US trade union interviews SDP's
Ambalam
Monday, 05 January 2009 
Singapore Democrats
The United
Aeropsace Workers Local 592, a trade union based in Illinois,
USA recently contacted the Singapore Democrats and conducted an
interview with Mr Gandhi Ambalam, Chairman. The interview touched
mainly on the political situation in Singapore and how it exploits
workers here.
Below is the write-up and text of the interview by Timothy
Mills:
Given the loss of 533,000 American jobs in November, the largest
downturn in thirty-four years, it is vital that we have a public
discourse on the cost of free trade and its twin – runaway
corporations.
In a free trade advocate’s view, the global marketplace is an
idyllic universe of decision makers where everyone is free to buy
and sell. In actuality, the exchange between the great masses of
humanity and a transnational corporation is neither free nor fair.
Does free trade mean that companies can do what they want, no
matter the circumstances?
Take the city-state of Singapore. It has been hailed by business
executives as one of free trade’s success stories.
The whole truth, however, is quite different. As an employee of
Hamilton Sundstrand, I learned about the down side of such a
success story as I watched machinery and good jobs being uprooted
in Rockford, destined for Singapore.
Some folks may still be asking, “Why are companies with long
histories in our community, such as Sundstrand, so attracted to
Singapore?” Here are a couple of reasons:
#1 In 2003, the governments of the United States and
Singapore signed the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The
agreement gave the green light to corporations seeking to benefit
from great disparities between the two nations, such as living and
environmental standards, as well as human rights. http://ctrc.sice.oas.org/Trade/USA-Singapore/USSSingaporetext.pdf
Corporations setting up shop in Singapore may hire from a pool of
immigrants who come from poverty-stricken south Asia. Approximately
600 thousand foreign workers are employed, representing thirty
percent of the nation’s total workforce. For these workers,
employment in Singapore symbolizes an opportunity to send money
back home to their families.
In a letter sent to Congress, the Citizen’s Trade Campaign warned
that the proposed trade deals between U.S.-Singapore and U.S.-Chile
would undermine labor and environmental protections:
“…the remedies provided for the only enforceable labor and
environmental provision in the agreement are fines capped at levels
insufficient to serve as deterrents. Additionally, any fines
assessed for labor violations are paid by the violating country
back to itself, rather than to the complainant, amounting to
nothing more than a budgetary transfer.
“Further, the only enforceable labor and environmental provision in
either pact is that countries enforce their own existing standards
- meaning that Singapore and Chile are free to maintain labor laws
that do not meet the core ILO [International Labor Organization]
standards, or can eliminate or weaken existing domestic labor and
environmental laws in order to attract investment or trade with no
threat of fines or sanctions.” http://www.citizenstrade.org/singapore.php
#2 Singapore is a one-party corporate state. The People’s
Action Party has been in power since 1959. That’s no accident. I
call it a corporate state because government and business are
joined at the hip. And that’s no democracy…
"I’m often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens.
Yet, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today."
- Lee Kuan Yew, Former Prime Minister, Singapore
In a November 26 ’08 press release, Reporters Without Borders, a
free speech advocacy group, denounced the recent Singapore court
ruling against Wall Street Journal Asia which will cost it 25
thousand Singapore dollars: “…for publishing two editorials and a
letter by an opposition leader questioning the country's judicial
system… Even if the fine is not colossal, the ruling very clearly
shows that Singapore's judges have no intention of letting the
foreign media express themselves freely…”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a staunch free trade advocate,
has been critical of the Singapore government’s use of a “contempt
of court” citation against the publisher of the WSJ Asian edition.
The Journal has also criticized the Singapore judicial
system.
According to the WSJ, “Singapore leaders have won damages in the
past from foreign media groups when they report on local politics,
including the Economist, the International Herald
Tribune and Bloomberg News.”
However, not many individuals or organizations have the necessary
resources (such as the WSJ) to mount a strong defense of their
rights. Foreign journalists may feel stifled by a meddling regime,
but at least they can purchase a ticket home.
So what happens to the citizens of Singapore when they speak out
against the government? The following are abridged responses from a
Q&A session with Chairman Gandhi Ambalam of the Singapore
Democratic Party (SDP).
Q: How would you compare the extent of civil liberties
in Singapore to the USA?
For civil liberties to exist, first there has to be a functioning
democracy. What we have in Singapore is not a democratic
government, but an authoritarian regime that does not believe in
letting the citizens have their basic rights. Rights such as
freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression
are enshrined in Singapore’s written constitution. But they remain
only on paper. In reality, these universal rights are curtailed by
“laws” introduced by the one-party controlled legislature to
“safeguard national security and public order”.
[Police] move in to arrest protesters for staging simple acts of
peaceful demonstration to register their displeasure over increased
cost of living. Public rallies and protests are not allowed for
fear of it turning into “racial and religious” riots that the city
state had seen in the 1950s/60s.
Q: How does the ruling party use “libel,” “slander,” or
“defamation” law suits to regulate or punish opposition groups such
as the SDP?
The ruling party leaders, in particular the octogenarian Lee Kuan
Yew use the libel laws liberally to silence the political
opposition, especially during election time. Dr Chee Soon Juan, the
secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has been
sued repeatedly for “defamation” and is made a bankrupt twice over,
unable to contest elections and prevented from leaving the country.
The SDP’s future itself remains in doubt following a recent
awarding of hefty damages by the court to Mr. Lee and his prime
minister son Lee Hsien Loong over an article in its newspaper,
published during the run-up to the 2006 general elections. If the
party is unable to pay the damages, its fate could be sealed
through winding up proceedings by its creditors, Mr. Lee Sr. and
the prime minister.
Q: What’s it like to be a member of an opposition political
party in Singapore?
It’s like living in former dictator Suharto’s Indonesia. Our
leading members are aware that they are under constant surveillance
by the secret police. Their telephones are tapped and overseas
visits tagged by the immigration authorities. To avoid any scandal,
opposition political party members have to maintain constant
vigilance and make sure that there are no “skeletons” in their
cupboard.
Q: What would happen if you wanted to put a political
program on TV or the internet?
Both the print and electronic media are totally controlled by the
ruling party. The state-owned and controlled TV is yet to interview
any of our SDP leaders, let alone “put on a political program”! The
Internet, even though the authoritarian regime is grappling with
the idea of controlling it, still remains outside its grip. But how
long this will last is anybody’s guess.
Q: What would happen if you wanted to publish political
literature in the newspapers?
[All of] the 14 “newspapers” in the four official languages are
controlled and headed by a former deputy prime minister. A number
of known former secret service operatives work as reporters and
journalists.
Q: What is the relationship between foreign capital and
your government?
Singapore is a haven for foreign capital. Big businesses,
especially the ones from the US, Germany and Japan are given red
carpet welcome with generous tax incentives and other perks.
Western companies love to locate their regional operations here and
the expatriates’ first choice in Southeast Asia is, not
surprisingly, Singapore.
Q: It’s my opinion that Big Business is too “cozy” with
your government and mine. How would you respond to that
comment?
I don’t know much about the “coziness” that exists in your country
between big business and your government. But in Singapore, the
government has turned the place into a “playground” for the
rich.
Q: Are workers in Singapore aware of the trend that U.S.
companies are moving operations to south Asia?
Our workers are too busy slogging for a living to know about US
companies moving to south Asia. But what they know is since the
time Singapore became independent in 1965, US companies, especially
the labour-intensive ones looking for cheap labour, have been
migrating to this island state and lately relocating to other parts
of the region, including south Asia, in search of still lower-wage
workers. This phenomenon is not something new to the workers here
who are constantly reminded that without foreign capital and
[multinational corporations] their jobs are in peril. The workers
are conditioned to always lower their expectations in this
globalized world where competition is intense.
Q: What can the trade unions (or other organizations) in the United
States and Singapore do to prevent global corporations from pitting
workers against each other for jobs?
The SDP tried in the past to help some workers wanting to form
independent trade unions, but to no avail. The archaic Trade Unions
Act, the Employment Act and the Industrial Relations Act, all of
which were introduced in the late 1960s and are still in force,
make it impossible for workers to organize themselves away from the
[Singapore’s] government-controlled National Trades Union Congress.
Under this environment, there’s hardly any awareness about “pitting
workers against each other for jobs”. The awareness has to come
from the US and we in the SDP would continue with our struggle to
free our workers from the clutches of the authoritarian regime in
Singapore. Since corporations have gone global, workers too need to
go global.
Although the free traders insist that there is no better way to
keep afloat the ship, we do have an alternative. If democracy is to
survive this century, it is imperative that we stand up for a fair
global economy -– a system based upon freedom and social justice
for workers of all nations. We can draw up this new plan and make
it a reality if we have the resolve to do so.
http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/