The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP)'s May Day rally on Sunday evening was filled with political ammunition — some of which was fired, others not.

SDP’s speakers took turns *not* making ‘dis-Grace-Fu’ puns in their return salvos aimed at the Minister of Culture, Community and Youth, who in her speech in the same rally ground two days prior attacked the party candidate Chee Soon Juan's character.

The media wasn't spared either — in particular, Lianhe Wanbao, who published an interview with Chee that ruling party chief Lee Hsien Loong used to highlight Chee’s alleged hypocrisy.

What the SDP really wanted was a debate on the policies and the issues at hand, emphasised prominent party member Paul Tambyah and Chee, who is party chief.

The PAP crowd two days ago, we observed, was significantly smaller and a little older than the people of this rally — who was largely populated by working class and the middle-aged.

The PAP rally crowd in the stands:

The SDP rally crowd in the stands:

Anyway, in case you missed Sunday evening's festivities, we thought we'd share a selection of nine quotable quotes from it here:

On the media:

1. SDP CEC member Bryan Lim, on Lianhe Wanbao's alleged distortion of its interview with Chee

“Friends from the media, we don’t need you to be biased toward us; we just need you to be factual.”

2. Chee Soon Juan in Mandarin, recounting how Wanbao reporters contacted him directly for their interview

“If you haven’t written anything wrong, why do you need to correct it? This is unfair — I (accepted the interview) in good faith.”

3. Former Bukit Batok candidate Sadasivam Veriyah

“For the next four days, don’t read newspapers — one and half page (will be) devoted to Murali, whereas Dr Chee will get 20 percent.”

On the PAP’s attacks against Chee Soon Juan:

4. Paul Tambyah

“One of my heroes is Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt… She is quoted as saying, 'great people talk about ideas; average people talk about events; and small people talk about other people'. After one round of rallies, what is the PAP talking about?”

On the SDP not using Lee Wei Ling to attack PAP chief Lee Hsien Loong:

5. Paul Tambyah, again

“Neither me, nor anyone in the SDP would use the same kind of language to criticise the Prime Minister - that the former director of the National Neuroscience Institute did… We could have used Dr Lee’s published allegations to expose the hypocrisy of the PM’s statements or character but we will not. That is not who we are, that is not how we promised to run this campaign, and it would not help the people of Bukit Batok.”

6. Party vice-chairman John Tan

“I wouldn’t say I know (PM Lee)’s character. So what do I know? Maybe your family members know you better. Let them do the (commenting). I won’t go there.”

7. Chee Soon Juan

“Up until tonight, I have never, never, brought up the issue of what his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, said about him. You can search for it online but you won’t find anything I said about the incident, because I never made any. I had ample opportunity to attack him on this, but I did not. And it would have been a very potent attack — because this is not your political opponent saying it — it is your own flesh and blood making these statements about you.”

On the SDP being racist:

8. Chee Soon Juan

“Find me, ladies and gentlemen — find me (anything) that the SDP has said that is remotely racist… Grace Fu, without feeling a little bit paiseh (embarrassed), ignored her own party’s statements, racist statements… Even the late Lee Kuan Yew made disparaging remarks about the Malays, for which he had to apologise. And yet, Grace Fu can stand there, with a straight face, and insinuate that SDP is racist.”

9. Paul Tambyah

“In fact, when Ms Grace Fu made allegations on campaigning on racial grounds, without any evidence, some of us was wondering whether she was referring to the PAP campaign of six months ago, when we fielded the excellent Mr Sadasivam, who had more than ten years of grassroots experience, and he unexpectedly lost. We sincerely hope that this was not due to any kind of racial politics by the team from the PAP. If indeed this was the case, it is disgraceful and we hope that Ms Grace Fu clarifies her position quickly.”

Top photo by Lim Weixiang for Mothership.sg

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