That was one of the many slogans bandied around at the Workers' Party rally tonight, at Hougang Avenue 4 that drew cheers and whoops of agreement from the crowd.  Thousands strong, they thronged the open field, pouring onto any empty space of green, crowding round a blaring loudspeaker for want of an available view of the real stars of the night -- the speakers, which included Sylvia Lim, Low Thia Kang, Goh Meng Seng and Perry Tong.  It was a heartening feeling, standing under the night sky, breathing in a neighbour's cigarette smoke, watching the aunties squat and the ah peks spit and the couples cuddle, the disembodied voice coming from the loudspeaker illiciting loud cries of 'Wor--ker's Party!' -- turning my head to watch the stunning sight of the flats nearby crowded with spectators on every stairway, watching from every landing, peering out through the window grills.  So very many people! The smoke still soaks my clothes, my ears still ring, and on the back of my eyelids I can still see so vividly, the sheer number of people, and how loudly I could hear them shout from afar.

The Workers' Party did not disappoint like the SDP did at their rally.  They brought up some sound proposals in addition to their rhetoric, though the crowd stayed mostly silent to economic jargon, most of which came from Perry Tong.  But the jargon was balanced, in his case, with simple and communicative language, and phrases of Hokkien which drew appreciative whistles and laughs from the crowd.  Among his proposals were for the Singaporean government to ask for steep discounts in patent royalties with the biomedical research firms they negotiate with, or for the right of Singaporean companies to manufacture generic drugs locally.  He spoke of his desire to make Singapore into a hub for the manufacturing and distribution of medicine, which would dramatically decrease shipping costs, translating into cheaper healthcare and increased jobs and investments.  He also suggested that patients with chronic illnesses like kidney failure should only be charged cost-price in their treatment.  The biggest cheers came from the crowd when he raised the issue of his desire to see the removal of GST for healthcare.

Most of the speeches were delievered in dialect, which I unfortunately don't understand, but I caught the Mandarin bits.  Essentially the party focussed on two issues: healthcare, and upgrading.  Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Kang, in their speeches, besides railing against the PAP for being unfair and divisive in their upgrading policies, also attacked the idea of means-testing, questioning the ability for a fair yardstick by which one may measure wealth to be implemented.  If one measured wealth by household income, for instance, it might not take into consideration the number of people in the family.  If it measured wealth by accommodation, it would hardly be representative.  If it measured wealth by an  individual's income, that would not take into account his debts, his elderly parents to support, etc., and in any case, richer people pay more taxes under the current progressive system already.  So everyone should have sovereignty over their remaining money, to spend it how they like, and to plan for their own futures.

Mohammed Rahizan Yaacob's airtime was the most entertaining to me, partly because it was one out of only two English speeches I remember, and partly because of its inventiveness.  He began sombrely with "Friends, I have a grave announcement...yesterday I lost my umbrella.  There were so many things to do that I forgot where I had put it." I think the irony was lost a little on the crowd, because he was not totally clear, but I appreciated his sarcasm regarding how the PAP was making a big deal out of a simple mistake.  He also ridiculed the PAP for saying how Rahizan would not be able to raise the education of Malays, as opposed to Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, by saying: "Yaacob Ibrahim is the Minister of what? Water.  Why is he asking the Minister of Water to settle this? I thought we were a multi-racial society.  We should be asking Tharman Shanmugaratnam to raise the educational levels of Malay and non-Malay pupils.  He is the Minister of Education."

I wonder how much of this the Straits Times will cover tomorrow.  I doubt very much that they'll cover the portion of Rahizan Yaacob's speech which called for transparency and accountability on the part of the government through allowing for a free and independent media, uninterfered with by the government.  Nope, the Straits Times is certainly avoiding that issue.  Publishing it would be a bit too meta-journalistic!