THE TEMASEK REVIEW

By Eugene Yeo, Senior writer, reporting on site from Hong Lim Park, 6.40pm

It is a bright sunny afternoon in downtown Singapore now at GMT 1645 hours. There was a drizzle just now as evident by the wet surfaces of the benches at Hong Lim Park. Will this affect the turnout later ?

Mr Tan Kin Lian will be addressing the nation later with a speech titled “Social justice and fairness: A first world country in the 21st century.”

Though this rally was a special occasion called in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Mr Tan had said last week he will update the investors on the progress of the class action suit if there were any.

There were four speakers in today’s rally: law undergraduate Mr Choo Zheng Xi, financial consultant Mr Leong Sze Hian, social worker Mr Ravi Philemon and Mr Tan Kin Lian.

Zheng Xi used the example of the Town Councils’ loss of sinking funds to illustrate the importance of having transparency and accountability in the government.

Mr Leong spoke on the rising cost of HDB flats which is pricing ordinary Singaporeans out of the mass market. For those who are already servicing their HDB loans, they have to take on two or more jobs sometimes just to earn a living as a huge chunk of their take home pay goes to the loan.

Mr Ravi criticized the government for not doing enough to help the poor and needy and calls for the introduction of a living wage to ensure those who are retrenched or unemployed have sufficient means for shelter and food.

The last speaker of the day is Mr Tan Kin Lian. In spite of a slight drizzle, the crowd of over 200 stayed back to listen to his speech.

Mr Tan spoke on the need to have social justice and fairness in Singapore so that every Singaporean can enjoy the fruits of the nation’s prosperity.

He reiterated that he has no plans to run for political office initially and the petition was an attempt to encourage other credible Singaporeans to step forward to join him to run for the next elections.

As Mr Tan was giving the speech, his volunteers were fanning out amongst the crowd asking them to pen their particulars down to support Mr Tan’s bid for public office.

Mr Tan also updated the investors present on the progress in the class action suit.

There were three separate separate developments:

1. A young lawyer has collected 260 signatures from the investors to press for a class action suit and he will be setting up a panel of Senior Counsels to deliberate on the next course of action.

2. The DBS highnote group has set up a committee to source for lawyers to fight their case for them.

3. Mr Tan himself has got a kind friend to sponsor the initial S$20,000 needed to seek a Queens Counsel’s opinion from the United Kingdom.

Mr Tan ended his speech by urging the investors present to continue the fight. However, if the banks or securities firm offer them at least a 50% compensation, he advised them to accept the offer. Also present at today’s event were NMP Mr Siew Kum Hong and Singapore People Party’s Chairman Mr Sin Kek Tong.

EDITORS’ NOTE: More photos of the events will be uploaded in a short while. The video of Mr Tan Kin Lian’s speech will be uploaded by 9pm tonight. Stay tuned to the Wayangparty Club – the FASTEST news blog in Singapore.

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