Here is the mandarin speech I delivered at the joint launch of the books 《迈向政治发展与繁荣》& 《SINGAPORE VERSION 2.0: ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS FOR A BETTER SINGAPORE》at Oxford Hotel on 30th January 2010.
The English translation is provided below.
讲演者饶欣龙，发表于《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 和《SINGAPORE VERSION 2.0: ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS FOR A BETTER SINGAPORE》新书联合推介式。新书推介式于2011年1月30日下午3时在万富大酒店举行。各位政治界活跃分子、亲爱的嘉宾朋友、媒体代表、
女士们、先生们：
介绍1. 非常荣幸大家光临《迈向政治发展与繁荣》和《SINGAPORE VERSION 2.0: ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS FOR A BETTER SINGAPORE》新书联合发布会。
2. 虽然严燕松和我都是工人党中委委员，不过今天的新书发布会完全属于个人活动。为什么我们两人决定组织此活动呢？除了是志同道合的朋友，战友之外，联合发布新书也是节省财力物力的最佳组合。
3. 大家可能还会问：为什么我们决定在万富大酒店举行这项活动？收费合理，服务优质是一方面，另一方面，一位真正的新加坡政治雄狮-----已故的惹耶勒南先生曾经住过这里。今天的活动也是对惹耶勒南先生的政治勇气、无私奉献、个人牺牲和永不停息的奋斗精神的深深追忆。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 第132页）。让我们一路坚守这些价值观，为了新加坡更加美好。
出版的理由4. 有趣的是，今天的活动也见证了两个1965年后X一代（Generation ‘X’ ）新加坡社会-政治博客作者在网上推出博客文章的同时，也选择出版纸张书籍。这些都显示虽然网络更方便快速，但我们传统的印刷媒体仍然是一个必不可少的宣传平台。
5. 我翻译和出版博客文选《迈向政治发展与繁荣》的目的有三个：首先，希望能够更多的地接触受华文教育的民众；第二，希望与不能流利阅读英文政治时事网站的民众建立沟通桥梁；第三也是最重要的，就是为政治动员和政治部署建立并巩固新的群众基础。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 前言）
6. 人民行动党深知华文教育出身的群众的威力。例如，去年强烈反对减少母语在小六会考中的比重一事，我们还记得很清楚。2500位新加坡国民，也包括我本人，主动前往芳林公园签署请愿书反对此事，使得人民行动党完全措手不及。随后，教育部长不得不出面为其措词不当而引起误解道歉。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 第46和47页）
开端。。。7. 人们经常问我为什么加入反对党。我想借此机会和大家分享一下。早在1986年，读小学四年级时，我开始阅读共产主义书本。人人平等的理想主义思想深深吸引了我。我已故的父亲是一位国民党支持者（父亲本人毕业于国立台湾大学），他说：“共产主义没有人性”反对我读那些书，并且毫不客气地丢掉它们。我的好奇心反而被点燃起来，我不明白：怎么会是那样呢？平等社会的思想怎么会被称为没人性？父亲之所以反对一定有原因。那是我一次政治主义矛盾的入门课。在1989年6月4日天安门事件后，我终于明白父亲的话的意思。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 第43页）
8. 在1991年大选期间，宣布大选结果那一刻我一直盯着电视。工人党刘程强获胜演讲吸引了我，他说：“这才是新起点的开始！”（This is (then) the beginning of the next lap!）他的话深深地印在我的脑海中。1997年大选，我和成千上万的新加坡人共同看到静山集选区的选举情况。人民行动党的的欺负战术让大家看的心里不平衡。从那时起，我就知道自己站在那一边了（从2001年开始，我选择了工人党）。
内容亮点9.这本书要传达的中心信息请阅读第七章。这一章说明了新加坡政治发展的必要性。也就是通过在新加坡的最高决策机构-----国会中，建立可信赖和有效的“制约与平衡”机制来实现其发展。目前我们的国会有84个议席，其中82个是人民行动党议席，2个非执政党议席。各位觉得这看起来平衡吗？我相信大家的观点都是一样的。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 第93页至103页）
10.我也相信这本书的第一章节“一路走来”记录了我在工人党的旅程会引起很多人的兴趣。大家会了解到一些鲜为人知的故事。比如：在筹备2006年大选的过程中，工人党领导层考虑只在一个集选区进行竞选，也就是阿裕尼集选区。对此我不太认同。为了说服工人党领袖同意挑战更多集选区，我找到吴明盛接替我成为工人党集选区区域委员会的秘书。之后，为了创造时间，我2005年拒绝参与工人党中委选举，集中精力专注建立工人党第二个集选区的队伍。这就是工人党东海岸集选区团队。我深信，通过良好的资源策划，工人党是可以挑战多几个集选区的。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》第22页）
11.如何能通过良好的规划使得人力资源以少战多，2006年大选选区重新划分就是最好的说明。东海岸集选区从6个议席减到5个议席，这完全有利于工人党的战术安排。我本人志愿从东海岸集选区退出，在24小时内，我立刻招兵买马，召集候选人、选举代理人，竞选助手，投票代理人，监票代理人，筹集资金，向工人党秘书长刘程强提出我志愿率领 “阻截者”挑战宏茂桥集选区。其它就是众所周知的部分了。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》第23页）
12.工人党宏茂桥团队只有区区50位竞选助手，而据报道人民行动党当时安排的竞选助手有2000人！带领一个集选区团队对抗人数远远更胜一等的选举斗争无疑让我获得了宝贵的经验，相信这能使我在来临的大选时更有效地作战。
我的政治决心13. 我真诚希望通过与大家分享《迈向政治发展与繁荣》，能够交流见解，得到热烈回应，尤其是和华文阅读背景的活跃分子再次前进，通过工人党这个平台发展新加坡的政治。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 第13页至32页）
14. 因此我的政治决心就是尽全力尽我所能继续挖掘、培养更多心系新加坡，维护新加坡和热爱新加坡的某一类新加坡人。这一类新加坡人必须致力于推动新加坡的发展，并且以工人党作为平台为新加坡服务。这类新加坡人也应该尽全力尽其所能挖掘和培养更多同类的新加坡人加入工人党。这类新加坡人的特点是以满腔的热情和深切的使命感无限忠诚地为新加坡服务。所以，您愿意同行吗？（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 封底）
总结15.总而言之，在这本书的出版过程中，我要对在背后一直支持我的人说声感谢。我希望借机感谢我的太太和家人对我无尽的关爱、理解和支持。特别要提到的是我的六位结义兄弟，六位“犀牛兄弟”的兄弟情、风趣言谈和拳拳友情让我一路走来不寂寞。
16.我还要感谢本书的平面设计师、翻译和校对团队，其中有当时武吉班让选区议员的秘书陈美华先生；毕业于前南洋大学的我的大伯饶真诚先生和工人党秘书长、后港单选区议员刘程强先生。当然，书中的所有错误都归我负责。
17.我要特别感谢人民党秘书长，同时也是波东巴西单选区国会议员的詹时中先生，热心为本书作序。也要感谢那些不希望在此留名的友人，对你们的爱护、帮助和支持我会牢牢记在心里。
18.最后也是最重要的，我希望衷心感谢每一位从内心深处认识到我们能够，也必须为了新加坡的美好明天一尽己力的新加坡同胞，请与我一起同行。（《迈向政治发展与繁荣》 鸣谢）
19.谢谢大家
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SPEECH BY YAW SHIN LEONG, AT THE JOINT LAUNCH OF THE BOOKS ‘迈向政治发展与繁荣’ (TOWARDS POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AND VIBRANCY) & ‘SINGAPORE VERSION 2.0: ALTERNATIVE PROPOSALS FOR A BETTER SINGAPORE’ AT OXFORD HOTEL ON 30 JANUARY 2011 AT 3PMMy fellow political activists,
Dear friends, distinguished guests & media representatives,
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction1. It is my great pleasure to warmly welcome you to the joint launch of the books ‘迈向政治发展与繁荣’ (Towards Political Development and Vibrancy) and ‘Singapore Version 2.0: Alternative Proposals For A Better Singapore’.
2. Although Gerald & I sit on the Central Executive Council (CEC) of the Workers’ Party of Singapore, today’s book launch is organized in our personal capacities. Why did the both of us decide to organize this event? Being good friends and comrades aside, practical considerations on cost sharing & savings do come to our minds.
3. The other question could be: Why did the both of us decide to organize this event here at Oxford Hotel? Reasonable rates and excellent services aside, this is the hotel where a true blue lion of Singapore politics stayed for many years, the late Mr. J. B. Jeyaratam. Today’s event is therefore also in fond remembrance of Mr. Jeyaratam’s political courage, tireless contributions, personal sacrifices and unceasing fighting spirit. (迈向, Pg 132). Let us hold these values dear, as we journey on to make Singapore an even better place.
The Rationales4．Interestingly, today’s event also witnesses two post-65ers (aka) Generation ‘X’ Singaporean social-political bloggers, launching our books, originally based on our online blog posts. This goes to show that our traditional print media is still a necessary outreach platform, despite the convenience and relative accessibility of online media platforms.
5. My strategic intentions behind the blog posts’ translation and publication of ’迈向政治发展与繁荣’ are three-fold: Firstly, it is to reach out politically to our mandarin speaking-&-reading ground. Secondly, it is to serve as a linguistic bridge to the same ground with limited access to the ‘English’ Internet. Thirdly and most importantly, it is for the purpose of galvanizing new support bases for political mobilization and deployment. (迈向, Preface )
6. The PAP understands the potency of our mandarin speaking-&-reading ground. For instance, the attempt to have Mother Tongue Weightage reduced for PSLE last year is still fresh in our minds. 2500 Singaporeans (including myself) organically went down to Hong Lim Park to petition against it, caught the PAP totally off guard. Eventually the Education Minister had to apologize for not having chosen his words carefully and creating a wrong impression. (迈向, Pg 46 & 47)
In The Beginning…7. People often ask me why am I in opposition politics? I will take this opportunity to share how it began. It all began in 1986, when I was in Primary 4: I started reading communist-inspired materials. The idealistic notion that every man is equal was highly captivating. My late-dad, a nationalist KMT sympathizer, (he graduated from National Taiwan University) objected to the materials I was reading, citing that ‘共产主义没有人性‘ （communism is inhumane） and literally threw away all those communist-inspired materials. My curiosity was ignited and I wondered how could that be? How could an ideology that aspired for an equal society be claimed to be inhumane? There must be a reason for my dad to object so. It was an introductory lesson on political contradictions and ideologies. After 4th June 1989 (Tiananmen Incident), I finally understood where my dad was coming from. (迈向, Pg 43)
8. During GE1991, I was glued to the TV set when the General Elections results were being announced. The victory speech by WP’s Low Thia Khiang stood apart from the rest. He uttered these famous words ‘This is (then) the beginning of the next lap!’ (I believe he said that in relation to Goh Chok Tong’s the next lap vision for Singapore) Low Thia Khaing’s words made a mental imprint in my young mind. In GE1997, I was one of the tens of thousands of Singaporeans who watched the unfolding electoral drama of Cheng San GRC. PAP’s bullying tactics were big turn offs. From that point onwards, I have picked my side (& from 2001 onwards, specifically the WP’s side). (迈向, Pg 43)
Content Highlights9. The central message behind ’迈向政治发展与繁荣’ is found in Chapter Seven. This Chapter expounded the necessity to develop Singapore politically. Specifically this can be achieved by establishing a credible and effective mechanism of ‘checks-&-balances’ in the highest decision making body of our land, the Singapore Parliament. Our current Parliament has 84 seats, of which 82 are PAP seats and 2 non-incumbent seats. Does this sound balanced to you? Your thoughts are as good as mine. (迈向, Pg 93 to 103)
10. I believe the first chapter of ’迈向政治发展与繁荣’ titled ‘一路走来’ (aka) ‘A Certain Type For Singapore’ that detailed my experiences with the Workers’ Party will interest those who would like to find out more about what actually happened behind the scene. For example: During the build up towards GE2006, the WP leadership was considering to contest in only one GRC (Aljunied GRC). I disagreed with such an approach. To encourage the WP leadership to contest beyond one GRC, I identified someone (Mr. Goh Meng Seng) and handed over my duties as the Secretary to WP’s ‘GRC Area Committee’ that operated only in Aljunied GRC. Immediately after that, to create time, I declined to run for WP Central Executive Council elections in 2005 and focused myself in the building up of WP’s second GRC front. This eventually became WP’s East Coast team. I am cautiously confident that with careful resource planning, WP is able to sketch itself organizationally to cover a wider electoral ground. (迈向, Pg 22).
11. The point on how with careful planning a numerically weaker force taking upon a numerically stronger force, is best illustrated after the GE2006 electoral boundaries were announced. East Coast GRC was shrunk from 6 seats to 5 seats. That actually worked to WP's tactical deployment advantage. Voluntarily I withdrew from WP’s East Coast Team. Within 24 hours, I rallied the candidates, election agents, campaign helpers, polling agents, counting agents, raised the funds and volunteered to WP Secretary General Mr. Low Thia Khiang on my willingness to lead the 'block force' to Ang Mo Kio GRC. The rest is history. (迈向, Pg 23).
12. Numerically the WP AMK team had barely 50 campaign helpers. Do compare this with the reportedly 2000 campaign helpers deployed by the PAP! The experiences of leading a GRC team for an electoral fight against a numerically superior and supposedly strongest PAP team has gained me valuable experiences on how to plan and mount future WP campaigns even more effectively.
My Political Resolution13. My sincere wish is that the candid sharing within ‘迈向政治发展与繁荣’ may provide insights and triggers positive responses, especially amongst the thousands of mandarin speaking-&-reading veteran activists to once again step forward and help develop Singapore politically through the WP. (迈向, Pg 13 to 32)
14. It is therefore my political resolution to continue identifying, cultivating and multiplying a certain type of Singaporean, who is for Singapore, pro Singapore and loves Singapore. This certain type must be highly committed to Singapore's national development and is radically committed to serve Singapore via the WP. Such a Singaporean sees the critical need to invest his or her life in identifying, cultivating and multiplying similar types. A profound sense of destiny, blind loyalty and intense passion for Singapore are the hallmarks of such an individual. So will you join me? (迈向, Back Page of Book Cover)
Conclusion15. To sum up, it remains for me to thank all who are behind the publication of ‘迈向政治发展与繁荣’. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wife and family members for their love, patience and understanding throughout. Special mention goes to my six sworn brothers (aka) ‘The Rhino Bros’ whose brotherly love, wise cracks and bonding keeps me cheerful and accompanied throughout. (Some of you are here today!)
16. I would also like to thank the graphic artist, the translators and the vetting team, which included Mr. Chen Mei Hua （陈美华）, the Secretary to the Barisan Socialist Ex-MP for Bukit Panjang Constituency. My (大伯) Mr. Jau Chin Sia (饶真诚), a graduate of the defunct Nanyang University and Mr. Low Thia Khiang (刘程强), the Secretary-General of The Workers’ Party & MP for Hougang Constituency. Of course, all errors found in the book are mine.
17. Special thanks go to Mr. Chiam See Tong (詹时中), the Secretary-General of The Singapore People’s Party & MP for Potong Pasir Constituency who kindly wrote the foreword for the book. I would also like to thank those who do not wish to be mentioned in the book. Deep inside me, I really appreciate all of you for your love, help and support.
18. Last but not least, I want to thank each individual Singaporean who understands within his/her heart that politically, something can be done and must be done, so as to make our country into a better place. Do join me in this purposeful journey. (迈向, Acknowledgements).
19. Thank you.
I wish to take this opportunity to wish each Singaporean-Chinese, a happy lunar new year and blessed public holidays ahead for all Singaporeans. 
工人党2年轻领导人 出书为来临大选造势
工人党中央执行委员会委员严燕松（33岁）的英文书《Singapore Version 2.0: Alternate Proposals for a Better Singapore》（新加坡版本2.0——使新加坡更美好的替代建议），内容也来自他的博客。
