Monday, August 07, 2006
'Singapore Rebel' saga ends after police issues 'stern
warning'
After 16 months of investigation, three interrogation sessions, 120
questions, and not discounting a covert round of interviews with
some friends and associates, the police has finally decided to
close their case against me.
It all ended under 10 minutes at noon today at the Cantonment
Police Complex. Seated at the interview room where I had expected
yet another round of questioning, I was instead informed by
Assistant Superintendent Chan Peng Kuang that upon the conclusion
of their investigation, the police has decided to issue a warning
in lieu of a prosecution. The camera, seized in August last year,
will be returned to me. The tapes, however, will remain in police
custody unless I should make a formal claim. After two minutes of
wrangling a deal, which included my suggestion that the police
donate the footages to the National Archives, I decided not to make
a claim for the tapes, considering that it would be subjected to an
undertaking whereby should any of the footages be distributed, I
would be called in for investigation once more. The police now
reserves the right to destroy the tapes, as they do, I suppose, for
seized pornographic material.
I was then ushered to a "warning" room where another officer
arrived to read out the warning letter. I stood like a schoolboy in
front of the principal's desk, only that the officer's delivery was
more perfunctory than stern.
This whole episode has been rather surreal, but no less worrying (I
still haven't told my mother about it). It would have been
out-of-whack in any First World nation, but it actually did
happened in modern-day Singapore - the production of one short
video featuring an opposition figure sparked off a ban, a police
inquiry and much undue publicity for everyone involved. If the
censors had cleared the film, it would have been screened to an
audience of no more than 80 people, and not all of them would be
interested or much less impressed with its content. It would have
died a natural death not long afterwards. But by banning it and
subjecting its filmmaker to police investigations, the Media
Development Authority has created a publicity monster for
themselves, precipitating a seemingly amenable remark from the
Minister Mentor himself.
And it gets even more surreal, if one considers the fact that amid
all the questioning from the police, I still haven't been told
exactly how 'Singapore Rebel' had breached the Films Act.
Where do I go from here? I've obviously crossed the OB
(out-of-bounds) markers of expression in Singapore. As much as I
like to find my way back to stay within its limits, it's mightily
difficult when these boundaries, already amorphous as they are, are
constantly shifting back and forth, catching off-guard just about
anybody with an opinion deemed contrary to "national
interest."
Finally, just a note of irony - I'm finishing up an edit for Jack
Neo's new comedy, slated for a Chinese New Year release, entitled
"Just Follow Law!"
And may all the wishes of anyone who had generated a single moment
of kind thought toward this whole saga be fulfilled.
Yours sincerely,
Martyn See