Dictatorship and Autocracy in Singapore
By Tian Jie
The Epoch Times May 03, 2005
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-5-3/28402.html
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (L)with Chief Justice
Yong Pung How (R) and President S.R Nathan (C) at the Istana
presidential palace in Singapore.
It is very difficult for people who have never lived in
Singapore to imagine and understand the nature of its dictatorship
and autocracy. On the surface, it looks like Singapore has a
democratic system and that people are granted the right to chose
and vote. However, in actuality, it is a country with complete
dictatorship and autocracy.
For a long period of time Singapore has been ruled by one
political party. Currently among the 94 congressmen, there are only
two elected members from opposition parties, so opposition parties
do not have any opportunity to challenge the ruling party. Due to
strict monitoring and threat by the government, most people dare
not to or are even scared to be in touch with any of the opposition
parties. They are not willing to openly support the opposition
parties. Therefore the opposition parties, in the political system
of Singapore, are actually just an ornament for the outside world.
It is a coat of democracy covering up its nature. The small number
of people who dare to step forward and challenge the government,
especially those who join the opposition parties to participate in
the election, will simply be brought to court in the name for
"slandering the system" because of some minor public speeches or
immaterial articles they wrote. The judicial system of Singapore
basically obeys the government. Cases related to challenging the
government or the political leaders rarely have any prospect of
winning.
Members of the opposition parties, if sued, can predict that
they will definitely lose their lawsuits under the judicial system
controlled by the government. However, these unfortunate people,
knowing clearly that they will not win, have to defend their cases
again and again in court. In addition to paying expensive legal
fees for the lawsuits, they also need to face a huge penalty fee in
the end. The lengthy legal procedures have turned most of them
bankrupt. In one of the elections in the 90s, a famous lawyer
joined one of the opposition parties, the 'Workers Party', to
participate in the election. But his public speech in an election
gathering was taken out of context. He was sued by many members of
the ruling party. That lawyer, in order to escape from the
political persecution, left Singapore and settled down in
Australia.
In the one or two districts of the opposition parties, people
living there can feel the pressure and boundaries. For example, the
development of civil construction, education and even
transportation is all under control of the districts of the ruling
party. This is equivalent to silent revenge and suppression. Due to
these reasons, several former districts of the opposition parties
were forced to vote for the candidates of the ruling party in the
election. It is therefore more and more difficult for the
opposition parties to maintain their foundations.
Singapore used to be totally against communism. Since late
1980s, it established a diplomatic relationship with China and has
become closer and closer to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It
now completely follows the CCP, seeks benefits from the CCP and
conducts acts that are in the interest of the CCP. It is not hard
to understand why the government of Singapore, disregarding its own
image, has committed an evil deed by bringing two innocent Falun
Gong practitioners to court and heavily punishing them for letting
tourists and policemen know the truth of Falun Gong.
There are two major media organizations in Singapore. One is a
newspaper organization, controlling all the newspapers in
Singapore; and the other is a television organization, controlling
most of the TV stations. Although the two groups are run
independently on the surface, they are actually heavily influenced
by the government. It is rare to hear the voice of the opposition
parties in local media. The opinions from the opposition parties
are always put in the least obvious and the hidden places. It is
rare to see or to hear dissatisfaction or negative comments toward
government policies or leaders. In addition, the media in Singapore
is heavily influenced by the CCP. Accordingly, The Singapore United
Times is the only overseas paper that is present in Mainland China.
Even papers that are heavily influenced by the CCP, such as The
Xing Pao Daily and The Ming Daily of Hong Kong and The World Daily
of Taiwan, can not compare with it. In this situation, The
Singapore United has to completely conform to the CCP. Any news
that the CCP does not like cannot be published. There is absolutely
no news of the CCP's brutal persecution toward members of the
democratic movements, Christians and Falun Gong members. A friend
of mine told me once that he met one of the editors. He found out
that the Chinese Embassy provides articles to The Singapore United
on a regular basis. The Singapore United is obliged to publish
these articles and is forbidden to publish other articles,
otherwise the paper would be banned in Mainland China. Once in a
while, if the paper published some articles by mistake that the
Chinese Embassy did not want to see published, the ambassadors
would be furious. They would threaten the paper and then entice
them with material benefits.
I did not plan to write this story but in the end decided to do
so since I could not bear to see that these evil deeds committed by
the Singapore government go uncovered.
