In the mind of Tan Jee Say

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In the mind of Tan Jee Say


August 13th, 2015 |
Author: Editorial



In the mind of Tan Jee Say – An Interview with SingFirst’s
Secretary-General


Interview with SingFirst's Secretary-General Tan Jee
Say

(Video at: )

Mr Tan Jee Say, Secretary-General of SingFirst, was kind enough to give TRE
an interview over the Singapore Jubilee weekend.

TRE took the opportunity to ask Mr Tan some pointed questions, especially
with regard to his motivation in participating in both the 2011 Parliamentary
General Election and Presidential Election.

The following is the transcript of the interview:

* – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – * – *
– * – * – * – * – *

TRE: Thank you Jee Say for taking the time off to be
interviewed. Singaporeans are interested to know about your participation in the
2011 General Election and Presidential Election. I have a few questions for
you:

Q1. What motivated you to take part in the Presidential
Election in 2011, after your failure in GE2011?

Jee Say: Thank you Chris for giving me this opportunity. You
know the Presidential and General Elections are 2 different platforms. But the
underlying motivation for me to go into both elections is the same. I have been
concerned with social justice, since I was young.

I was born into a very poor family. My father was what they call a ‘Kopi
Kia’, making coffee in a coffeeshop for customers and my mother was a washer
woman. We literally lived from hand to mouth. They earned only a few dollars a
day and they have got 9 children to feed and raise. So it was tough. And you
know all 9 children plus the 2 parents were sleeping together in just one room.
And all of us would roll over each other when we were asleep.

It was tough, and in the morning, we had to just scramble for the wash basin
and the toilet before going to school… and making our own breakfast. So much so
that my parents had to do their toilet business in the evening before they go to
sleep. They literally had to force themselves, forced their body systems to do
so… so, it was tough. But we learned, we worked together as a family. My sisters
took part in different chores…(to) help us…some were doing the ironing, washing,
drying the clothes, delivering the clothes.

All of us had a role. I remember going with my sister delivering clothes to
our customers… going from house to house. So it was tough. But we fought our way
through… and I was very fortunate to be given a scholarship to study abroad. I
would never have been able to go to the university, without the government’s
scholarship and I am grateful for that… and I am also grateful for them to give
me a good job in the civil service.

But this gratitude to the government does not stop me from noticing that
there were still a lot of social injustices around. And it is because of these
social injustices that I have decided to come out to articulate my views on
these. Who else would know better than someone who has been intimately involved
in government policy making and monitoring of society. So I thought that I could
play a role… that is why I have come out to participate in both Presidential
Election and General Election… seizing whatever opportunity that is afforded to
articulate… to fight for my cause.

Q2: Now, you are back to take part in GE2015, some
Singaporeans see you as an opportunist? How do you respond to that?

Jee Say: In Singapore there are very few platforms for
alternative views to be expressed. The public media is dominated by the
government. Day in day out, you hear nothing but the views of the government on
issues as though there is only one view in the world. And there is only one
solution to all these problems.

But life is not just that… life has many views, many perspectives and many
solutions. So it is because of this… that the elections, the General Election
and the Presidential Election, are important opportunities, important forums for
us to seize, to make use of… to tell Singaporeans what alternative views there
are and what alternative solutions there are. That is why I have gone into these
elections. There are only 2 platforms in Singapore to say our piece… to tell
Singaporeans what’s wrong and what are the possible solutions.

Q3: Why did you not join any existing opposition party? Why
is there a need to form a new party?

Jee Say: I did try my very best to join an existing party.
In fact, that was my top priority soon after the Presidential Election. But
things didn’t work out. There were differences… there were obstacles in the way…
such as differences of opinions among leaders of the parties. So in order not to
sow discord among these leaders, I decided that the best way is to go out and
form my own party with like-minded people.

Q4: In the coming election, what are the issues you will be
focusing on?

Jee Say: Well, there have been a lot of social and economic
issues in the past and in the present. But they’ve been magnified in the last 10
years by the huge influx of foreign workers into Singapore.

The first 40 years were fantastic. There were jobs, there were some bad
years, but on the whole, the first 40 years were good… there was growth, there
were jobs, there was social mobility. But the last 10 years under this present
Prime Minister, things have been… problems have been magnified many fold with
his liberal admission of foreign workers. Over 1 million foreign workers over 10
years… in 10 years.

So this sudden influx, this huge influx of foreign workers has caused so many
problems to us. They have taken away jobs that our Singaporeans are involved in,
the PMETs have lost their jobs… cleaners, workers everywhere, even the delivery
boys at McDonald’s have been replaced by foreign workers. Our parking attendants
have also been replaced by foreigners. Singaporeans have lost jobs to
foreigners… and our wages have suffered as a result.

Wages have kept coming down. Because these foreign workers come from
countries where the wage level is so much lower. Not only that, they have also
caused us to lose our space. Our space in housing, in hospitals… the queues in
hospital are so long and there are so limited beds that you know the waiting
period just been stretched. And then there is this space in public transport…MRT
keeps on breaking down, places in school for our students, places where 20 to 30
percent of our places taken away by foreigners, whom the government spent $400
million dollars on every year in foreign scholarships and tuition grants. So our
own Singaporean children suffered, in loss of places and in taking up student
loans to go to university.

So these problems are there… they have taken away our jobs, depressed our
wages, they have taken our places in so many areas. And as a result our esteem
has gone down. It is because of all these issues that we are going in to fight,
to tell the people that this is wrong and this policy – to add pressure to the
government to change this policy for the good of the people.

Q5: Sorry to ask you this question, if you failed again,
would you be planning to return to contest in the next presidential
election?

Jee Say: I don’t think so, unless there are no suitable
candidates coming out. But I am sure there are suitable candidates coming out to
contest in the Presidential Election. So my answer is very unlikely. I would
like to take this opportunity to tell Singaporeans… some of whom have felt that
I have been a spoiler and an opportunist by contesting in the Presidential
Election. I want to assure these Singaporeans that I am not. I am not a spoiler
neither am I an opportunist. But to those of you who still think that I am, that
I am a spoiler and an opportunist, I want to say sorry.

The last few weeks have shown that Singfirst, my party has done our very best
to avoid 3 cornered fights in constituencies which are considered relatively
easy for the opposition and we have given up these constituencies that we are
interested in even… in order to avoid 3 cornered fights. Even if it means having
to go to areas… tougher areas like Tanjong Pagar and Jurong. Just because, just
in order to go into straight fights with the PAP. So, to those of you who think
that I am a spoiler, spoiling the votes of opposition parties or an opportunist…
these are the facts that you have to consider. And if you still think after
considering these facts, and you still think that I am a spoiler, am an
opportunist, I want to say I am very sorry.

TRE: Thank you, Jee Say.

Jee Say: Well Chris, thank you very much for giving me this
opportunity to clarify the issues that some Singaporeans are concerned with.
Thank you very much, Chris.

(End of interview)


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