Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew government in its state controlled
newspaper Straits Times on Feb 29, 2008 reports "Protests may be
allowed at Speakers' Corner". Don’t be fooled. This is yet another
attempt to continue restriction of Singaporean’s human right of
free expression, not expand it. Not only that, if you really think
about it; it is utterly ridiculous.
Yet again, this authoritarian government where every aspect of
society is controlled by the state; including newspapers, the
courts, the judges, the entire Parliament, and everything else in
between; continues with its nonsensical rules, reasons and
explanations fit only for the pages of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in
Wonderland.
Since 1959, the date when Lee Kuan Yew came to power, his
government has never allowed even one dissenting protest to take
place. Of course, Lee Kuan Yew himself and his ruling party have
held as many protests as they want; but not even one by the
opposition was allowed. This is despite the fact that the
constitution specifically gives Singaporeans the right of assembly;
which right Lee has continued to ignore.
Recently Lee Kuan Yew and his son's government have come under
increasing pressure in this regard. Dr. Chee Soon Juan and his
political party have clearly begun to become a thorn in Lee Kuan
Yew's flesh which is becoming increasingly difficult to
dislodge.
Unlike the majority of Singaporeans, a small but growing number of
them, including Dr. Chee, have finally decided that they are going
to exercise their right enshrined in the Constitution. They are
going to publicly protest the glaring injustices that Singaporeans
suffer with or without the government's blessing.
So we have seen at the most recent protest on March 15, 2008 in
front of Parliament House; the ugly spectacle of police brutality
and police lawlessness when they used excessive force, manhandled
and dragged unarmed peaceful citizens into waiting police vans,
almost breaking the fingers of Chee Siok Chin one protestor and
causing another, John Tan, a diabetic to almost suffer a heart
attack.
And all this being watched by hundreds of passing onlookers at a
busy intersection in Singapore, next to a busy shopping mall; not
to mention the thousands, if not millions of both Singaporeans and
foreigners, thanks to the Internet.
March 15, 2008 protest in front of Parliament House, called "Ta
Boleh Tahan", which means "I cannot take it anymore" in Malay; was
the last of a series of public protests which have been gaining
both momentum and in numbers. In a country, not much different from
North Korea in political style, where every citizen lives in fear,
this last protest of 50 people shows that more and more
Singaporeans are willing to publicly protest and are not allowing
their fear of Lee Kuan Yew to stop them anymore.
Lee Kuan Yew now finds himself in a quandary. Dr. Chee is not
prepared to let up, no matter what Lee Kuan Yew throws at him. As
you know he has been bankrupted a number of times, gone to prison
several times, he has been prevented from traveling, denied a
passport and thrown out of his job.
Normally a person having gone through this much pain, would
normally be expected to give up. And Lee Kuan Yew and his son, the
Prime Minister thought so too. But the problem, which they never
expected, is this. This Dr. Chee has turned out to be one tough nut
to crack! And what is worse, the bulldog within this man is causing
many others to emulate him.
Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has finally found out that it is not just one
stubborn prize fighter that he has to face but 50 others with their
number steadily increasing. Yap Keng Ho, Gandhi Ambalam, Chee Siok
Chin, Chia Ti Lik and Lawrence Chua, Seelan Pallay, are some like
Dr. Chee who have decided they will fight Lee no matter Hell or
High Water.
Facing this unstoppable demand from the people for their rights
which they have been denied so far; we see this government making
their typical lame attempts in desperation to somehow placate the
enraged Singaporean. And as expected of this government which has
clearly lost its bearings; it is suggesting some nonsence as a
favor to the people. Treating Singaporeans no better than children,
they are suggesting that protests might be allowed at Speakers
Corner at Hong Lim Park; as harebrained a suggestion as any
harebrained suggestion will go.
Anyone can see, this is no concession at all by this authoritarian
government. Protests are intended to show the world that some
injustice is happening at a certain place. For instance if you are
protesting against unjust laws, the best location will be the
Parliament House, since that is where they make laws. If you want
to protest against HDB price rises, you may want to protest outside
the HDB office in Toa Payoh. If you want to protest against CPF
policies, you may want to do it outside the CPF Building in
Robinson Road. If you want to protest against the unacceptably high
salary that is being paid to Lee Kuan Yew, you may want to protest
outside his house at 10 Oxley Rise, Singapore 090001 where this
dictator lives.
What is the point of asking the unjust laws protestor, the HDB
protestor, the CPF protestor and the Lee Kuan Yew protestor to go
and protest several miles away in Hong Lim Park where Speakers
Corner is located?
Look at the Constitution. It says Singaporeans have a right to
assemble. It does not say, Singaporeans have a right to assemble at
Speakers Corner at Hong Lim Park. In any case, is not plain
nonsensical and comical for a man to be standing at a specific
location called Speakers Corner in Hong Lim Park in protest against
his illegal sacking from his job as a welder at Sembawang Shipyard,
20 miles away nearer the Malaysian waterfront?
And is it not time for someone to suggest to Wong Kan Seng, the
Minister for Home Affairs that he should have his head examined for
even suggesting this. I believe, in Wong's case, it was not a
problem with his mind at all. He did not care what people think of
him. After all he has the patronage of his benefactor Lee Kuan Yew
to say or do anything with impunity. At least that is what he has
been thinking so far.
My answer to Wong Kan Seng is no. This won’t do. And I am sure Dr.
Chee and Company is with me on this. We are not prepared to
restrict our protests to Speakers Corner. Thanks but no thanks. The
Constitution gives us the right. It is not restricted to Speakers
Corner. Had it been so, the Constitution would have said so.
I am sure the message of Dr. Chee, Gandhi, Siok Chin, Yap, Ti Lik,
Seelan and the other 50- protestors to Wong Kan Seng is this. Brace
yourself. The constitution will finally be resurrected. It was dead
so far, but it has come alive once again.
The people will exercise their rights. The next protest is being
planned. This time there are going to several hundreds. Be prepared
to deploy your riot squad with truncheons, dogs and red marias.
Charge and beat up the protestors like you did on March 15, 2008
before Parliament House. And cameramen both local and foreign will
have a field day posting the images of police brutality on the
Internet. And then tell me, how small you feel.
The march for democracy in Singapore has begun; while in Malaysia
they have reached their destination. Singaporeans are slowly
turning from sheep into lions.
We can only wait to say this about Singapore. "What a pleasant
transformation".
Gopalan Nair
http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2008/03/singapores-lee.html
