By 9:45pm, Bukit Batok candidate, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general and long-suffering opposition politician Chee Soon Juan wrapped up his 54-minute-long speech at his last rally in the Bukit Batok by-election on Thursday evening.

With that, we, who followed SDP's entire rally both online and offline, are convinced that the odds for Saturday's polls will be in Chee's — and by extension, the SDP's — favour:

1. Chee gave a heart-stirring speech.

Surprisingly, Chee didn't spend the bulk of his nearly-an-hour speech rebutting the attacks that were levelled on him.

For instance, he didn't respond to Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam's accusation that he was taking "potshots" and being "politically opportunistic" over the Bangladeshi workers who were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

He also didn't respond to resurfaced accusations involving the Chiams — although he did respond to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), who took him to task for highlighting the wrong number of jobs that were created for Singaporeans last year: 100, as opposed to 700.

(Editor's note: MOM clarified on Straits Times to indicate that the figure actually represents the "net" number of new jobs taken by locals, not the total number of new jobs for locals as Chee had claimed in his speech). 

Instead, he highlighted moving stories of elderly residents he met who were working despite various ailments to make ends meet on meagre salaries.

He also spent his efforts trying to explain why it was so important to be a full-time MP.

He focused on national-level issues he wanted to help champion in parliament:

- Pushing to abolish the CPF Minimum Sum scheme

- Advocating for more state assistance for the elderly and poor

- Seeking explanation for the millions spent on foreign scholars while discouraging Singaporean youth from taking up university degrees

- Seeking greater transparency from Government Investment Corporation (GIC) and Temasek Holdings

He couldn't resist a poke in Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu's direction on the topic of ministerial salaries, saying this meant "they" knew how to protect their own salaries, "but when it comes to you and I they will say the government doesn't owe us a living".

Chee also said PAP candidate Murali Pillai took a leaf from his party's idea of a student mentorship programme (which it calls Pathfinder) and brought it up on Wednesday, saying this showed they had been "taking the lead in coming up with initiatives".

"The PAP is not better than the SDP when it comes to ideas and competence," he said, stressing that he was not saying they cannot propose a similar programme to what he had.

2. All hands on deck: his mum and entire family were on hand to lend support.

Yep, his elderly mother was at the rally, alongside his wife, Huang Chih-Mei, and his three children — An Lyn, E Lyn and Shaw Hur.

After Chee's speech, all five of them joined him on stage for a photo, before the emcees called all the party members who are mothers to join them too:

Party assistant treasurer and former GE2015 candidate Jaslyn Go devoted several minutes of her speech to a shoutout for her, saying Chee's mother treated her like a "half daughter" (yeah, eyebrows were raised) and assuring her of Chee's strength as a candidate.

3. His right-hand man, Prof Paul Tambyah, didn't disappoint.

Tambyah opened his pretty memorable speech with a powerful anecdote: he noted that his fellow former St. Andrew's Secondary schoolmate Michael Palmer was accepted and honoured as part of the "St. Andrew's family".

This is despite his previous missteps as Punggol East SMC MP, which led him to pay the price, lose his seat, resign from the party and also give up his job as Speaker of Parliament.

He explained that some of the speakers at the party's first rally made digs at David Ong, but stressed that this happened because Chee does not, and did not, check their speeches — he only knew the broad topics they would cover, he said, adding that he trusted them.

"Here at the SDP, we trust the people. Dr Chee has no idea what I'm going to say tonight," he said, to cheers.

After the slips happened, Tambyah said Chee reminded his party cadres to stop criticising Ong personally, following up on his verbal instruction in email as well. He noted that the Ong jokes never resurfaced at future rallies too.

Seemingly in response to a Straits Times article that prominently featured a sum of money he had donated to The Online Citizen last year, Tambyah rattled off a list of organisations and causes he had donated money to over the past year on his 50th birthday— his church, charities working with beneficiaries suffering from autism, AIDS, and charities working with migrant workers, as well as NUS, and he concluded with "organisations that promote freedom of speech, like The Online Citizen and the SDP".

"I know many others who have done the same," he said confidently, adding to his oft-used narrative of the disappearing climate of fear of supporting the opposition.

4. This queue for his book-signing:

Which he kept waiting for 20 minutes after the rally before showing up to start his book signing for.

And also this crowd:

Which, to be fair, is a far cry from those present at them Workers' Party rallies, but hey — pretty respectable for the final night of an election that nobody seems to care all that much about.

5. He is really quite loved.

After Chee finished his speech, he received:

- Two doshalas — these are traditional Indian fabrics draped across a man's back as a "robe of honour":

- Two bouquets of flowers, and

- at least four garlands around his neck.

These were presented to him in ceremonial fashion, with people going up one by one to give the various items to him.

In odes to him that bordered on cringe level, fellow speaker Go showered him with praise along the lines of the following:

"(Chee) is not paid not because he's worthless, but because he's priceless."

She referred to him as "Ah Juan" when addressing his mother:

"Aunty, Ah Juan is a man of character. A man who stood by his principles. Who always stands up for what he believes in. Aunty, your Ah Juan is a driven man. He believes firmly in justice, democracy and the rule of law. And he is selfless. He fights for those who have no voice. He works hard for those who are weak, and he struggles so that others can live a better life."

She praised him, the family man:

"I once asked Dr Chee how he felt about moving out of his terrace house into a three-room flat... he said he never felt like he lost anything because the most important people in his life are still with him."

And also addressed Chee's mother and wife together:

"Thank you for sharing your son, your husband with us. Thank you for showing us what a good son and husband he is. Thank you for being there for him, for supporting him in his struggles all these years, for your constant support of him and making sure Singapore is not deprived of a candidate who truly cares."

Slightly too close for comfort feelings aside, he must really be something for a person to come out and say all these things about him, eh? Guess he must've done something right.

May the best man win, come Saturday.

Related articles:

Photo finish: Here are the last SDP & PAP Bukit Batok by-election rallies in photos

Maybe this Bukit Batok by-election should be about ‘Hope’

Will the residents of Bukit Batok accept Chee Soon Juan as their MP?

8 Tharman smackdowns on Chee Soon Juan at the PAP by-election rally in Bukit Batok

Top photo by Edwin Koo for Mothership.sg

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