keep cool calm n collected...n go for it guys n gal...Majulah SDP, Majulah Singapura!!
.By Channel NewsAsia, Updated: 27/04/2011
GE: "Gay video" saga put to rest
Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, SDP
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and People’s Action Party (PAP) teams contesting Holland—Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC) exchanged words before Nomination Day over a video and the supposed gay agenda of SDP’s Vincent Wijeysingha.
Both sides have decided to move on — and focus the campaign on issues which are more important to the people.
PAP’s Vivian Balakrishnan said: "I’m not going to go back to discuss that. Like I said, people know about this issue, the question was asked, and (an) answer was given. Voters will make their own judgement and let’s leave it at that."
At a news conference held Wednesday afternoon, SDP Secretary—General Chee Soon Juan responded to the online comments made against Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s team.
"(There) has been a very stern rebuke on Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and the way that he’s gone about doing this.
"I think you can sense, you can see it’s very clear the online reaction has been very negative towards (Dr Balakrishnan) and we ask him not to persist in this line.
"We are all hoping that we can run this campaign in the spirit that it was meant to be, and that is talking about issues that people are concerned about. And not get into personal attacks".
Meanwhile, SDP unveiled its party manifesto, which focused on introducing a minimum wage and relying less on foreign workers and reducing the GST.
It also called for the duration of National Service to be halved, from the present two years to one year.
The SDP said it wants to be a constructive political party.
So its party manifesto — which is launched online in the hope of reaching out to more people, highlighted not just issues, but what it described as concrete ideas and solutions that they want to champion if voted into Parliament.
SDP questioned if in an age where warfare has turned to "smart" technology", whether it is still logical and necessary for Singapore to insist that its National Servicemen undergo 24 months months of active, full—time service.
It said such a policy is rare among countries that maintain a conscription policy.
"Our national servicemen, they are in the frontline. Many have been injured, and even killed," Dr Chee said.
"They should be compensated. We recommend a minimum wage for them.
"I’m calling on the government not to exploit them, by using them for other needs. We’ve had people coming back to tell us, for example, during the World Bank IMF meeting, they were deployed to the airport to carry luggage."
The party also said it wants more transparency on the prices of HDB flats.
It said the government has refused to give the public detailed breakdown of major components of building costs such as land, material, labour, administrative and opportunity costs.
It also suggested a zero—sum approach, for an end result that the HDB does not make a profit, nor does it incur losses in the long run.
Another suggestion is to extend the lease from the present 99 years of flats to a much longer term.
It said as the older flats mature, the values will start to drop as they approach the end of the 99 years.
To tackle the issue of the rising cost of living, it suggests reducing the GST and abolishing it for essential items such as rice, oil, and medicines.
It calls on Singapore’s "public hospitals to reduce charges and to stop making a profit from Singaporeans".
SDP also wants to "increase the wages of workers and employees through schemes like introducing a minimum wage policy" which it says will put more money into the pockets of Singaporeans.
It also wants to rely more on Singaporeans and less on cheap foreign labour.
Dr Chee said Singaporeans "must stop the PAP from raising our population to 6.5 million because this island cannot cope with so many people.
SDP candidate Tan Jee Say said: "S$10 billion of the $60 billion will be going to promote (and) create industries.
"I think these are industries of the future, where your young, educated population can find traction, do well and excel.
"The kind of industries, services like advertising publishing and all that, these are industries of the future — creative industries.
"Facebook started small, (with a) humble background —— so (did) Google.
"And I’m quite prepared to put aside S$10 billion to promote (this, and) to give a million dollars each to one or two of (the) ’Facebook or Google generation’, the young people.
"PMETs like yourselves, (if) you want to start a new industry, ask the government to give you one million dollars each and you do it for the next few years.
"With S$10 billion, divided by S$1m, then you could have how much ... 10,000 firms. 10,000 you multiply by three or five staff per company, (and for a) small company, you could have 50,000 jobs".
The SDP also calls for class sizes to be halved, and more schools, hospitals and polyclinics to be built.
Mr Tan was asked how his S$60 billion National Regeneration Plan could be financed, to achieve all the suggestions the SDP wants.
He said the funds can be achieved by selling government assets and drawing from reserves.
"I’m not saying that we take every single dollar from the reserves," Mr Tan said.
"We have, I think the official figure two, three hundred billions, but obviously it’s much more than that.
"And I’m only asking for S$60 billion —— not much, small change," he said with a chuckle.
The SDP said it would reveal more at the rallies.
—CNA/wk
