There is a difference being clueless and taking necessary
action. Being clueless means you haven't a clue on WHAT IS GOING
ON. Is the ruling party being clueless, or are they doing what they
can to solve problems humanely possible?
Even you yourself said it, 'They are not Gods'. I agree with
you. Just ask yourself - is the ruling party doing what they can,
or not, and then when election comes, you are free to make your own
decision, as is your right.
I will not point a gun to your head, or whitewash whatever
mistakes the ruling party had made, even though i dont believe they
are gods and are perfect.
May each vote with his/her conscience, on reality and not piped
dreams.
Sadly, besides being 'blank with
your Points' - you are as clueless in taking the course of actions
without having a clue on WHAT IS GOING ON - yet you will have the
audacity to tell others how to conduct their attitude towards the
MIW Government.
Are they not Gods - when the Holy
Trinity is already personified in the Father, the Son and the Holy
Goh ?
Does this not confirm your
clueless efforts in being 'Point_blank' ?
Can any one even vote with their
conscience based on reality, or is the pipe dreams being showered
with threats by the incumbents towards Singaporeans in their
actions to support the Alternative Parties ?
Here is a
Chronology of ‘events’ recorded by others’ to provide you
with some clues to the period when you were still clueless about
politics in Singapore - unless of course you simply do not have
slightest clue how to absorb the printed words that have been
painstakingly collected by others ?
"You
can get anything you want in Singapore. You can travel, you can
bring it in. You can - you can organize what you want. You can say
anything you want, and all sorts of things are said and debated in
Singapore."
-
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, interview with Charlie Rose, Aug
2005
"No group is
oppressed, suppressed or depressed. Instead we have a political
culture that values integrity, meritocracy and
fairness."
- Minister
Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, speech at the 50th Anniversary of the ruling
People's Action Party, Nov 2004
__________________________________________
Oct 1994 : In
connection with a commentary he wrote in the International Herald
Tribune stating how judiciaries in some Asian countries are
compliant to ruling powers, American academic Dr.Christopher Lingle
was questioned for 90 minutes by the Singapore police for possible
contempt of court and criminal defamation. Within a week, he
returned to the United States. Dr.Lingle and the Singapore printer
were subsequently fined for 'contempt of court by way of
scandalising the judiciary' and ordered to pay the government's
legal costs, totalling in excess of $100,000. Dr Lingle did not
return to Singapore to face the charges.
Dec 1994 : Although the International Herald Tribune published an
apology for the above article, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew filed a
civil libel suit. The IHT agreed to pay the Senior Minister
US$213,000 in damages plus costs for the civil suit.
Feb 1995 : Singapore police mounted a major crackdown codenamed
"Operation Hope," raiding private homes where Jehovah's Witnesses
members were holding prayer meetings. Officers seized bibles,
religious literature, documents and computers, and eventually
brought charges against 69 members, many of whom went to jail. A
month later, 73 year old grandmother Yu Nguk Ding was arrested for
carrying two "undesirable publications" - one of them a bible
printed by the group. She spent a week in jail rather than pay a
fine.
Jul 1995 : Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister Lee Kuan
Yew and his son, deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, won a libel
suit against the International Herald Tribune for an article,
published in August 1994, suggesting that the younger Lee was
appointed to his post on account of his father. The High Court
awarded a record judgment of $950,000. The Asian Wall Street
Journal (AWSJ), Asiaweek, and the Far Eastern Economic Review
remained gazetted in 1995.
Nov 1995 : Parliament censured Dr Chee Soon Juan and the Singapore
Democratic Party for allegedly endorsing attacks on the judiciary
made by Chee's fellow panelists, dissident Francis Seow and
academic Dr Christopher Lingle, at a forum held at Williams
College, USA. Government leaders said that the failure of Chee and
other SDP leaders to contradict the attacks made by Seow and Lingle
constituted positive assent by "clever omission."
Jul 1996 : The SBA
(Singapore Broadcasting Authority) issued a set of broad
regulations for the internet. Prohibited material was defined as
"objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public morality,
public order, public security and national harmony." Authorities
underlined that the Sedition Act also covers the internet. The
guidelines were subsequently elaborated on in SBA's Internet Code
of Practice in 1997.
Aug 1996 : The Government
denied the Singapore Democratic Party a request to produce and
distribute video tapes on the grounds that visual images can be
used to evoke emotional rather than rational responses. Moreover,
according to the Government, the use of videos could allow
political parties to sensationalize or distort information to
capture the maximum attention of the viewer.
Dec 1996 : Parliament levied fines in excess of $36,000 against Dr
Chee Soon Juan and three other SDP members, claiming that they had
committed perjury and other offenses during the proceedings of a
special parliamentary committee examining government health care
subsidies.
Dec 1996/Jan 1997 (General Elections) : Despite being returned to power on polling day
due to lack of opposition representation, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong
threatened to turn constituencies into slums lest the rest of the
electorate voted the ruling People's Action Party.
The Elections Department, under direct command of the Prime
Minister's Office, redrew electoral boundaries. Amongst others,
residents of Braddell Heights, located in central Singapore,
suddenly found themselves registered as voters under Marine Parade,
a constituency on the east coast helmed by PM Goh.
The Workers' Party complained to the police that PM Goh and other
PAP leaders had been speaking to voters inside a polling station on
polling day, an act deemed illegal under the Parliamentary
Elections Act. But the Public Prosecutor ruled that the PAP
ministers had been inside the polling stations as opposed to
"loitering" on the outside, so no offence had been
committed.
Name-calling by the PAP dominated hustings as Workers' Party
candidate Tang Liang Hong was labelled an "anti-Christian,
anti-English-educated and Chinese-language chauvinist." But it
wasn't the PAP men who got sued. A group of senior PAP leaders - PM
Goh Chok Tong, SM Lee Kuan Yew, DPM Lee Hsien Loong and eight other
MPs - sued Tang for allegedly defaming them in a police report
which he had filed to seek police protection. The police had handed
Tang's report to PM Goh and SM Lee. Citing death threats, Tang fled
to Malaysia shortly after the election results were announced. He
did not return home that night and has remained in exile ever
since.
For producing the police report at the election rally,
Workers' Party leader JB Jeyaretnam was also sued. All in all, PAP
leaders filed a total of 21 defamation suits against both Tang and
JBJ.
Jan 1997 : While on their way to meet Tang Liang Hong in Johor
Bahru, Mrs Tang Liang Hong and her daughter were stopped by
immigration officers at the causeway exit. Her passport was
confiscated. On her return home, they found a group of lawyers
representing PM Goh Chok Tong, SM Lee Kuan Yew other PAP leaders
waiting to serve 13 worldwide Mareva Injunctions to freeze their
assets. Shortly after, Inland Revenue officials stormed into their
house and carted away tons of documents and articles. A similar
raid was carried out at Tang's office in the city.
Apr 1997 : PAP leaders cancelled the passport of Mrs Tang Liang
Hong because her name appeared as a co-trustee in one of Tang's
documents. If she was allowed to leave Singapore, PAP leaders had
feared that they may be unable to recover damages from Tang.
July 1997 : Political prisoner Chia Thye Poh was allowed to
travel to Germany to study but was not allowed to make any public
statements or address public meetings. He also needed written
permission to take part in any political activity or be a member,
adviser, helper, official or participant in any organisation or
association. Chia, previously an opposition Member of Parliament -
was detained without trial in 1966 at the age of 26.
Aug 1997 : The Singapore Government demanded that the Foreign
Correspondents Association cancel a speech by then Indonesian
opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri. The group's executive
committee acceded to the Government's demand.
Aug 1997 : The Internal Security
Department, Singapore's secret police, was alleged to have
burglarised the home of an American academic helping political
exile Tang Liang Hong take up a six-month fellowship at an American
university. The break-in, which seemed intended to find computer
files and other records listing people interested in Singapore
affairs, was investigated by local police and the FBI. According to
a recent US State Department's human rights report on Singapore, it
is "widely believed that the authorities routinely conduct
surveillance on some opposition politicians and other critics of
the Government." The same report also stated that the ISD is
believed to run a network of part-time informants in the US,
Australia and other countries.
Sept 1997 : JB Jeyaretnam was found guilty of defaming Prime
Minister Goh Chok Tong at an election rally when he told the crowd
police reports had been filed against the PM and his PAP
colleagues. He was ordered by Justice J. Rajendran to pay $20,000
in damages plus legal fees. After a subsequent appeal by Mr Goh,
the damages awarded were increased five-fold, to $100,000.
Nov 1997 : The High Court ordered political exile Tang Liang Hong
to pay the PAP leaders $4.53 million in damages.
1997/98 : In 1997 two persons were detained and in 1998, four were
detained under the Internal Security Act, all for alleged
espionage. Of these six, two remained in detention at the end of
1998. The names of the six detainees remained undisclosed.
Feb 1998 : Tang Liang Hong was declared bankrupt by the High Court
after failing to pay $739,976 in damages and interests owed to PAP
leaders. Assets belonging to him and his wife were seized. In
addition, he was charged with thirty-three counts of tax evasion
and there is presently an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Mar 1998 : The Films Act was amended to ban political films
and videos. The Government justified the ban as protecting politics
from sensationalism, innuendo, and inaccuracy. The legislation
defines a party political film as one "made by any person and
directed toward any political end in Singapore" or one that
contains "partisan or biased references on any political
matter."
Mar 1998 : The Singapore Government asked foreign TV stations to
restrict coverage of political parties that do not have a wide
following. "If we are not careful, foreign broadcasters, like
foreign newspapers, can undermine some of our important social and
other policies," the Straits Times quoted Minister George Yeo as
saying.
July 1998 : The Government passed the Computer Misuse (Amendment)
Act, the Electronic Transactions Act and the National Computer
Board (Amendment) Act. Under the amended CMA , the police now has
lawful access to data and encrypted material in their
investigations of offenses under the CMA as well as other offenses
disclosed in the course of their investigations. Under the ETA, the
police has been given broad powers to search any computer for an
offence related to the act without a warrant.
Sept 1998 : The Undesirable Publications Act was amended to include
CD-ROMS, sound recordings, pictures, and computer-generated
drawings, and to raise the fine for distribution or possession of
banned publications. The Government also publicized the list of
banned English-language publications, which is made up primarily of
sexually-oriented materials, but also includes some religious and
political materials.
Nov 1998 : Political detainee Chia Thye Poh was granted
unconditional release. He had spent 22 years, six months, two weeks
and four days in jail, mostly in solitary confinement. He then
spent another 9 years in Sentosa under severe restrictions.
"The best years of my life were taken away just like that without a
charge or trial. As a victim of the notorious Internal Security
Act, I sincerely call on the government to abolish the act," said
Mr Chia.
Dec 1998 : JB Jeyaretnam and Workers' Party were ordered by the
High Court to pay ten members of a committee which organised the
first Tamil Language Week in 1995, including PAP MP R. Ravindran,
$265,000 in defamatory damages plus legal costs for the 14-day
trial.
Feb 1999 : Opposition leader Dr Chee Soon Juan was jailed twice for
giving two speeches at Raffles Place without a licence. For both
convictions he was fined a total of $3,900 but chose instead to
serve two prison terms of seven and 12 days respectively. Chee's
colleague, Wong Hong Toy, was also imprisoned for 12 days after
refusing to pay a fine for adjusting the microphone and the volume
of the speaker. Amnesty International named both men prisoners of
conscience.
Mar 1999 : The ten members of the Tamil Language weekly filed a
petition with the High Court to wind up the Workers' Party after it
failed to pay over $500,000 in libel damages and legal costs.
Mar 1999 : Dr Chee Soon Juan was fined for selling his book, To Be
Free, without a permit. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge as
book stores and vendors had refused to sell his books out of fear
of prosecution.
May 1999 : When JB Jeyaretnam and Dr Chee Soon Juan applied to
register Open Singapore Centre, an official said the application
would have to be sent for clearance to the Internal Security
Department.
May 1999 : After a law student
complained to police that someone with an account in the Home
Affairs Ministry had hacked into her computer, the Ministry
disclosed that it had secretly scanned the computers more than
200,000 SingNet and SingTel Magix customers, ostensibly for
viruses. Singnet apologised to its customers - by email - and says
the security check has since been abandoned.
However, according to a recent US State Department's human rights
report on Singapore, the "Internal Security Department and the
Corrupt Practices Investigation Board, have wide networks for
gathering information and highly sophisticated capabilities to
monitor telephone and other private conversations and conduct
surveillance. It is believed that the authorities routinely monitor
telephone conversations and use of the Internet.. The law permits
government monitoring of Internet use."
May 1999 : In a Straits Times interview, Minister George Yeo warned
Singaporeans: "We have had occasions to tell women's magazines not
to get involved in partisan matters. If we did not do this, every
political party will use women's magazines to get their views
across. I do not think that is healthy for Singapore...If you are a
civic organisation, whether you are an organisation, if you want to
get yourself involved politically, please get into the political
arena and not hide behind a religious group, a tuition class, or a
theatre troupe."
Aug 1999 : The police rejected two applications by Dr Chee Soon
Juan to hold public rallies.The application was rejected because
the venues were outdoors, and there was "a potential for trouble"
and public "inconvenience," said the head of the police licensing
division. But in a letter to the Home Affairs Ministry, Chee said
officials and MPs from the ruling People's Action Party "routinely
give political speeches in outdoor areas." Public gatherings of
more than five people in Singapore require a police permit.
Sep 1999 : Mrs Tang Liang Hong lost her appeal for damages from PAP
leaders, whom she claimed had caused her financial loss. The Court
of Appeal also found that she was not entitled to damages for
mental distress and anxiety.
Sep 1999 : Elected President Ong Teng
Cheong resigned but not before criticising the PAP Government for
not providing details of Singapore's financial reserves. They had
told him that it would take "52 man-years" to provide the
information. In rapid succession, Parliament passed four
constitutional amendments to grab back some of the powers that had
been vested in the elected president, like his right to veto both
defense spending and laws that curtailed his own authority. In a
news conference, Ong said that some Ministers and public officials
had treated his office as a "nuisance."
"The elected presidency was Lee Kuan Yew's initiative. He came out
with the idea way back in '82, '83," said Mr
Ong.
2000 : According to the US State Department's human rights report
on Singapore, the Singapore Government released a statement
confirming that an individual detained by the Internal Security Act
in 1998 was still in detention.
May 2000 : Parliament passed the
Political Donations Act. Apart from disallowing political
organisations from receiving foreign funding, the Act also
prohibits anonymous contributions of more than $5000 in any
financial year. The Home Affairs Minister has the freedom to define
which civil societies are political in nature and are thus bound by
the law.
Nov 2000 : Following a four-hour standoff at the Drama Centre,
police arrested the president of a theatre company after she tried
to rehearse a banned play about marital violence in Singapore's
Indian Muslim community. The government said the ban was necessary
because artistic works must "respect religious sensitivities in
multiracial and multi-religious Singapore." Ms S. Thenmoli, who
heads the Agni Kootthu theater group, was given "a stern warning in
lieu of prosecution."
Dec 2000 : A Radio Corporation
Singapore (RCS) radio report on a Human Rights Day event at
Speakers Corner was re-edited after the first report went on air
containing comments by JB Jeyaretnam and a letter by Kofi Annan.
Shortly after, a spokesperson for RCS said that the journalist
Fauziah Ibrahim had "resigned."
Dec 2000 : On Dec 31, police arrested and later charged 15
Falungong adherents for conducting a protest without a permit; only
2 of those arrested were Singapore citizens. The 15 persons
arrested had participated in an assembly of 60 Falungong members
who sought to draw attention to the arrest and killing of Falungong
members in China. The group had not sought a permit, asserting that
police had not responded to their previous efforts to obtain
permits. In March 2001 seven of the group were sentenced to 4 weeks
in jail for refusing to hand over placards to the police.
Jan 2001 : JB Jeyaretnam was declared bankrupt after missing by one
day the deadline for a $23,450 payment to eight claimants, members
of the organising committee of Tamil Language weekly of 1995. As a
bankrupt he is effectively disqualified from elections.
Feb 2001 : Police called up two activists from the Open Singapore
Centre and Think Centre for questioning in connection with the
above Human Rights Day event at Speakers Corner. In a strongly
worded release, the Singapore Police Force pointed out that "it is
one thing to have a group of people gather to hear a person or
persons speak; but quite another when people come together for a
specific cause, and in the process, they chant slogans, display
placards and show gesticulations, such as clenching of fists.
Police treat such actions as indicative of a demonstration or of
disorderly behaviour."
Feb 2001 : Police rejected a permit by Think Centre who had wanted
to protest outside a Singapore radio station next month to mark
World Press Day.
Feb 2001 : The Public Entertainments and Meetings Act was revised
to double the fines for holding a public talk or delivering a
political speech without a police permit from $5,000 to
$10,000.
Mar 2001 : The Government named Open Singapore Centre and Think
Centre political associations, so making them ineligible to receive
foreign funding. "An organisation which is not registered as a
political party but carries out activities to influence the
domestic political process should logically also be prohibited from
accepting donations," the Government said in a statement.
Apr 2001 : Police summoned political discussion group Roundtable
members Kevin Tan and Zulkifli Baharudin for questioning following
an event in November to discuss freedom of assembly. Police had
wanted to investigate whether the event had provided public
entertainment without a license.
Apr 2001 : Parliament passed a law that allows punishment of
foreign news broadcasters deemed to be "engaging in the domestic
politics of Singapore." The rules are similar to those placed on
the foreign print media in 1986.
Apr 2001 : Government officers raided Ngee Ann Polytechnic
and confiscated film equipment and tapes after three lecturers had
made a documentary about JB Jeyaratnam. The three were told that
they could be charged in court if they went ahead with a planned
screening of the film at the Singapore International Film Festival.
They submitted written apologies for making the film and withdrew
it from the Festival.
July 2001 : JB Jeyaretnam lost his Non-Constituency Member of
Parliament (NCMP) seat in Parliament after he lost a final appeal
against a bankruptcy order. He has been subjected to lawsuits,
fines and jail throughout his political career and is estimated to
have paid more than $1.6 million in damages and costs so far. Three
months later, he resigned from the Workers' Party.
Aug 2001 : Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng warned that
Singapore could face the chaos that hit Indonesia after the fall of
Suharto if there were too much emphasis on democracy, human rights
and press freedom. "We do ourselves a great disservice if we import
unthinkingly and wholesale fashionable and hollow abstractions...So
do not believe those few Singaporeans who tell you that with
democracy, human rights and press freedom a hundred flowers will
bloom and Singapore will prosper," said Mr Wong.
Aug 2001 : Parliament passed new laws to restrict political
campaigning on the internet. All political websites are to register
with the authorities. Non-party political websites are not allowed
to campaign for any party, such as displaying party banners and
candidate profiles. Election surveys and exit polls are
banned.
Aug 2001 : Sintercom, a popular political discussion website, shut
itself down after eight years due to pressure by the Government to
register as a political site.
Aug 2001 : The Singapore Democratic Party called off a planned
political rally after a permit from the police came too late.
Approval from the police licensing division had come only four days
before the planned rally. "Approval for political rallies is rare
in the strictly-governed city-state where the government has been
accused of restricting freedom of speech," reported AFP.
Oct 2001 : Despite earlier promises to allow overseas voting,
Parliament passed a bill to suspend overseas voting for citizens in
the coming general elections, citing security concerns due to
ongoing US military strikes in Afghanistan.
Oct 2001 (General Elections) : Snap elections were called
17 days before polling day - the shortest in Singapore Elections
history. Parties were given only 9 days to campaign. Election
deposits for each candidate were increased to $13,000, up from
$5000 in 1997.
A Workers' Party team of candidates were disqualified by the
Elections Department from contesting after submitting incomplete
forms, resulting in the opposition contesting only two-thirds of
the total number of seats, the lowest since 1968.
Under the New Singapore Shares scheme implemented before
polling, Singaporeans were given between $200 and $1,700 worth of
shares which could be converted to cash.
Non-party political websites were prohibited from political
campaigning, while exit polls and appeals for funds over the
Internet were banned. Restrictions were also imposed on campaigning
via mobile text messaging service. Citing terrorist scare, police
banned lunchtime rallies at the central business district.
Dr Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party was
labelled a "cheat, congenital liar and political gangster" by
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Defamation suits followed, and again
it wasn't Lee who got sued. Chee was sued by both PM Goh Chok Tong
and SM Lee Kuan Yew for questioning a $17 billion loan to former
Indonesian President Suharto in 1997.
15 men and a woman were arrested for alleged "rioting" after an
opposition rally. The police said the arrests occurred after about
200 people had gathered at a roadside and waved flags in support of
the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA). The crowd held up traffic
and tapped on windows of passing cars, the statement added.
The US State Department's human rights report on
Singapore's electoral system noted that "the PAP completely
controlled key positions in and out of government, influenced the
press and courts, and limited opposition political
activities,"
This
is Point_blank's clueless idea of a level playing
field, and rule of law in Singapore.
