The country presents itself as a modern liberal
democracy yet has an autocratic political culture
Singapore is proud of its place near
the top of many international rankings. Its school system is by
some measures the world's best. The island state promotes itself as
diverse, competitive and cultured – an exciting global hub. But
there are two league tables which shame Singapore. The first,
compiled by the campaigning group Reporters
Without Borders, places the country 136th in the world
for press freedom – below Iraq and
Zimbabwe. The second is the rate at which Singapore executes
convicted criminals: arguably higher, per capita, than any other
country in the world.
Singapore presents itself as a modern liberal democracy: it has
a parliament, elections, courts, a constitutional right to free
speech and the consumerist gloss of capitalism. Its citizens are
free to become rich and to travel. Many do both. The country has by
any measure succeeded since independence. But its autocratic
political culture – overseen by the country's founding father and
now official minister mentor
Lee Kuan Yew – is highly
and needlessly restrictive. The media is largely state-owned.
Defamation and contempt laws threaten dissent. The latest victim of
these is
Alan Shadrake, a
British-born writer sentenced yesterday to six weeks in prison and
a large fine after being found guilty of contempt of court. His
book Once a Jolly Hangman questioned the independence of
Singapore's legal system, and its use of the death penalty.
It is depressing that a country as successful as Singapore
should feel the need for such restrictions on free speech.
Singapore argues that, without them, the balance between the
country's Chinese, Malay and Indian populations would be upset. But
the reality is that other successful parts of Asia – Hong Kong and
Taiwan, for instance – have thrived by extending free speech and
the rule of law.
Singapore is making itself a less
significant place by refusing to give its people the
sorts of freedoms that are routine elsewhere.
On a practical level, the decision to prosecute Mr Shadrake was
also foolish. His book has had far greater attention because of it,
and Singapore's reputation has been harmed. Mr Shadrake is quite
right to attack a criminal justice system whose victims are often
poor migrant workers. His book was legitimate and – despite the
court's claim to the contrary – largely accurate. The suspicion is
that the Singapore government resented the exposure of a squalid
system of routine executions which sits uneasily with the image it
likes to present to the world. Singapore wants to be judged as a
first-world nation. It must find the confidence to allow its
citizens the freedoms that go with that status. Repression is not
the route to success. In the end, it will prove its enemy
