Singaporeans come together to form group for human
rights
At a forum held at the Allson Hotel yesterday, a group of
Singaporeans came together to push for human rights in
Singapore.
Motivated partly by the recent announcement that the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would include a mechanism to look
into human rights issues in its charter to be signed later this
year, the forum participants decided to form a group that would
facilitate the development of human rights in this country.
Moderator Mr Alex Au, writer and gay rights activist, kicked off
the session by explaining how ASEAN had agreed to include a segment
in its charter that promised to respect the rights of its peoples.
This came about after years of engagement with civil societies
within and outside of ASEAN.
But in Singapore, as Mr Au noted, there was little activity. He
pointed out that Singapore lagged behind our "less-developed"
neighbours when it came to the issue of human rights.
"We seem to be the dullards of the class," he said. "Of the five
founding members of ASEAN (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Singapore), Singapore is the only state that doesnt
have a human rights commission."
Even the Cambodian civil society has established a working group to
get its government to establish a human rights commission.
He then called on the first speaker, Mr J B Jeyaretnam, to address
the audience which had swelled to about 80 (The Today newspaper
reported that the number was 30. A headcount of the photo will show
the newspaper lying yet again). Mr Jeyaretnam spoke about the
"complete disregard" of human rights in Singapore where people can
be arrested and imprisoned under the Internal Security Act and the
Criminal Law Temporary Provisions without the Executive having to
prove its case in a court of law.
The opposition leader said that "it was time" that Singaporeans
came forward to campaign for a body that would protect the rights
of the people.
Forum convenor, Mr M Ravi, spoke about the regional effort
spearheaded by Forum-Asia, a human rights NGO based in Bangkok, to
form "Task Force" groups in the various ASEAN countries.
He urged those present to sign up to form the Singaporean Task
Force, which would coordinate with their ASEAN counterparts to push
for an effective regional human rights body. More than 40
did.
Social worker Mr Jolovan Wham spoke of the need the public to
recognize that human rights was part and parcel of social work.
Dealing with disenfranchised segments of society such as the
homeless and migrant workers, Mr Wham said that the need for human
rights in such circles was natural and understandable.
Mr Isrizal, an independent researcher in the arts community spoke
next. He encouraged the arts community not to shy away from
standing up for human rights and quoted the late playwright and
author Kuo Pao Kun who was detained under the ISA from
1976-1980:
"Im very concerned of this country as a working artist that we
have yet to effectively pry open and make valid a cultural space, a
space that has its own rights and laws of operation...The great
Chinese write Lu Xun said that progressive politics and progressive
art very often seem to be fellow travelers, partners in struggle.
But once that political movement assumes power, their paths begin
to part because it is the nature of every political movement or
party to hold on (to) power and perpetuate its role; and it is in
the nature of art to always pursue truth, even to the extent of
incurring the hostility of the ruling powers."
Dr Chee Soon Juan then spoke of the need for political and civil
rights to address some of the issues that the people are unhappy
with such as the proposed compulsory purchase of annuity by
Singaporeans.
Without human rights, he pointed out, the people are not able to
hold the Government accountable. He said that while other peoples
are actively campaigning for human rights for their countries, it
was the duty and responsibility of Singaporeans to do the same for
Singapore.
It was pointed out in the course of the ensuing discussion period
that there were several upcoming conferences and forums being
planned in Singapore that would provide Singaporean human rights
defenders more opportunity to raise awareness and advance human
rights in this country.
Among them are the ASEAN Civil Society Conference that would be
held from 1-3 Nov 2007 that would bring together ASEAN civil
society groups to discuss human rights vis-à-vis the ASEAN Charter
to be signed in mid-November.
Financial consultant, Mr Leong Sze Hian, also informed those
present about a similar conference to be held from 27-28 Oct 2007.
However, this event, understood to be organised by the
state-sponsored Singapore Institute for International Affairs, may
only be open to selected individuals.
Dr Chee also informed the audience of the upcoming conference of
the International Bar Association and its related events (click
here) and encouraged Singaporeans to be actively involved in these
activities.
"I have always advocated that the Singaporean public must consulted
and given every opportunity to participate in events that affect
their lives," he said.
http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/articleAseanHRForum.html
