First They Came....

Interesting poem found on a local forum:

First they came for James Gomez,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a minority,

then they came for Tan Wui-Hua,
and I didn't speak up because I didn't live in Aljunied,

then they came for Goh Meng Seng,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Worker's Party member,

then they came for Rahizan,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Muslim,

then they came for Sylvia,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a lawyer,

then they came for Low Thia Kiang,
and I didn't speak up because I didn't want to get into trouble,

then they came for me,
and there wasn't anyone else to speak for me.....

Someone pointed out that this is a reference to the original First They Came poem, which was translate from German to English as:

When they came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Filed in: singapore ge2006 singaporeelections