icymi: the first politician to attend PinkDot was Vincent Wijeysingha.
he was part of the SDP team that ran in Holland-Bukit Timah in 2011, garnering 39.9% of the votes even after a smear campaign by the PAP team. https://t.co/Xtkfsn1zCN
In 2011, Parliament was dissolved on 19 April, Nomination Day was on 27 April, and the election was held on 7 May.
the drama started early, with a mysterious video posted on Youtube on 14 Apr
(the video is still available, uploaded by JohnTan88888, look it up) https://t.co/r0xMkLFgAW
the day after Parliament was dissolved, the Straits Times reported Vivian's comments, saying SDP will eventually have to "come out of the closet" https://t.co/EqaMzyXjFX
on 23 apr, Vivian gave an interview to the Straits Times: https://t.co/GU2pd7WvBT
on 25 apr, the PAP Holland-Bukit Timah team sent out a statement to the press. all 4 candidates who signed the statement are still MPs today.
here's the statement in full:
[[ link: https://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20110425-275604.html ]] https://t.co/PT0y8PHlfj
on 28 Apr, the day after nomination day, Vivian said no need to talk about the video anymore ✌️https://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/dr-vivian-let-not-talk-video-anymore-173058828.html
fast forward - in 2013, Vincent posted this the day before PinkDot, and stepped down from the SDP shortly after. https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/372656166629031936?s=20&t=o17fxKag3g5l6-3iNH2mVw https://t.co/1f1F1IhrmE
he wrote a column about PinkDot for Fridae after he stepped down - it's still worth reading in full
[[ link: https://www.fridae.asia/gay-news/2013/08/28/12415.pink-dot-a-sign-and-symbol-of-a-day-that-must-come ]]
yeah so... i can't tell you what to think about MPs showing up at PinkDot.
maybe it's good (yay respectability and visibility!).
maybe it's bad (yay virtue signalling from people in power!).
but this... this is the backdrop we're operating against. https://t.co/XHODmTMfQ6
just found Ch 5 news snippet from 25 April 2011
pay attention to how this was framed -
1. "we believe this is one of the videos"
2. "the quality is not clear, but according to the (PAP) statement [insert groomer nonsense that wasn't actually said]"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI0Ptfn4EU8 https://t.co/5dTGUJ5uJG
