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Thank
you message from the protesters
25 Sep 06
Dear Fellow
Singaporeans,
We want to say a very heartfelt thank you
for all the support you showed during our 72-hour protest last
week.
In our small and humble way we wanted to show to the
mighty PAP regime that it cannot continue to steamroll over our
fellow citizens and us – at least without having to pay a
political price.
And many of you helped us. Those of you
who sat with us through the nights, you presence made us
stronger. Those of you who sang, your voices lifted our spirits.
Those of you who came by to share a meal with us or just to say
hello, your kind gestures were soothed our minds and bodies.
As
the days wore on, we could see that many of you had become bolder
and came by to sit with us, despite the police cameras rolling.
By the final night much of our fears had gone away.
Critics
note that there were very few people who came to support us. It
is true that we did not see supporters by the thousands. But in a
climate where the police were doing everything they could to
discourage Singaporeans from joining us – including seizing
our publicity flyers, turning away the public at Speakers'
Corner, taking photographs of our supporters and asking for their
particulars, and most important blacking out the news of the
protest – the numbers that we saw are truly remarkable and
extremely encouraging.
Several of you who defied your own
fears and police intimidation to show up at the protest site were
marvelous. There were also some younger members of the Workers'
Party who came and chatted for a while. A couple of them even
bought some cheng tng and other refreshments. Thank you.
Your gesture is greatly appreciated.
The many of you who
took pictures and videos of the protest and posted them on the
Internet, who helped to disseminate news reports as they came in
thick and fast, who emailed your friends and told them what was
going on you were all part of our protest and we owe you a debt
of gratitude for your assistance.
And to the many of you
who emailed us, a big thank you. To the couple of you who didn't
have very nice things to say, we hope to change your minds one
day.
September 16, 2006 will go down in history as a day
when Singaporeans came alive. Every one of you who was involved
in one way or another, big or small, was part of a team that took
on the PAP machinery. Without you the protest could not have been
as effective.
All of you can truly take pride that we, the
proud citizens of this nation, have begun this process of taking
back what rightfully belongs to us.
Movements never start
with the masses. They always take place with the few taking the
first steps followed by greater numbers. We hope to see more of
you in the coming weeks and months when we organise seminars to
raise awareness and train more democracy activists.
Take
heart and don't stop believing that one day, democracy, too, will
come to Singapore.
Yours in solidarity,
Gandhi
Ambalan
Chee Siok Chin
Jeffrey George
Charles Tan
Teoh
Tian Jin
Rizal
Chee Soon Juan
Francis Yong
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