Oh well... nothing they can do about it.. 
Amnesty criticises S'pore's use of defamation suits
Rights group Amnesty International called on the Singapore
government to stop using stringent laws and defamation suits to
muzzle critics.
The call comes as Chee Soon Juan, leader of the opposition
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), ends on Saturday his five-week
jail term for failing to pay a S$5,000 ($3,250) fine for illegally
speaking in public before elections in May.
"Amnesty International is concerned about the continuing use of
restrictive laws and civil defamation suits in Singapore to
penalise and silence peaceful critics of the government," the
London-based rights watchdog said in a statement issued on its Web
site.
Singapore bans public gatherings of more than four people without a
police permit. Public speaking is also prohibited unless the
speaker has been licensed by the government.
These laws, together with "politically motivated" defamation suits,
have created in Singapore a "climate of political intimidation and
self-censorship", and belie "the government's repeated claims that
it is building an 'open society'", Amnesty International
said.
Leaders of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) -- which has been
in power since the city-state's independence in 1965 -- say such
legal action is necessary to safeguard their reputations.
They have also filed defamation law suits against foreign media,
most recently the Far Eastern Economic Review, while legal suits
launched against opposition politicians have bankrupted Chee and
veteran opposition leader J.B. Jeyaretnam.
Under Singapore's laws, bankrupts cannot contest elections.
Chee, one of Singapore's most vocal opposition politicians, is also
facing a defamation suit launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
and his father Lee Kuan Yew over an article in the SDP's
newsletter.
He has been jailed five times since 1999 for speaking in public
without a permit, and for questioning the independence of
Singapore's judiciary. ($1 = 1.538 Singapore dollar)
